![hive defender chest hive defender chest](https://static.icy-veins.com/images/thumbnails/b034f727137fc4f2ff543b2cb81b17cd00f50d971672a2ed6d747b2ea8fa3dac.jpg)
"The tomato flower is a salt-and-pepper shaker-type structure, pollen needs to be shaken out of the flower," Ms Hogendoorn said. Native bees are essential for pollinating plants that honey bees cannot, including tomatoes. ( Australian National Botanic Gardens) Blue-banded bee delivers juicier, tastier tomatoes The blue banded bee is native to the Canberra region and is essential for pollinating tomato plants. There are more than 1,600 known species of native bees and hundreds yet to be identified. "They are small and somewhat indistinct, but once you know what you're looking for, you will actually see them all over the place," Ms Harding said. Most do not sting, and those that do deliver only a mild sting compared to their European counterparts. Native bees are smaller and quieter than honey bees. "Some only live for six weeks as an adult, so they've got six weeks to lay all their eggs. Researcher Katja Hogendoorn from the University of Adelaide said native bees were fickle so the hotel had a variety of accommodation on offer. The bee hotel looks like a wooden bookcase filled with little rooms made from pieces of wood with holes, bamboo sticks, open flower stalks, mud bricks and curled bark. there's often not a lot of habitat left for native bees." "So rather than a hive, they actually need to lay their eggs or make what we call their brood cell in the hollows of twigs or in little burrows in the ground. "Most people don't realise that Australian native bees rarely are social," she said. Jo Harding from nature discovery project Bush Blitz said living a solitary life could prove problematic for native bees in urban environments. The Australian National Botanic Gardens wants to help Canberra's native bee population feel more at home by providing a hotel equipped with individual "rooms". When we think of bees we usually think of swarms and busy hives, but most Australian native bees actually prefer to live alone.