Development and Evaluation of a Web Application for Attracting Bees to Your Garden

An online application called BeeGardens was developed for users to quickly access over 85 bee-friendly plants that attract 12 primary bee groups and ways to incorporate these into different landscape designs. The functionality and usefulness of the app was evaluated by students enrolled in two courses: Florida Native Landscaping or Annual and Perennial Gardening, taught in different semesters. Before and after the semester, students were asked to report their perceived confidence to (1) identify bee-friendly plants, (2) identify bee pollinators, and (3) design a bee-friendly garden, using a Likert scale with responses ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Means of pre- and post-test self-reported responses showed a significant confidence gain upon using the BeeGardens online application in both courses. Students in Annual and Perennial Gardening and Florida Native Landscaping were 1.26 and 1.34 times, respectively, more confident in their ability to identify pollinator plants, identify bee pollinators, and design bee gardens after using the web application. These data were consistent with pre- and post-tested means where students were asked to identify three major pollinator plants and three major pollinators using multiple choice response options. Test scores increased by 26.3% and 37.9% in Annual and Perennial Gardening and Florida Native Landscaping, respectively. The majority of students (95.0%) agreed or strongly agreed this learning tool was organized, easy to navigate, and would use it in the future. Since its launch in 2021, BeeGardens has averaged 1201 unique visits per month, revealing its popularity and wide use.