Bee garden plant suggestions

[TheBuzz]

This year I'm using 2, 8'x4' garden beds for planting:

Coriander
Lavender
Thyme
lemon balm

all dog safe, all bee favs, as well as grape hyacinth for early spring pollen.

What do others plant? Also do honeybees like rose bushes?

[Rader Sidetrack]

Perhaps this is not exactly what you wanted to hear, but a couple of raised beds aren't going to make a significant difference in how well your bees do. So, plant something that is good to eat (for you), and the bees may like. I'd choose asparagus for one of the beds, and strawberries for the other.

http://peacebeefarm.blogspot.com/201...-in-bloom.html

[TheBuzz]

Oh I know but it'll help and I'd rather have bee plants then weeds. I have 4 beds but 2 tend to get taken over by weeds. So I wanna make my garden smaller and plant something bee friendly for them. I have 2 strawberry towers and 2 blueberry bushes too. Unfortunately asparagus wont produce the 1st year if I remember right?

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I am planting Dutch clover this year, overseeding our pastures so that we will have a mix of bermuda and clover for the hot months and winter rye and clover for cooler weather. Since we're talking acreage, I am hopeful that the clover will actually make a meaningful contribution to the bees.


Rusty

[Rader Sidetrack]

Well, asparagus does produce spears the first year, (assuming you have planted crowns rather than seed.) Many sources do recommend that you not harvest the first year, but I did harvest a few spears from each crown, making sure to leave some to grow. I did leave the majority the first year however, and the second year I still had more spears than I could eat. Regardless of whether you harvest or not, the bees will still enjoy the flowers.

[zookeeper]

I've planted a lot of sedum around our house. It blooms in the gap between the end of the clover flow and the beginning of the fall flow, and the bees just love it.

As for roses...I see the girls working wild rose bushes, but I don't know how attractive the domesticated plants are to them.