Are you aware of the Neo-nicotinoid pesticides/insecticides used in Australia that are killing bees, products such as Confidor have active ingredients that stay active for a long time. It seems that retail nurseries use these regularly. I checked with the National Botanical Gardens in Canberra and they don’t use these, in fact use hardly any chemicals.
I suspect that most plants sold in retail outlets especially any of the large ones would sell plants with this poison.
It could be good to alert people on your email list so that we are not inadvertently buying plants for our gardens that are harming bees.
I’m canvassing my local retailers to find out what they use and if they are aware of the devastating effect of these products.
This is a list of the names of chemicals in this category:
Acetamiprid
Clothianidin
Dinotefuran
Imidacloprid
Nitenpyram
Thiocloprid
Thiamethoxam
Here are some websites I referred to:
http://www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/
http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/ipm/what-is-a-neonicotinoid/
http://www.planthealthaustralia.com.au/about-us/events/neonicotinoids-and-other-insecticides/