Bees favorite plant

[Outdoorsman3]

Is there one plant that honeybees just go crazy over?

[khaas15]

I have found that they love milkweed and tend to work that plat pretty exclusively when it's in bloom.

[Cindy Lyon]

Hello, I see them loving anise hysop. And Rose bushes...I have a native prairie on my septic system and there too they are very busy!

[Mikescomic]

I would have to vote broccoli, I had some blooming last year all the way to the middle of November, resisting temperatures to 20 degrees. The bees were all over it. I know most folks harvest the heads before they go to seed, but I'm now planting it for the bees. When it's blooming, it can have a 1000 blooms a plant and the plant is very waxy being in the cruciferous family, I noticed the same phenomenon when some collards I had went to seed several years ago. I think the bees like it both for nectar and the wax to build comb. I currently have it growing under lights, hoping to have some blooming in the spring so I can attract a swarm to my yard with a waiting empty top bar hive. I know the bees already know where I live.

Mike

[beekuk]

Borage,also know as star flower.

[KQ6AR]

Anise blue hyssop, borage, both have long bloom times. The borage is one of the first to bloom here, I have one blooming right now, & seedlings popping up.

[SparksBee]

Interesting. I will have to allow some of my broccoli plants to go to seed this year instead of pulling up after the spring.

Jen

[HoneySeeker]

I would have to vote broccoli, I had some blooming last year all the way to the middle of November, resisting temperatures to 20 degrees. The bees were all over it. I know most folks harvest the heads before they go to seed, but I'm now planting it for the bees. When it's blooming, it can have a 1000 blooms a plant and the plant is very waxy being in the cruciferous family, I noticed the same phenomenon when some collards I had went to seed several years ago. I think the bees like it both for nectar and the wax to build comb. I currently have it growing under lights, hoping to have some blooming in the spring so I can attract a swarm to my yard with a waiting empty top bar hive. I know the bees already know where I live.

Mike

What does the honey from broccoli taste like?

Honeyseeker

[Seymore]

Garlic chives. It may not be their favorite but it does get throngs of them. I plant it everywhere because it blooms in our hot, humid summers when hardly anything else is. And it may not make great honey...but supers can be pulled beforehand.

[woodsy]

I don't see Buckwheat mentioned much here.
Planted some last year for cover crop on old garden areas and the bees were thick in
it for weeks. The buzz coming from the buckwheat was amazing.

[Galoways]

My son-in-law in central Ma. has a lot of success with a 300' double row of sunflowers.

[Omie]

In my garden, the bees love the sedum, the anise hyssop, the Russian sage, catmint, and the borage.

In the wild around here, I've never seen more bees than gather on the (invasive species) Japanese knotweed along the sides of the road. they go nuts over it! In the early winter I cut the dried stems for use as nesting tubes for the wild native solitary and mason bees. The stems are much like fragile bamboo and come in various diameters. I have a whole bunch cut that I will load into a wood box come Spring and hang it out for the wild bees to nest in .

[markmaster]

Talk to me about borage -- is it invasive? I have recently cleared about 1/2 acre from a creekbank and want to put something there. I'm going to seed it in clover, but sounds like borage may be a good bet as well.

[Adam Foster Collins]

I loved the borage. Planted about a dozen in my garden and the were in flower from July until it finally froze solid in mid November. I found they really tend to fall over and get beaten up in the wind, and I have read that farmers plant them fairly densely so that they support each other in the field. Borage seed is a cash crop in some areas.

From what I understand, it produces a light, mild honey - not especially distinct. The list on the melissa garden's website calls borage one of the top 5 flower types for bee health.

I carefully collected the seed from my few plants and turned 20 organic seeds into about 1200. I can't wait to find a patch to plant them all. My few plants only attracted a few of my bees - especially late in the year. You really need a good density of a flower type to get their attention.

Adam

[markmaster]

Thanks, Adam. I am anxious to try borage on my property. Everything I read about it encourages me to plant it for my bees. I will check some seed sites later today and get some on order.

[John V]

I've been planting for bees for the last two years. My wife makes fun of me because I'll get rid of a plant just because there aren'y any bees on it...ever. Of the plants I've planted, their most favorite is a Caryopteris (spelling?). It is a fall blooming shrub I planted last spring. They were maybe 30" dia. in the fall and each had a good fifty honeybees on it for most of the day. The runner up would be the white Salvia. For some reason they perfered the white over the violet color.

Later, John

[SparksBee]

Interesting. My friend who is a former beekeeper and a landscape designer mentioned Mountain mint. She said her bees loved it. Guess I will have to try to plan seasonally for the bees now. It is still really cold/rainy here in MD but it isn't always that way. I will need to figure out what will work for March - May that will flower and survive during what can sometimes be a protracted winter. I know the sun is coming soon - I can feel it.

[forgeblast]

I planted native tobacco last year, and the bees were all over that. As soon as one would leave another would take its place it was pretty impressive.

[SparksBee]

I remember the massive tobacco fields on the farm when I was a kid. When it was in bloom it was impressive. Can't say I remember the bees but that was a long time ago.

[forgeblast]

This was just a pack of the iroquois native tobacco seed. I wanted to try to see if it would grow, and if I could use it as a natural pesticide. It took great in my garden. Nice looking plant too.

http://www.localharvest.org/tobacco-...remonial-C6426