While a number of high-profile bills failed to garner enough support during the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, the designation of an official state bee sailed through both the House and Senate.

If your fall allergies have kicked in, ragweed is the likely culprit, but goldenrod often takes the blame.

Bee loss is a persistent issue throughout the state. It’s not uncommon for beekeepers to lose over half of their colonies each year — primarily during winter — due to disease, competition, poor nutrition or limited resources.

Only a small group of people have regular access to the enchanting rooftop sanctuary atop the Center on Halsted in Lakeview. Let's take a look.

Thanks to a recent update to the arboretum’s website, gardeners will find it easier to broker a love connection between plants and pollinators.

A black bear was caught on video running through the parking lot of a Gurnee daycare. Wildlife officials confirmed the sighting as the real deal.

Officials are reporting that nine of the endangered bees were found during a recent survey of Lake County forest preserves.

The bee was logged at the outset of the fourth annual Backyard Bumble Bee Count, which kicked off Saturday and runs through Aug. 1.

Supporters of the movement to save Bell Bowl Prairie, a small patch of rare remnant prairie situated within the boundaries of Chicago Rockford International Airport, say they have a simple solution that preserves the prairie and allows the airport to expand: Just move a road.

Conservationists are in a race against the clock to save a five-acre patch of rare Illinois prairie from being bulldozed as part of a 280-acre expansion of the Chicago Rockford International Airport's cargo operation.

One of North America’s most common native bumble bee species, the aptly named American bumble bee, is on the ropes. Among the threats to its survival: competition from honey bees.

Four years after the rusty patched bumble bee was placed on the endangered species list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its final recovery plan for the insect, a plan critics say manages to go too far and yet not far enough at the same time.

Illinois is known for growing corn and soybeans, but there’s another local crop some say is ready for its close up: honey. We visit a bee farm just north of Chicago that has become one of the most celebrated in the entire state.  

Clover was once commonly included in lawn seed mixes, but then gained a reputation as a weed. It’s time, horticulturalists say, to revisit clover’s environmental benefits.

From a sociological perspective, we rake because no one wants to be the neighbor with the messy lawn, but ecologically speaking, the benefits of a little mess outweigh the merits of a pristine yard.

American honeybee colonies have bounced back after a bad year, the annual beekeeping survey finds.