To help the wild bees, I can't think of anything better than your suggestion, to plant things they like - preferably native plants that native bees like. The native bees may well not be subject to the pestilences of honeybees. I haven't heard of harvester bees - unless they are the same as carpenter bees that live in holes in wood, and are significant pollinators.
If you ever thought of keeping bees, I would tell you, as you put it, that your were nuts. But then that's something of a prerequisite. C. P. Dadant, an ancient bee guru said, "Beekeeping is a business that requires the greatest amount of attention to small details ... The good beekeeper is generally more or less cranky."
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.