Problem: How do you get Bees across urban  hardstanding spaces ?

Product #3: Drought Resistant Planters for Hardstanding

Planters are our first type of Bee Cafe and the way that Bee Cafe CIC ensures pollinators can cross areas of hardstanding such as car parks or paved squares. They have been a design challenge to work in the context of busy public spaces alongside council co-workers. Seven iterations have led to what is felt to be the optimum solution with only very minor tweaks outstanding. 

How does it work? Councils purchase, site, insure and water the existing 26 Bee Cafe Planters. Bee Cafe CIC installs and maintains the planters and refreshes their Bee Cafe menu of plants.

The 7G Bee Cafe Planters feature:

1. A large volume at 1.2m x 0.8m footprint and 0.7m tall.

2. Compliance with Suffolk Highways Dept Street Furniture regulations.

3. Can be installed on any surface type in addition to hardstanding.

4. A “How to Build and Operate a Bee Cafe 7G Planter ” video and written instructions will be provided.

Outcome for Nature: Micro Stepping Stone

Bee Cafe planters serve nature in a number of ways:

• Each planter represents a node in our mesh of initially-micro stepping stones. A typical butterfly foraging movement range spans 100 to 500 meters and for a solitary bee it's 100 to 300 meters from its nest. Stepping stones therefore need to be no more than 100m  apart. The provision of large stepping stones every 100m may be impractical initially but micro stepping stones may be more achievable.

• Continuous supply of local wildflower blooms for pollinators March-Oct.

• Shaded resting places in an otherwise hostile urban environment,

• Each stepping stone feeds and shelters pollinators but as a mesh the benefits of connected  travel and gene flow are added. 

• Planters are locations for adding additional services to additional species - frog ponds, solitary bee hotels and hydration points are all through their trials and ready for wider roll out. 

Outcome for Community: Improved Well-being

The planters improve the well being of the communities they are located in in a number of ways.

• Public appreciation of the visual appeal of wildflowers in bloom such as "you've made Woodbridge a more cheerful place”.

• Year round floral and foliage interest.

• Planters themselves are considered attractive as discovered from informal public feedback such as “Love the finials”.

• Adopter polling has yielded comments such as “Gives me a small sense of purpose and enhances my well-being”. They also get all the benefits of gardening.

• Community Sheds involvement in building the planters helps their mental health.

• Each planter hosts educational Bee Cafe notice boards.

• They have become informal community notice boards.

Other 

The Cheap, Easy, Green criteria apply as follows:

1. Cheap at £300 fully installed with compost and plants. This is approximately 50% of the total ownership cost of comparable commercial planters. (Amberol and Bioscape)

2. Easy to source parts from DIY centres or online.

3. Easy to build via DIY or Community/Men in Sheds. 

4. Easy to operate as watering is once a month on average due to a 120 litre reservoir.

5. Easy to move as they are built on euro pallets.

6. Green as they are as far as possible made from durable natural materials.

7. Green by supporting up to 1 cubic meter of plants for the pollinators.

8. Green by providing services to a range of other species. Initially frog ponds, solitary bee hotels and hydration points.