Hello to rec.gardens after a long abscense.
I have been duking it out with removing Garlic Mustard from a Nature
Preserve. There are 11 beehives just next to the Nature Preserve. I am
looking for a bee friendly replacement for the Mustard, but most
clovers seem unsuitable for the site. The beekeeper requested big
white clover, I assume sweet, but I rule it out in that it will take
over the Nature Preserve just like the Garlic Mustard did. Ladino
clover has come up in my searches. I have 2 areas I can plant. One is
on a semi shady hillside that has bunches of rotten logs tossed down
into it, this soil is rich. The other area the soil is middling but is
in the sun, with an existant pasture. I'd toss the sweet white clover
seed out there any day. Any bee friendly plant ideas out there?

Molly
Zone 5a Milwaukee

Molly wrote:
Hello to rec.gardens after a long abscense.
I have been duking it out with removing Garlic Mustard from a Nature
Preserve. There are 11 beehives just next to the Nature Preserve. I am
looking for a bee friendly replacement for the Mustard, but most
clovers seem unsuitable for the site. The beekeeper requested big
white clover...



It sounds like they're not your bees. You have no responsibility to feed
them. Considering that bees will fly up to 2 miles (possibly more,
depending on the breed) to gather food, your nature preserve (unless
it's very large) is probably only a small fraction of their food supply.
Since the hives are on the border, it's probably less than half (some
bees will fly in the other direction). Of course if there is a food
supply close by, they will take advantage of it.

Is this beekeeper a commercial operation or just a hobby beekeeper? 11
hives is more than the average hobbyist keeps. I assume he sells honey.
In that case, it's in his interest to provide a supply of food that will
produce tasty honey. Clover is high on the list.

Have you considered something like dutch white clover? It's a low
growing plant, not suitable for hayfields. We use it in walkways. I
suspect that it wouldn't produce as much useful nectar as the larger
plant, but that's just a guess on my part.

What is the purpose of the nature preserve? Is it a wild area or is it a
park or is it something in between? Are you trying to attract wildlife
or human occupation? Do you want a lawn or a food source for wildlife
(other than the bees)?

Xref: kermit rec.gardens:287509

Honey bees seem to like oregano plants.


"Molly" wrote in message
om...
Hello to rec.gardens after a long abscense.
I have been duking it out with removing Garlic Mustard from a Nature
Preserve. There are 11 beehives just next to the Nature Preserve. I am
looking for a bee friendly replacement for the Mustard, but most
clovers seem unsuitable for the site. The beekeeper requested big
white clover, I assume sweet, but I rule it out in that it will take
over the Nature Preserve just like the Garlic Mustard did. Ladino
clover has come up in my searches. I have 2 areas I can plant. One is
on a semi shady hillside that has bunches of rotten logs tossed down
into it, this soil is rich. The other area the soil is middling but is
in the sun, with an existant pasture. I'd toss the sweet white clover
seed out there any day. Any bee friendly plant ideas out there?

Molly
Zone 5a Milwaukee

Look at these sites for info:
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/

These will tolerate poor-ish dry soils. Here's a list for sunny areas:

Lavender Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Red Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa
All Gaillardia - Gaillardia sp.
Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
All sunflowers - Helianthus sp.
All lupines - Lupinus sp.
All blazing star - Liatris sp.
Beebalm - Monarda sp.
Purple Prairie Clover - Petalostemum purpureum
Mountain Mint - Pycnanthemum virginianum
All coneflowers - Ratibida sp. & Rudbeckia sp. & Echinacea sp.
All goldenrod - Solidago sp.
New York Ironweed - Vernonia noveboracensis

Here's a list for shady areas:

Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Nodding Wild Onion - Allium cernuum
New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus
Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa

Hope this was helpful.

dps wrote in message ...
Molly wrote:
Hello to rec.gardens after a long abscense.
I have been duking it out with removing Garlic Mustard from a Nature
Preserve. There are 11 beehives just next to the Nature Preserve. I am
looking for a bee friendly replacement for the Mustard, but most
clovers seem unsuitable for the site. The beekeeper requested big
white clover...



