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Posted: Jul/09/2009 8:51 AM PST
I would be interested in what trees and shrubs honey bees use for pollen/nector in your yard. I am a new bee keeper and, although I realize the bees go far, I am putting in plants (on my 1.5 acre lot) that bees like. |
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Posted: Jul/09/2009 3:22 PM PST
I have at least one bee tree on the property, probably several, and there are certain plants here that they just love. The first 3 literally can be heard humming from all the activity. Nanking cherry. 6x6' bush, literally covered with pinkish white flowers in spring, produces small red sweet tart fruit with a big pit. The fruit are decent for munching, make a pretty good pie if you have a deseeder to get the flesh off the pits, but you have to keep the birds out of them (or you can grow them for the songbirds). Got mine from a catalog for cheap. Native bush plum. shrubby, 8-12' tall. Also covered with tiny blooms each spring; produces small thick skinned plums suitable for munching and for jam. Also from a catalog for cheap. Drawback--they will send up new young plants from the roots constantly, and will turn a section of yard into a thicket if not mowed around regularly--ought to be great for erosion control or reforestation or bank stabilization though. African Blue Basil. This is an annual except in frost free areas, and last October the one I planted as an experiment had got to 3x3' and produced tons of tiny lavendar flowers. It was the very last thing blooming last year and the wild bees were working it over so thoroughly that the bush was vibrating and humming all day--and the smell of basil was heavenly. Clover. Bees love it. Got stung on the bottom of my bare foot 2x last year by stepping on the poor bees. This started coming up wild in my yard, but seed can be bought and sowed in yards from lawn and garden centers or ordered from catalogs like (GRRRRR) Guernsey's seeds. Flowers a lot in spring, but continues to flower till nearly fall, fairly tolerant of mowing--especially the really lowgrowing dwarf white kind. Rose of sharon and perennial hibiscus. I grow these for the flowers, but the bees seem to like the long pollen-covered stamens too. Flower from midsummer on--many are blooming now. Anywhere from 3x3' (wild swamp mallow, found in wet ditches from Kentucky to southern GA), to 8' tall (a red stemmed, red flowering perennial) to standard Rose of Sharon (to 12'). Hollyhocks. Also have a long stamen, start blooming earlier than ROS/hibiscus, mine have been blooming for a month now. Get to 8' tall. Lemon Balm. Annual to 2', smells like lemon when you brush against it, flowers in late summer. |
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Posted: Jul/09/2009 5:27 PM PST
Very good, thanks! |
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Posted: Jul/10/2009 4:12 PM PST
They also love cosmos and zinnias. |
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Posted: Jul/11/2009 3:37 AM PST
My hat goes off to all bee keepers! The bees love the mimosa. When the rosemary is blooming, the bees are on every blossom. Hmmm. I wrote a poem about that a while back. I forgot about it. Bees love nandina blossoms! That's all the trees and shrubs in my yard that I can think of at the moment that attract the honey bees. Now, flowers are another matter. |
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Posted: Jul/13/2009 5:16 AM PST
How silly of me. Why didn't I think of the butterfly bush? I wanted to do some deadheading on one the other day, but the bees were all over it. I had to get out the next morning before they got there. |
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Posted: Jul/14/2009 6:26 PM PST
Hardy Hibiscus is a huge bee attractor in my yard the blooms on mine are 9-10 inches wide and the bee wont stay away from them. I dont mind the bees. When they go to seed i can send you seeds if you would like they are light pink with a red eye in the center and the bush is about 2 ft tall.They are a very pretty display as well as good for bees. |
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