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Chicago’s “Urbs in Horto” Provides Ready Source of Much-Needed Pollen and Nectar

Concerns about the mysterious national decline in the honeybee population - crucial in pollination of virtually all food crops - will be on the minds of many as National Honeybee Day approaches on Saturday, Aug. 21.Yet, honeybees are thriving in one surprising environment: the Lurie Garden, an urban garden in downtown Chicago. The garden’s perennial plants and flowers attract honeybees and dozens of other bee/insect species that help sustain the environment, beautify the gardens and supply honey.

Since it opened in July 2004, the Lurie Garden has become a haven for honeybees in a landscape that attracted few such winged creatures in preceding years. According to Jennifer Davit, the garden’s director, the Lurie Garden is an ideal place for honeybees to find the pollen and nectar they need to survive and carry on their pivotal role in the food chain.”Bees need a large area of one plant, preferably one square meter or larger,” she says.

“At the garden, we have large masses of plants and bees really benefit because they don’t have to fly as far and expend extra energy to eat.”The Lurie Garden is an example of how the honeybee population can survive and thrive, thanks to key sources of sustenance found there.”Bees need blooms throughout the season and are attracted to blue and purple flowers, which are Lurie’s signature colors,” Davit says. “Bees also prefer native plants, like those in this garden, because genetically-altered cultivars don’t often produce as much pollen and nectar.”Bees that buzz around the Lurie Garden make their home in several hives on the roof of the Chicago Cultural Center across North Michigan Avenue and, a few blocks away, at Gallery 37 and Chicago’s City Hall. Honey from those hives is collected and sold by the Chicago Honeybee Group, with proceeds designated to help the local urban honeybee population thrive.

Since bees started visiting the Lurie Garden, says Davit, the taste of the honey has become “minty,” due to the large presence of Lurie plants in the mint family. Honeybee colonies at the Lurie Garden have a positive impact on the environment, but do not cause a problem among the thousands of visitors to the popular attraction. Davit points out that she and other Lurie Garden horticulturists and gardeners are on site daily and have not been stung. Bees also are a regular part of free educational programs at the Lurie Garden, including the popular “Bee Walk and Talk in the Garden.”The Lurie Garden is located at the southeast corner of Millennium Park, near the corner of Columbus Drive and Monroe Street. Millennium Park is easily reached by CTA and adjacent public parking is available.

Millennium Park is universally accessible to patrons with disabilities.For more information, visit www.millenniumpark.org.

Visit www.luriegarden.org for more information about the Lurie Garden, including programming, four-season highlights, plant features and design elements.