Bees are attracted to certain colors, nectar, and pollen. Bees cannot see the color red, therefor bats, birds, butterflies or the wind pollinate red flowers. One solution to reduce the number of bees in your yard could be to use non-blooming plants with colorful foliage and intersperse plantings with red flowers. Planting red annuals would give you season long color as opposed to the limited bloom time of perennials. You could try to lure bees away from your yard by planting plants that attract them in a far corner of your property . There really is no way to totally 'bee proof' your yard. Below are a couple of quotes from websites I came across while researching your question. I could not find any scientific research on the subject, so bear in mind that this information is anecdotal or based on experience. http://www.naturehills.com/new/articles/to_bee_or_not_to_bee.aspx Bees are attracted to blue, purple, yellow and white. Old-fashion shrubs with nectar-rich blossoms like lilac, honeysuckle and azalea are bee magnets. Heirloom flowers like cosmos, zinnia, aster and daisies lure them with the promise of pollen. Herbs such as mint, hyssop, salvia, lavender and thyme are covered with bees during bloom time. To reduce bee activity, plant double-petal varieties of flowers like marigold, geranium, mums and roses whose nectar and pollen has been bred out of them. Lastly it is said that bees like the color red the least. http://newsblaze.com/story/20050621225119nnnn.nb/topstory.html - Story published in News Blaze about how Louis Raymond, Principal of Renaissance Gardening, Ltd., New York, NY created a 'Bee Wary' garden for some clients whose children were allergic to bee venom. His research indicated: "One gardener, for instance, mentioned never having seen bees around Japanese anemones, and this beautiful white flower initiated a list of potential suspects. Ferns predate the whole strategy of pollination. Magnolia is so ancient that it evolved before flying insects, and is pollinated strictly by crawling insects. Bamboo, like all grasses, is wind-pollinated. Trumpet vines, of course, are famous for being pollinated by hummingbirds, and Louis recalled that slugs pollinate ginger. Thus, through research and networking, Louis detected a range of plants, a palette of colors and variety of forms of stunning grace and harmony all of no interest to bees".

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