dps wrote in message ...
One other note: I'm not a beekeeper, but it's my understanding that the
bees ignore stuff within about 50 feet of the hive, since that's their
dumping area. So there's no special need for specific replacement plants
in that area.

Check with your beekeeper for the accuracy of that statement.

Thanks for the tip in that direction, as all the garlic mustard that I
pulled, was downslope and within 30 feet of his hives. Perhaps he was
fearing a loss of food source in early spring, as I know he was
putting those upside down pails of sucrose solution on top of the
hives, for some time. Also he would comment on the cold spring here in
Milwaukee.
None the less, the beekeeper knows a fellow beekeeper who has an
established feed garden next to his hives, and he thought it was a
cool, if somewhat limited, idea. Actually, he figured he couldn't feed
many bees off the area I cleared.
At one point I specifically asked him about the use of Round Up over
in the Nature Preserve, from the point of view of the bees. Would
Round Up harm the bees if used, say, a mile away? His response was
that whereas he rents the land, other hobbyist beekeepers who do own
their own land will spray the entire area around the hive just to keep
it clear.(Therefore, my proposed pesticide use wouldn't hurt the
bees.) Clearing the immediate area of vegetation seems counter to
growing a bee food garden in the close in zone, where I was.
I'll let you know what he says. As for my own ideas for that slope, I
am thinking stablization. Virginia creeper & grapevines are all over
down there, it should fill in.
Molly Zone 5a
Milwaukee