I have 4 hives and have had as many as six in my 75ft sq backyard which is right in town with houses a driveway's width away on 2 sides. Check local ordinances and visit the local library for beekeeping books. There is also quite a bit of information on the internet about plants that honeybees like. A few that come to mind are any of the mints,oregano, dandelion, buckwheat,sunflowers. You can plant collards, leave them in the ground and they will bolt to seed the second year, producing pretty yellow flowers that bees really like. You can naturalize an area depending on where you live with plants like pussywillow, goldenrod,sweet white clover(not the typical short clover)milkweed, tansy,etc. here's an informative link good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WHMI/WEB/pdf/TechnicalLeaflets/NativePolinators.pdf

Wow, I feel really bad. I had a bee hive in my small backyard for the last 3 yrs. As a big gardener and have a wonderful backyard, I enjoyed watching and learning about the bee's, but mostly enjoyed how good my garden looked. The bees found me. They made a perfect home in my back stucko wall capped with alittle dry rot wood. Perfect place. I left them alone until just yesterday. I had to get rid of them. I had a contractor who happened to be a beekeeper rip out my wall, took out a 24x6ft cone with many layers and sucked up the bee's with the queen and took to another place to set up their home. Just for him to move them cost me $400.00 but I had about $2500.00 worth of damage to my wall. Even so, I will sure miss them come spring. Now I have a hugh grave yard in my garden to clean up. Proud to say most bees were saved.

You can purchase a small decorative hive body for your garden,however, the bees will reproduce and potentially swarm with the best of management.

Tom