Cheerios Will Give You Free Wildflower Seeds To Help You Save The Bees

But it’s not all grim news. General Mills is launching a #BringBackTheBees campaign. A cornerstone of the campaign is a wildflower seed giveaway. Families can place a free order for the courtesy wildflower seeds, which are from Vesey’s Seeds.

Cheerios wants to give away 100 million wildflower seeds to ultimately help the bee population—make sure you get your free seeds today!

So why wildflowers?

Pollinators need wildflower pollen and nectar to thrive, and conservationists recommend planting the flowers to help support the bee population.

Get free flowers and help the bees? Sounds like a win-win to us.

But if you need a little more convincing, here are some facts to digest over breakfast: One in three bites of food we eat is made possible by bees and other pollinators, according to a study cited by General Mills. But, what’s concerning is that 42 percent of bee colonies in the U.S. collapsed in 2015, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The wildflower seed giveaway is the next step that General Mills is taking to help protect our pollinators. Last spring, Honey Nut Cheerios announced that by the end of 2020, farms that grow oats for Cheerios will house about 3,300 acres of dedicated pollinator habitat, which has the potential to double the number of bees in the area, according to a news release.

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If you’re ready to start growing wildflowers, here’s a few tips from Vesey’s: Plant in the spring, post-frost. Choose a non-windy day to plant your seeds. Wildflowers flourish in moist soil. Be sure to weed your garden. Also, mow high in the fall and leave seed-rich clippings behind.