Planting your garden especially for bees

solargain

If you were just starting out a new garden what would you plant for honey bees to ensure an ample pollen supply for the colony all year round?

Oldtree

I have started with Willows which are a very early source of nectar in the year. They are very easy to grow and provide shelter and privacy very quickly and do well on most sites, BUT give them a bit of space unless you intent to prune them regularly.

brianmc

solargain wrote: »

If you were just starting out a new garden what would you plant for honey bees to ensure an ample pollen supply for the colony all year round?

Disclaimer: I'm not a gardener so my answer is pretty general...

I'll start with a useless answer...

I think it's a great idea to plant your garden with helping bees in mind, however, don't be fooled into thinking that your garden will have much impact on a particular colony that you have, even if they're in your garden.

If your garden is several acres big and you can plant the whole lot then perhaps I am wrong but an average garden by itself will have little impact on a colony.

That said, all of the people who plant their garden with bees in mind, combined, will have an big impact and so I'm not trying to discourage you... People are often disappointed when they've planted up some useful forage in their garden but their bees fly off across the fields and ignore it. Bees will measure the value of pollen and nectar before deciding on which source to concentrate. Despite having a lot of carefully planted crocus in your garden they may decide they prefer the willow tree half a mile away.

Trees make a big impact when they mature... A mature chestnut tree would certainly be a significant resource for a colony of bees for the short period it is in bloom.


Anyhow...

Early in the year pollen sources are more important for bees because they are trying to build up the colony, increasing the amount of new young bees they are producing. This needs a lot of protein - and so, pollen. Often there is not a lot of pollen available in March/April.

Early pollen sources would mostly come from willow and hazel tree catkins, but bees will happily use pollen from snowdrop and crocus as well but again it is tough to plant enough snowdrops/crocus to be of significance (by yourself).

A little later, the main pollen sources would be blackthorn, oil seed rape, hawthorn, dandelion, chestnut... Not really "gardeners plants" I suppose but as I said, I'm not really a gardener.

In June (it was early June this year and only for a short while) beekeepers talk about the June gap... a period between the forage plants listed above blooming and the later season forage coming into bloom. If you could focus on finding flowers offering a good pollen and nectar source through June, that could be significant to helping a colony through that period in particular.

After the June gap we have another natural flow in Ireland - mostly clover and blackberry and from there then into late season with heather and the most significant nectar and pollen source before winter - ivy.

The ivy flow (and if you're lucky, heather flow) late in the season is important to the colony because they need to go into the winter with strong colonies of young winter bees (pollen needed) and they need to have enough stores to get them through to next year (nectar for honey).


I suspect maybe you knew all of this but others might find it interesting...

In short, I don't know of what interesting garden plants you could add to our natural sources but try not to strip back too much of the natural forage... bramble... ivy... white clover... dandelion etc. and you'll be starting on the right foot. Trees are the easy way to make an impact and bear in mind the tricky times... early season (a lot of pollen needed), June gap and late season.

Also, bear in mind that certain flowers can be used by honey bees and certain flowers can't. Some flowers may be useful to butterflies or bumble bees but honey bees with their shorter tongues (or for other reasons) may not be able to exploit that source.

Rhododendron is an interesting case... honey bees won't forage on it but bumble bees will... the reason... it turns out... is because rhododendron nectar is quite toxic to honey bees and they're smart enough not to kill themselves. Bumble bees can use it as a great resource.


Perhaps a gardener will come along now and give some interesting suggestions!

Oldtree

The common dog rose is a bee magnet and they love it. The white dog rose is hardier and in general this plant is very easy to grow. If the rose hips are cut off as you go along in the summer it will continue to flower. I generally let the hips form from September as the birds love them.

Over the last while the bees have been at the poppies.

For later in the year I allow some of my spare broccoli to flower in the veg beds as it does so in one of the gap times.

