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mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 13968
Location: mid-Wales
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 Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 10:13 am Post subject: Flowers for (mainly) bees |
 
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This thread is for just what it says in the title. I'd like a list of flowers, month by month, that are useful for insects that need pollen and nectar as well as general hints and ideas for growing them.
So I'll start off with:
HINT: grow single flowers rather than double. Some doubles are sterile and have no pollen or nectar, while others have so many petals the insects can't get at them.
PLANTS:
September: Sedums: there are plenty, but the most common is Sedum spectabile, the ice plant. Bees love it!
Eupatorium: Joe Pye weed. About 6' tall with lovely pink fluff, currently packed with beees and buttterflies.
Ivy: Hedera helix, but it's the mature plant with simple leaves that flowers. Later has berries that are useful at mid-winter for decoration.
October: Aster species and varieties: the Michaelmas daisies. Colours from white to deep purple, heights from ground cover to 4' tall. Some flower earlier and one lasts until November.
Right, who's got some more then? |
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colour it green
Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 2949
Location: Devon, uk
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 10:23 am Post subject: |
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buddleia erm... July august? |
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GSHP
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 653
Location: Devon
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 10:43 am Post subject: |
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Most popular this year and still in flower;
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
and majoram.
Earlier in the year and mostly attracts bumble bees - Globe artichoke. |
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jocorless
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 4354
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 38250
Location: Essex
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 11:12 am Post subject: |
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Fennel |
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yummersetter
Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 1408
Location: Somerset<>West London
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 11:26 am Post subject: |
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borage - June to October, I reckon
It had decided to replace our small lawn so we had a 12 foot square patch of it and from sunrise to sunset it was full of bees.
And lavender. |
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 2890
Location: South Cornwall
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 11:58 am Post subject: |
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Buddleia is good for butterflies & some bumble bees but honey bees tongues aren't long enough to reach the nectar, same applies to honeysuckle despite its name.
My bees love working the hebes.
Willow is a valuable provider of early pollen necessary for brood development & some of the ornamental varieties have beautiful stem colour.
Early flowers like primroses, snowdrops, helebours & narcissus.
Letting the dandelions & clover to bloom in your lawn.
& as in Mochyms other thread the ivy is fantastic.
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GSHP
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 653
Location: Devon
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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'The bee friendly garden' - book by Ted Hooper and Mike Taylor is a useful reference book. |
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jocorless
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 4354
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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Cotoneaster is one they go mad for when its in flower in June |
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mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 13968
Location: mid-Wales
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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| jocorless wrote: |
| Cotoneaster is one they go mad for when its in flower in June |
It drives them mad, doesn't it?  |
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match
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 40
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 09 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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Things the bees here seem to always be bringing pollen in from are (excluding trees):
Lemon Balm - Aug/Sept
Lupin - July/Aug
Flowering Currant - June/July
Dead Nettles - July/Aug
Ivy early winter
Evening Primrose July/Aug
Rock Rose July/Aug
And the ones you probably don't want to plant 
Meadowsweet - July/Aug
Rosebay Willow Herb - July/Aug
Dandelions - May/June/July
Himalayan Balsam - July/Aug
Oilseed Rape - March/April/May/June
Knapweed - June/July
Thistles - July/Aug/Sept
Field Scabious - July/August |
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 11310
Location: Bucks
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 09 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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in my garden - campanula, thyme, borage and lavender. Probably other I haven't noticed, I don't really pay enough attention to my garden. |
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Millymollymandy
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 157
Location: Brittany, France
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 09 6:38 am Post subject: |
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Lime trees for bees, also Mimosa which flowers very early.
Verbena bonariensis for butterflies and hummingbird hawkmoth. |
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The.Grange
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 937
Location: Derbyshire
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 09 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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lavendar - we have a lavendar hedge always covered with bees even weird odd looking fellows like the humming bee |
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colour it green
Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 2949
Location: Devon, uk
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| Posted: Mon Oct 19, 09 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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bees are loving the michaelmas daisies in the garden at the mo
fleabane seems to flower for months on end, and mine is popular with bees at the mo |
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