How To Make A Simple Bee Water Station For Your Garden

by Sarah - Craft Invaders

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

Disclosure: I am delighted to be working with Bostik as a Bostik Blogger. Each month the Bostik Bloggers create a craft that our readers can easily re-create at home. This month I am using Bostik Power Repair Ultimate Strength Glue.

 

Do bees drink water?

All living things need water, and bees are no exception. As well as drinking it themselves, bees also gather water to take back to their hives and nests. Here, the bees use water to dilute honey, regulate humidity, feed larvae and cool the hive. And just as they communicate about the best places to gather nectar and pollen, returning bees also tell the others where to find water.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

I know that not everyone is comfortable around bees and other flying insects. You may even feel reluctant to provide a bee water station in your garden. If you do, consider this. Bees are vitally important for the pollination of plants. It’s why plants produce nectar in the first place, to entice pollinators. Providing a safe, regular source of water for the bees in your garden in an area that suits both you and them should actually help prevent them from trying to gather it from other places, such as the kids paddling pool.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

How to make a simple bee water station for your garden

All you need to make a simple water station in your garden for bees and other insects is a shallow container and some stones, marbles or twigs for them to land on.

Our bee waterer sits in one of our herb beds in our Raised Vegetable Garden. We spray painted it blue, a colour we know bees can see and used pretty coloured marbles to provide a platform for insects to land on and prevent drowning.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

What we used to make our DIY bee water station

  •  Terracotta Pot and Saucer
  •  Glass Marbles
  •  Bostik Power Repair Glue
  •  Non-Toxic Spray Paint

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

What is Power Repair Ultimate Strength Glue?

Bostik Power Repair is an ultra strong, fast drying glue that provides a long-lasting bond and is suitable for use on a wide range of materials including glass, stone, wood, metal, leather and plastics. It can be used in extreme temperatures and is waterproof, making it perfect for outside projects such as this bee water station.

This project is an easy one to glue as it is self-supporting. Bostik Power Repair is also brilliant to use in trickier projects such as these Cute Square Pots For Mini Cactus Plants. Although you only have to hold the two surfaces you are gluing together for ten seconds after application, it is still re-positional for three minutes allowing plenty of time for any minor adjustments. Best of all, it won’t stick your fingers together and doesn’t require clamping to form a super strong bond.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

If you want to a coloured bee water station it will be easier to paint the pot and saucer before they are stuck together. Ours a sprayed a gorgeous blue to help it stand out to our bees. We then left our bits to dry overnight.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

We have kids and pets running around our garden, so anything we put in it needs to be well made. The power repair glue has the strength to hold the two parts of our bee waterer together whatever gets thrown at it. (Which in our case is likely to be a football!).

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

 

And here is our completed bee water station. We love its cheerful pop of colour in our Lavender bed and hope that the bees love it too.

For more wildlife friendly garden crafts check out our Wildflower Seed Bombs and Cute Window Bird Feeder.

 

Support the bees in your garden while adding a pop of colour, with our DIY bee water station. #SaveTheBees #gardening #gardeningtips #gardenhacks #bees #attractbees #GardenPlanning #pollinators #beefriendly #wildlifegarden

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25 comments

Jan February 18, 2022 - 12:17 pm

Fab idea going to make this …

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Sarah - Craft Invaders February 19, 2022 - 2:53 pm

Thanks Jan :)

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debbie haywood January 15, 2022 - 7:55 pm

Thanks so much for posting this,have been thinking how to make a bee station but wouldn’t have thought of anything that looks as great as this

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Sarah - Craft Invaders February 19, 2022 - 2:56 pm

Thank you for your kind comment Debbie :)

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Sasah April 11, 2021 - 2:09 pm

Having a hard time finding the Bostik Power Repair Ultimate Strength Glue, where do you get it from? I didn’t see any links in your article?

