Best Plants to attract bees.
 

Have setup an artificial bee-hive.

What plants are suggested to attract bees?

Brian

Best Plants to attract bees.
 

tvrchimaera wrote:
Have setup an artificial bee-hive.

What plants are suggested to attract bees?

Brian

Artificial bees don't need plants , just dust 'em off every once in a
while .

Snag
I have REAL bees ... if in fact you do too , go to www.beesource.com and
find a wealth of information . As far as bee-attractive plants , they like
pretty much anything that has a flower . The problem is that you'd need like
5 acres in bee forage plants to make much difference .

Best Plants to attract bees.
 

Terry Coombs wrote:
....
I have REAL bees ... if in fact you do too , go to www.beesource.com and
find a wealth of information . As far as bee-attractive plants , they like
pretty much anything that has a flower . The problem is that you'd need like
5 acres in bee forage plants to make much difference .

a mix of flowers that bloom from the earliest
spring time to the latest fall.

and even a little can help, especially for the
smaller and more diverse native bee species.

we don't have five acres here, but i see a
great deal of bee activity from many species
through the whole season. it depends a lot upon
what else is around that bees might find. in
this area, not much is blooming other than a
few weeds along the ditches so the bees are
not finding much food elsewhere, corn doesn't do
much for them as compared to a diverse planting.

for early season flowers we have crocus and
some real early irises (which are out now at
last). then we go into daffodils, tulips, more
early irises, hyacynths, strawberries, honeysuckle,
clover, alfalfa, trefoil, dandelion, chicory, ...
the latest blooming plants we see here are the
asters.

most planting guides will give you a range of
time when a plant "normally" blooms, but that can
vary somewhat season to season.


songbird

Best Plants to attract bees.
 

songbird wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
...
I have REAL bees ... if in fact you do too , go to www.beesource.com
and find a wealth of information . As far as bee-attractive plants ,
they like pretty much anything that has a flower . The problem is
that you'd need like 5 acres in bee forage plants to make much
difference .

a mix of flowers that bloom from the earliest
spring time to the latest fall.

and even a little can help, especially for the
smaller and more diverse native bee species.

we don't have five acres here, but i see a
great deal of bee activity from many species
through the whole season. it depends a lot upon
what else is around that bees might find. in
this area, not much is blooming other than a
few weeds along the ditches so the bees are
not finding much food elsewhere, corn doesn't do
much for them as compared to a diverse planting.

for early season flowers we have crocus and
some real early irises (which are out now at
last). then we go into daffodils, tulips, more
early irises, hyacynths, strawberries, honeysuckle,
clover, alfalfa, trefoil, dandelion, chicory, ...
the latest blooming plants we see here are the
asters.

most planting guides will give you a range of
time when a plant "normally" blooms, but that can
vary somewhat season to season.


songbird

I have seeds for a variety of bee-friendly plants , and one of the things
I looked at was timing/duration of bloom . It looks like everything is about
to happen at once here . The bee hive needs to be split , the seedlings all
need to be planted , and I need to get the rest of the direct-seeded stuff
in the ground . And the damn Anaheim peppers still haven't germinated .

--
Snag

Best Plants to attract bees.
 

On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 21:56:17 +0200, tvrchimaera wrote:

Have setup an artificial bee-hive.

What plants are suggested to attract bees?

Brian

Clover is a good one for early spring. You might not be able to find it
at your local garden center though. Most of the time is grows wild in
peoples lawns.
Bebalm is another one for late spring/early summer. Given the right
conditions it can spread so you may need to keep an eye on it.