Tips for helping bees in an urban environment

1. Plant bee-friendly flowering plants and trees in your garden and/or balcony, such as lavender, rosemary, cherry plum and Judas tree. Here is a more detailed year-round list. 
2. Some wildflowers and weeds are particularly attractive to bees. Try to allow for variety and diversity in your garden and encourage native wildflowers which can be found naturally in your particular region.
3. Prefer single flower tops such as daisies, rather than double flower tops such as double impatiens, as the latter produce much less nectar and make it much more difficult for bees to access pollen.
4. Avoid the use chemicals and pesticides in your garden.
5. Buy local, raw honey whenever possible and try to support small beekeepers. 
6. Fill a shallow container of water with pebbles for the bees to land on and drink when thirsty.  

Bees are attracted to flowering weeds. This is an example of a wild flowering weed found in the Lycabettus area in Athens, Greece.