Re: Are you seeing bees?

J_in_HamiltonON 7/27/2012, 12:35 pm

Hello. I confess I have not read this entire post or search the site. There has been a lot of discussion about plants which seem to attract bees. In a differnt thread, camprn stated that milkweek will attract bees (I was surprised to hear that). Last year I had bumblebees around, this year thay are gone Sad

and instead I have small bees not sure what species they are. My yard has many types of flowers. Most seemed to get ignored by bees. I found the sunflowers got a lot of attention, and now the squash see lots of bee visitors. I plant some flowers in the garden to attract bees but so far I seem to have failed in my selections (seldon see bees at those flowers). Is there a list of "best bet" flowers for attracting / helping to sustain the bees? Thanks

GWN 7/27/2012, 12:36 pm

Not me, I am ready to burn it all at the stake.

gee camprn, you always seemed so passive Smile

**camprn** 7/27/2012, 12:37 pm

GWN wrote:
Not me, I am ready to burn it all at the stake.
gee camprn, you always seemed so passive

he he he he ..... it takes a while to reach my limit, but when I do..... I get my Irish up, to be sure.

GWN 7/27/2012, 12:43 pm

he he he he ..... it takes a while to reach my limit, but when I do..... I get my Irish up, to be sure.

You really have me worried, I planted mine last spring and had a nice showing in an otherwise very new perennial garden, this year they took over that garden, what is going to happen next year. Smile

**Turan** 7/27/2012, 1:06 pm

Total World Domination by Rapunzel
Film at 11

GWN 7/27/2012, 1:28 pm

Total World Domination by Rapunzel
Film at 11

:scratch: I am a little slow Turan.... not sure if I missed...?

Goosegirl 7/27/2012, 1:49 pm

GWN wrote:
Total World Domination by Rapunzel
Film at 11
:scratch: I am a little slow Turan.... not sure if I missed...?

What will happen to your garden next season! rofl

I personally have this situation with Black-Eyed Susan.

GG

**Turan** 7/27/2012, 1:50 pm

You asked what happens next year.....
I answered with a headline for a news crawl on TV.

The opposing mental images of Rapunzel in her tower and the invasive flower intrigue me. Are they the agents of her?

**camprn** 7/27/2012, 1:53 pm

Turan wrote:Total World Domination by Rapunzel
Film at 11

LOL

GWN 7/27/2012, 4:21 pm

OK.....

so I am a bit slow....
Turan, why don't I send you some.... Smile

We seem to have matching temperatures......,

Frenchbean 7/27/2012, 4:53 pm

Here in SE London Ive been sitting in my garden for the last few days. I have a huge lavender bush which is normally covered to the hilt with bees. This year I have seen only, you ready for this ,ONE bee.

What one earth are we all going to do????????????????? thinking

I have so many cottage garden plants all bee less

I just can't believe things are this bad God save us all very sad

GWN 7/27/2012, 5:03 pm

French bean I could send you some rapunzel as well as to Turan Smile

**camprn** 7/27/2012, 5:06 pm

GWN wrote:French bean I could send you some rapunzel as well as to Turan

LittleGardener 7/27/2012, 6:51 pm

camprn wrote:
Windsor.Parker wrote:
My wife and I spend lots of time in our backyard garden. Our son is eager to keep bees here with us at his childhood home!
He built and delivered two hives, one of which is "in use" at a friend's across town, and the other is in our garage.
:scratch:

Too bad we were not closer together, I am in the market for another hive.

Hi camper,
I really appreciate your kindness Smile

& your positive approach to people. I love reading your Links, & your perpetual constructive suggestions. - So let me ask you:

Tho essential bees increasingly disappear by the droves, all over the planet, - obviously BEE-keepers such as yourself are successfully increasing your hives, by planting Specific bee-LOVING plants, right? - Do you have a thread here already, where you shared the list of Specific plants you personally grow, some of which we too can cultivate, to attract & keep bees for food-production success... Eagerly awaiting feedback Wink

**camprn** 7/27/2012, 7:03 pm

Here is an article on what to think about when planning to plant for the bees.
http://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/act-today-2/plant-a-bee-garden/

Common pollen sources for bees in zone 5, North America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen_source

I am thinking I would like to plant some basswood... now where to put it............

