With few exceptions, honey bees are the pollinators of our gardens. Were it not for honey bees, we would not enjoy fruits from our trees, cross-pollination of brambles and berry plants, flowering vegetables, including tomatoes. One glaring exception to the rule is corn which is pollinated by winds, not honey bees.

We need to learn a lesson from commercial fruit tree growers who contract with commercial beekeepers to move hives into orchards to improve the pollination of flowers, eventually leading to an abundant harvest of fruit. In residential gardens, bees must be protected by not applying pesticides harmful to honey bees. Here is a summary of pesticides not to be used around bees:

* Pesticides not harmful to bees: Bt, Captan, Ferbam, Kelthane, Maneb, Mancozeb, and Wettable Sulfur;

* Pesticides highly toxic to bees: Cygon, Diazinon, Imidan, Malathion, and Sevin.