It sounds like they're not your bees. You have no responsibility to feed
them. Considering that bees will fly up to 2 miles (possibly more,
depending on the breed) to gather food, your nature preserve (unless
it's very large) is probably only a small fraction of their food supply.
Since the hives are on the border, it's probably less than half (some
bees will fly in the other direction). Of course if there is a food
supply close by, they will take advantage of it.

Is this beekeeper a commercial operation or just a hobby beekeeper? 11
hives is more than the average hobbyist keeps. I assume he sells honey.
In that case, it's in his interest to provide a supply of food that will
produce tasty honey. Clover is high on the list.

Have you considered something like dutch white clover? It's a low
growing plant, not suitable for hayfields. We use it in walkways. I
suspect that it wouldn't produce as much useful nectar as the larger
plant, but that's just a guess on my part.

What is the purpose of the nature preserve? Is it a wild area or is it a
park or is it something in between? Are you trying to attract wildlife
or human occupation? Do you want a lawn or a food source for wildlife
(other than the bees)?

A food source for other wildlive would be in keeping with the notion
of having some crop out there that's feeding the bees, too, but I do
not require a forage crop. Those deer in there find enough already
without my help. I'll look into Dutch White Clover, perhaps Alsike.

Beekeeper is a hobbyist, once was commercial. He rents this spot
across from our Airport, and the Airport is their primary restaurant.
No, I got to know the guyw while weeding around his hives. He gave me
some honey, he asked for Big White Clover in return. I won't plant an
invasive that close to an area where my more advanced peers can count
159 species of plants. It's a 42 acre park, it has a special
protection on it, designating it as a Natural Preserve. No swingsets,
this is just to experiece to woods in. This is the only Milwaukee Park
to have that honor. This was granted due to increasing pressure from
the Airport to clear cut the place and use all of parkland as an
emergency landing corridor. Roughly, I figure 30 acres did get the axe
for that purpose.

Molly Zone 5a

"Heaven Spent" wrote in message news:PRWKc.134308$Oq2.77792@attbi_s52...
Honey bees seem to like oregano plants.
Thanks. The Greek Oregano in our garden could stand to be split. Very vigorous.
Molly Zone 5a


"Molly" wrote in message
om...
Hello to rec.gardens after a long abscense.
I have been duking it out with removing Garlic Mustard from a Nature
Preserve. There are 11 beehives just next to the Nature Preserve. I am
looking for a bee friendly replacement for the Mustard, but most
clovers seem unsuitable for the site. The beekeeper requested big
white clover, I assume sweet, but I rule it out in that it will take
over the Nature Preserve just like the Garlic Mustard did. Ladino
clover has come up in my searches. I have 2 areas I can plant. One is
on a semi shady hillside that has bunches of rotten logs tossed down
into it, this soil is rich. The other area the soil is middling but is
in the sun, with an existant pasture. I'd toss the sweet white clover
seed out there any day. Any bee friendly plant ideas out there?

Molly
Zone 5a Milwaukee

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.

The bees that come to my Frequent Flyers "meadow" like gaillardia, goldenrod
and New England asters

Emilie
NorCal

I have a large perinial garden full of nothing but wild flower seed
just packets of various seeds all mixed wild flowers asters daisies
black eyed susans and bunches of others I love to watch butterflies
and this was my purpose in planting a sort of whild lookign bed with
wild flowers I live half a mile from a farm which keeps honey beeds
for education and for honey they mark their bees from each hive to
track their movement and to keep a little record of the bees I offten
see bunches of the little guys on my wild flowers and I sit with my
daughter and watch bugs for hours their because she loves them so may
be just a mix of wild flowers indiginous to your area wil work and
just be sort of pretty and varied and attrack other insects like
butterflies I get cabbage butterflies eastren monarchs eastren black
swallow tails and painted ladies in zone six and bunches of honey
bees so hope that helps
good luck I like bees they are a wonder
michelle
On 19 Jul 2004 17:31:53 -0700, (Pen) wrote:

Look at these sites for info:
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/

These will tolerate poor-ish dry soils. Here's a list for sunny areas:

Lavender Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Red Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa
All Gaillardia - Gaillardia sp.
Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
All sunflowers - Helianthus sp.
All lupines - Lupinus sp.
All blazing star - Liatris sp.
Beebalm - Monarda sp.
Purple Prairie Clover - Petalostemum purpureum
Mountain Mint - Pycnanthemum virginianum
All coneflowers - Ratibida sp. & Rudbeckia sp. & Echinacea sp.
All goldenrod - Solidago sp.
New York Ironweed - Vernonia noveboracensis

Here's a list for shady areas:

Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Nodding Wild Onion - Allium cernuum
New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus
Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa

Hope this was helpful.

