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
Our curated library of guides, videos, and other resources gives you information to help you support pollinators and beautify communities where you live, work, or play. Find videos here. Scroll down to find public programs.
OHIO NATIVE PLANTs for pollinators/
Taft & Knapke
This detailed guide provides basic information about tons of native plants, with a special section listing the pollinators they attract. It includes common names, latin names, color, height, bloom time, and preferred growing conditions.
29 TREES FOR BEES / The OSU Bee Lab
Ohio trees can provide food for bees from early spring through late summer, with most tree species in Ohio blooming in spring and early summer. This fact sheet describes some of the Ohio trees that provide food for bees described as important by multiple researchers and bee experts.
OHIO NATIVE PLANT GUIDE /
Naturalist, Lynda Price
This detailed guide provides basic information about tons of native plants, including their common names, latin names, color, height, bloom time, and preferred growing conditions.
100+ OHIO NURSERIES / Ohio Native
PlantS
Looking for a local native plant nursery? This interactive list from Ohio Native Plants includes an alphabetical list along with an interactive map to help you.
12 Ohio Wildflowers Guide
This gorgeous guide from Lorain County Soil & Water District helps you learn about 12 Ohio wildflowers, including where they grow best, how to care for them, and what pollinators they attract.
OHIO BEE GUIDE / Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center
This Fact Sheet helps you identify 10 bee species that you might find in your own backyard, including their size, physical features, nesting behaviors, and other fun facts.
BEGINNERS BEE ID GUIDE / Pollinator Partnership
This incredibly robust Beginners Bee ID Guide includes 65 illustrated pages to help you identify native bees. It is organized by family, and includes taxonomy basics, common names, nesting and social behaviors, and pollination abilities.
NATIVE TREE SELECTOR / Cleveland Metroparks
This web-based Tree Selector helps you select the right trees for the right project, including homeowners, landscape architects, land stewards, and arborists.
Pollinator PLANT GUIDE /
Pollinator Partnership
This guide helps you identify the Plants for Pollinators that grow well in the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Region, of which Ohio is a part. It includes guidance for home landscapes and larger land stewards, along with checklists and resources.
BEES VS. WASPS / Ohio Dept. of Wildlife
BUMBLE BEES OF EASTERN U.S. /
USDA & Pollinator partnership
DIY POLLINATOR GARDEN / Ohio Native PlantS
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 / OPN SEED
Ohio Seed Companies
HOW TO PLANT NATIVE GRASS + WILDFLOWERS / OPN Seed
How to Plant a Bulb Lawn in late fall
This is a great project for late fall and early winter that will support early-emerging spring pollinators next season!
Popular in Europe for hundreds of years, creating a bulb lawn, bulb meadow, or even a bulb lane, 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, 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.