Why We Keep Bees
When the Hartman family started keeping bees on their roof in the city, their neighbors were nervous. Bees, they said, belonged in the countryside, not beside the laundromat.
But researchers have found that cities can be surprisingly good homes for pollinators. A city garden, balcony pot or park offers flowers from early spring to late autumn, while farms often have only one crop that blooms for a few weeks. Many cities also use fewer pesticides than large farms.
Still, urban beekeeping is not a perfect solution. Honey bees are not native to North America, and when too many hives crowd a neighborhood they can compete with wild bees for food. Experts suggest that city dwellers who want to help should also plant native flowers and leave small patches of bare soil, where many wild bees nest.