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

(Pen) wrote in message . com...
Look at these sites for info:
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/

These will tolerate poor-ish dry soils. Here's a list for sunny areas:

Lavender Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Red Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa
All Gaillardia - Gaillardia sp.
Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
All sunflowers - Helianthus sp.
All lupines - Lupinus sp.
All blazing star - Liatris sp.
Beebalm - Monarda sp.
Purple Prairie Clover - Petalostemum purpureum
Mountain Mint - Pycnanthemum virginianum
All coneflowers - Ratibida sp. & Rudbeckia sp. & Echinacea sp.
All goldenrod - Solidago sp.
New York Ironweed - Vernonia noveboracensis

Here's a list for shady areas:

Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Nodding Wild Onion - Allium cernuum
New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus
Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa

Hope this was helpful.

Thanks, got some of this stuff in the immediate area. I need to get a
little handier with my seed collecting, propagation. There's gonna be
a big blast of Garlic Mustard in there next year, Year 2, also. I'd
just squish the good guys as I stumble around the hill. I can take
time on this project.
Molly Zone 5a
Milwaukee

(Pen) wrote in message . com...
Look at these sites for info:
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/

These will tolerate poor-ish dry soils. Here's a list for sunny areas:

Lavender Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Red Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa
All Gaillardia - Gaillardia sp.
Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
All sunflowers - Helianthus sp.
All lupines - Lupinus sp.
All blazing star - Liatris sp.
Beebalm - Monarda sp.
Purple Prairie Clover - Petalostemum purpureum
Mountain Mint - Pycnanthemum virginianum
All coneflowers - Ratibida sp. & Rudbeckia sp. & Echinacea sp.
All goldenrod - Solidago sp.
New York Ironweed - Vernonia noveboracensis

Here's a list for shady areas:

Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Nodding Wild Onion - Allium cernuum
New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus
Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa

Hope this was helpful.

Thanks, got some of this stuff in the immediate area. I need to get a
little handier with my seed collecting, propagation. There's gonna be
a big blast of Garlic Mustard in there next year, Year 2, also. I'd
just squish the good guys as I stumble around the hill. I can take
time on this project.
Molly Zone 5a
Milwaukee

(Pen) wrote in message . com...
Look at these sites for info:
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/
http://www.prairiehabitats.com/

These will tolerate poor-ish dry soils. Here's a list for sunny areas:

Lavender Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Red Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa
All Gaillardia - Gaillardia sp.
Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
All sunflowers - Helianthus sp.
All lupines - Lupinus sp.
All blazing star - Liatris sp.
Beebalm - Monarda sp.
Purple Prairie Clover - Petalostemum purpureum
Mountain Mint - Pycnanthemum virginianum
All coneflowers - Ratibida sp. & Rudbeckia sp. & Echinacea sp.
All goldenrod - Solidago sp.
New York Ironweed - Vernonia noveboracensis

Here's a list for shady areas:

Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis
Nodding Wild Onion - Allium cernuum
New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus
Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa

Hope this was helpful.

Thanks, got some of this stuff in the immediate area. I need to get a
little handier with my seed collecting, propagation. There's gonna be
a big blast of Garlic Mustard in there next year, Year 2, also. I'd
just squish the good guys as I stumble around the hill. I can take
time on this project.
Molly Zone 5a
Milwaukee

In article ,
dps wrote:

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.

I doubt that is true since bees are quite happy to take sugar
water place that close to their hives.

In article , () wrote:

In article ,
dps wrote:

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.

I doubt that is true since bees are quite happy to take sugar
water place that close to their hives.

Bees have a flight language to communicate to other bees where they found
good stuff. According to The Dance Language & Orientation of Bees, by Karl
von Frisch, the figure eight flight pattern means "close to the hive," &
repeating the figure eight several times in succession means "Oh my god
LOTS of nectar close to the hive."

Also, while honeybees hunt a great distance, most of our gardens are
pollinated by smaller sorts of bees which have surprisingly finite hunting
areas, often not even going as far as the other side of the garden!

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com