I have a lot of wild white clover in my 'lawn' that I don't mow until the blooms have dried up. This saves about 5 weeks of gas. Very Happy

angel1237b 7/27/2012, 9:24 pm

i have one bee in my garden as well...i am afraid my cukes are not getting polinated properly..all the flowres are under the dense leaves,wich leads me to a question...can i trim off some of the leaves on my cukecumbers to open them up to the sun and my one bee (lol)..have a great day.

jmsieglaff 7/27/2012, 9:28 pm

I have never had more bees in my garden than this year. I have two new things this year that the bees absolutely love: tomatillos and borge (and of course squash)

songstriss 7/27/2012, 10:02 pm

A couple years ago I planted a flower which I do not remember the name of. It is growing up all over the place. I let them grow because the bees love them. I dedicated an area of my yard just for them because I really like them and so do the bees. If anyone knows the name please let me know.

Are you seeing bees? - Page 8 Imag1219

As you can see the bees like them.

Are you seeing bees? - Page 8 Imag1220

I also have another flower called a Chocolate flower. It is a yellow daisy like flower that in the morning when the sun shines on them they smell like chocolate. I love em. The bees also like them a lot too.

Are you seeing bees? - Page 8 Imag1221

As you can see they are in desperate need of dead heading. The plus side is that I have a ton of seeds. If anyone is interested in getting some just email me your address. That being said is it ok to put them in snack bags?
The orange flowers will soon have seeds so I can send those as well.

**Turan** 7/27/2012, 10:37 pm

GWN wrote:OK..... so I am a bit slow....
Turan, why don't I send you some....
We seem to have matching temperatures......,

I fear I already have it.
Would you like some Bishops grass or creeping Charlie? I know you already also 'cultivate' a fine stand of quack grass so I won't offer that. Laughing

I am growing chamomile and tomatillo partially for the bees this year. They are near the squash and cucumbers in hopes of leading bees to those.

**walshevak** 7/27/2012, 11:19 pm

@Songstress, the yellow flowers look like the cosmos in my flower bed. They will reseed prolificly.

Kay

GWN 7/27/2012, 11:47 pm

.can i trim off some of the leaves on my cukecumbers to open them up to the sun and my one bee (lol)..have a great day.

Apparently you should only remove foliage that is under the lowest blossom.
Have you ever self pollinated?

Frenchbean 7/28/2012, 6:09 am

songstriss
I thought your flowers were one of the marigold family,but could be cosmos
Wink

Frenchbean 7/28/2012, 6:12 am

GWN what is Rapuzel please. I haven't heard of that before, no doubt over here on the other side of the pond we call it something else. I'm learning all the time Very Happy

Goosegirl 7/28/2012, 9:15 am

Frenchbean wrote:songstriss
I thought your flowers were one of the marigold family,but could be cosmos

They looked like a type of marigold to me as well!
GG

GWN 7/28/2012, 9:36 am

Would you like some Bishops grass or creeping Charlie? I know you already also 'cultivate' a fine stand of quack grass so I won't offer that

LOL
I have essentially covered up, likely half an acre with the thick landscape fabric and this black wrap the comes around loads of wood...
I have started this new "mantra" when ever I find myself pulling weeds, I say to my self I WILL NOT PULL THESE TWICE, so go and get more fabric and so right now my yard looks really weird with all this black wrap.
BUT......
And here I go and PLANT another one, and not only that, I fertilized it with manure. silly me

And then the stupid plant basically destroyed all of my plants that I had grown from seed
This is going to be a difficult fall pulling up all of this.

Sponsored content

Are you seeing bees?