Oldtree

The RHS is always a good source of info for gardeners. They have compiled two downloadable plant lists to help gardeners identify plants that will provide nectar and pollen for bees and many other types of pollinating insects:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversi ty/wildlife/encourage-wildlife-to-your-garden/plants-for-pollinators

I am of the belief that every little bit makes a difference when it comes to habitats. In my tiny London garden (40 foot by 16 foot) I had an old coal bucket with nettles and wild flowers. Every bucket counts

Day Lewin

in my garden, right now, the bees are whizzing in to get at the Nepeta (catnip) still in a pot from the shop, stood on a table on the terrace
It is not mythology that they also love Borage, it is always covered in bees, as is Lavender and Alkanet, and even Nasturtiums.

Oldtree

I have a bit of comfrey growing for the compost and bees love too, so I let it finish flowering before I cut it and add to the compost. It then generally flowers a second time later in the year.

my3cents

Vipers bugloss, ours are covered in bees atm.

I can't post a link but a quick google will give plenty of good links.

Vipers bugloss, Echium vulgare a native wild flower afaik is a bit better at attracting bees than its bigger more tender non native cousin Echium pininana, but both are good.

They are biennial but once you've had a few in flower you get plenty of seedlings and the tight rosettes of Echium vulgare are easy to spot.

brianmc

There might be some inspiration in this list on Wikipedia of (admittedly North American) forage sources for honey bees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_American_nectar_sources_for_honey_bees

When people start talking about flowers and plants that are loved by bees, I'm never certain whether they're talking about honey bees specifically or bees in general... not that other bees aren't important too.

brianmc

katemarch wrote: »

in my garden, right now, the bees are whizzing in to get at the Nepeta (catnip) still in a pot from the shop, stood on a table on the terrace
It is not mythology that they also love Borage, it is always covered in bees, as is Lavender and Alkanet, and even Nasturtiums.

In some countries Borage is grown as an agricultural crop, similar in use to oil seed rape (oils and animal fodder). The beekeepers in those areas love it.

Oldtree

brianmc wrote: »

When people start talking about flowers and plants that are loved by bees, I'm never certain whether they're talking about honey bees specifically or bees in general... not that other bees aren't important too.

brianmc could you get a collection organised of clear photos of all the different types of bees in Ireland over the next while and we can do an ID photo list here, perhaps with a note of specific easily ID'ed differences for each bee. Perhaps if you could start a new thread and after we have a comprehensive list I will add them in one neat post in the resources thread?

fada amach

I have a few sedums growing in my garden and my bees love them.
Bumble bees and butterflys also abound on these.
The old Hollyhock is also a favourite with the bees and best of all it has
a very long flowering period. Both of these plants are simple to grow in youre garden.

solargain

The flow stopped this year at the end of July & around here there wasn't much else for them until the ivy opened mid September. I don't have a June gap here but this year there was an August one. I would like to plant some shrubs that flower in August for the honey bees

ravima

saw no honeybee in my garden this year. Quite a few bumble bees, but no honey bee. Thats worrying!

lucylu

I have given up sowing specific plants for our bees!
Our honeybees are located approx 300 meters away from my garden.
I have an orchard of approx 16 trees.. did the bees come to visit.. no. but they lit on the Crab apple tree across the road.
I have approx 40 lavender plants ..not good enough either.. the bumble bees love it though!
Borage in the herb garden too..they totally ignored that too..
In my greenhouse I had my Wax extractor.. one day I went out to do some watering to find it full of bees.. they were after the honey from the extractor..

I have a small leaf lime tree sown but it will be a few years before that flowers..

philmcd

I would be inclined to agree, my hives are no more than 50 meters from the house, I have all the required cottage gardens plants, which the bumble bees and hover flies love.
I have only ever seen one honeybee on a lavender bush once.

Joe Brennan

The same happened to me very few bees came to my garden all summer & the hives are approx. 300 mts from my garden. But my Neighbours plants & shrubs were covered with my bees, so strange

killintime

some nice info will give some a try tks