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Sarah - Craft Invaders April 11, 2021 - 2:31 pm

Hi Sasah. Bostik is a UK brand and readily available here at craft and DIY stores as well as Amazon and eBay. I knows its not so easy to find in the US. If you are in the US I think GORILLA CLEAR GRIP https://amzn.to/3s9isHE would do the job well. Hope that helps :)

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Sarah April 11, 2021 - 9:27 am

Hi,
First of all, thank you for the Idea and the advice, I have a question, why do you put in marble glass ?? For what is it ??

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Sarah - Craft Invaders April 12, 2021 - 12:18 pm

The marbles are for the bees to rest on and to stop them falling into the water, you can use any small stones or pebbles :)

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Suzanne February 24, 2021 - 3:55 am

Where can I find a nontoxic spray paint like the one you used on your bee stztion,?

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Sarah - Craft Invaders March 8, 2021 - 11:00 am

Because paints can have different formulations in different countries (due to their safety laws) I’d google wildlife friendly or pet friendly spray paint and take it from there. I always double check the product’s data sheet which should be on the brands website to check. Hope that helps :)

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Ann Marie Harris August 7, 2020 - 10:10 pm

Thank you for the excellent instructions. Making these for family members who can water bees and butterflies!

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Sarah - Craft Invaders August 10, 2020 - 4:39 pm

Thanks for your kind comment Ann Marie, what a lovely thing to gift :)

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Bee and butterfly Watering Holes  – Ms. Leah's Little Library of Digital Resources July 10, 2020 - 7:51 pm

[…] Source This simple design only requires one pot and one saucer.  […]

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Marianne May 13, 2020 - 10:18 pm

Hi!! Does it need to be elevated?

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Sarah - Craft Invaders July 5, 2020 - 11:07 am

I have mine down on the ground between my lavender and the bees find it fine Marianne :)

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Julie Deane May 11, 2020 - 3:57 pm

Very cute project. A couple of questions though.

1. What outdoor paint did you use that’s non-toxic, and does it have an outdoor sealer built in?

2. Does Bostick glue come in 3oz+ sizes? Is it extreme heat (think Vegas, or AZ), or extreme cold (think NY winters), Non-cracking, non shifting and possibly paintable glue?

Due to the nature of my business I have to make certain Bostick tics all the marks

Thank you,

Julie
JuJu’s Bloomers

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Sarah - Craft Invaders May 13, 2020 - 12:33 pm

Hi Julie I am in the UK so only have experience of our temps which are moderate compared to the extremes you get in the US. Here is the link for the Bostik product I used. They include a Data sheet which may help answer your questions. If not I am sure they would be happy to answer any questions you have
https://diy.bostik.com/en-UK/products/repair-assembly/power-repair

The paint I used https://plasti-kote.co.uk/products again they have data sheets you can download for each of their products. Hope that helps, Sarah

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Kathy Mills April 26, 2020 - 8:15 pm

What size pot and saucer did u use?

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Sarah - Craft Invaders July 5, 2020 - 11:12 am

The saucer is 7 inches in diameter and the pot in 5 inches high :)

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Katherine Brown January 26, 2020 - 7:59 am

Do wasps and hornets come to get water too? I love planting a variety of flowers for the bees, but I’ve noticed wasps are attracted to some of my blooming plants. I also don’t want my little granddaughters to be stung. Yes, it happened once, on my watch!

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Sarah - Craft Invaders January 27, 2020 - 11:39 pm

Oh no, poor thing. I didn’t see any wasps or hornets use mine all last summer and we get a lot of hornets in our garden. :)

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MaryLou Eveland September 15, 2019 - 6:17 pm

How do you make sure that mosquitoes do not breed in the water or is it a problem?

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Sarah - Craft Invaders September 15, 2019 - 8:14 pm

I think because it’s so shallow and needs filling up regularly its not really a problem Marylou. Apparently mosquitoes lay their eggs on the surface of the water so letting it overflow when its filled up would also remove any that were there :)

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Julia August 15, 2019 - 3:22 pm

I’m wondering if you glued each stone/marble in place or if you just poured them in and left them where they landed ?? I love it❣️and I really want to make one!! Thanks!!

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Sarah - Craft Invaders September 4, 2019 - 8:21 am

No I left the marbles loose Julia, that way I can tip them out and rinse them through if I want :)

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