All the buzz about North America’s bees.

Honey bees get all the press, but the fascinating story of North America’s native bees—an endangered species essential to our ecosystems and food supplies—is just as crucial. Our Native Bees is the result of Paige Embry’s yearlong quest to learn more about these forgotten, yet fundamental, creatures.

Through interviews with farmers, gardeners, scientists, and bee experts, Embry explores the importance of native bees and focuses on why they play a key role in gardening and agriculture. The people and stories are compelling: Embry goes on a bee hunt with the world expert on the likely extinct Franklin’s bumble bee, raises blue orchard bees in her refrigerator, and learns about an organization that turns the out-of-play areas in golf courses into pollinator habitats.

For bee enthusiasts and anyone who us curious about the natural world, Our Native Bees is an illuminating exploration of the pollinators essential to our survival.

Paige Embry has a B.S. in geology from Duke University and an M.S. in geology from the University of Montana. She is a horticulture professional who has had a garden design and coaching business, taught how-to-garden classes at a local community college, and still teaches a class on soils for the horticulture department in Edmonds, Washington. She blogs about pollinators at www.honeybeescantpollinatetomatoes.com and has written articles for Horticulture, The American Gardener, and more. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.