Free Ohio Bee & Garden Guides
Get FREE bee, plant, garden and project guides to help native bees thrive. Even one flowering plant or tree is a power-full act that helps restore habitat for bees and other wildlife.
FREE OHIO GUIDES
FREE Guides & Resources
We’ve collaborated with organizations across Ohio to create a FREE resource library.
Our growing library of guides, videos, and news empower you to help native bees and pollinators flourish wherever you live, work, or play. Learn about native bees, plants, and trees, and explore DIY projects, habitat restoration programs, citizen science apps, coloring pages, and more. Find videos here.
OHIO NATIVE PLANT GUIDE /
Taft & Knapke
29 TREES FOR BEES / OSU Bee Lab
OHIO NATIVE PLANT GUIDE /
Naturalist, Lynda Price
100+ OHIO NURSERIES / Ohio Native
Plant Month
OHIO BEE GUIDE / OSU Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center
BEGINNERS BEE ID GUIDE / Pollinator Partnership
ECOREGIONAL PLANT GUIDE /
Pollinator Partnership
NATIVE TREE SELECTOR / Cleveland Metroparks
BEES VS. WASPS / Ohio Dept. of Wildlife
BUMBLE BEES OF EASTERN U.S. /
USDA & Pollinator partnership
DIY POLLINATOR GARDEN / Ohio Native Plant Month
POLLINATOR GARDEN GUIDE / Pollinator Partnership
HOW TO BUILD A BEE CONDO / Pollinator Partnership
How to Start a Veggie Garden / Farmers Almanac
BEE-FRIENDLY SEED MIXES for Lawn & Garden / OPN SEED
Ohio Seed Companies
HOW TO PLANT NATIVE GRASS + WILDFLOWERS / OPN Seed
Plant a Bulb Lawn
Popular in Europe for hundreds of years, creating a bulb lawn, bulb meadow, or even bulb lanes, is a wonderful way to naturalize your lawn with low-cost, easy-care, flowers that are absolutely beautiful.
Bulb flowers provide essential pollen and nectar for early spring bees, like mason bees, along with butterflies, and moths.
They naturally spread over time, and you don’t have to mow till they are done blooming. After blooming, the greens blend in with the grass and other low-growing forbs.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Partners Program
About 70% of the land in the U.S. is privately owned. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program provides technical and financial assistance to landowners, managers, Tribes, corporations, schools and nonprofits interested in improving wildlife habitat. All private landowners interested in restoring wildlife habitat on their land are eligible to participate.
Ohio Department of Transportation
Pollinator Habitat Program
In 2016, ODOT created a fully-funded Highway Beautification and Pollinator Habitat Program to establish new pollinator habitat on ODOT’s right of way. ODOT has actively expanded the number of roadside pollinator habitats to 120 in 2018. Currently, ODOT has more than 800 acres of roadside pollinator habitats in development with plans to add 150 acres per year. Its goal is to have at least one roadside pollinator habitat in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Contact them to learn more.
Need Habitat GUIDES FOR other states?
Search Free Eco-regional Planting Guides Using Your US or Canadian Postal Code
POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP
Search Free Pollinator Conservation Resources by Region
XERCES SOCIETY
Citizen science APPS
Bumble Bee Watch App
Track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. The Bumble Bee Watch app is the best way to learn and engage with bumble bees and to contribute sightings to this important citizen science project.
iNaturalist App
Identify plants and animals with visually similar suggestions. Get connected with a community of over a million scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more about nature!
Seek by iNaturalist App
Use the power of image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you. Earn badges for seeing different types of birds, amphibians, plants, and fungi and participate in monthly observation challenges.
Wild Bee ID App for iPad
Your go-to guide for ID’ing bees and bee-friendly plants, creating pollinator gardens, and learning how to get involved in the fight to protect these critical species. For iPad.
Download our coloring page
Click on the image to download the Save Ohio Bees coloring page featuring our beloved bumble bee mascot.
This coloring page helps kids understand how native bees help flowers, food, and forests grow.
Feel free to download and print this coloring page to create coloring stations for your next nature-themed event.
BEE NEWS
Learn why bees native bees are imperiled and what you can do to help them.