Seeds for Bees

I often get asked what people can plant in their gardens to help bees. Here are my first three recommendations:

North American Wildflower mix

Bachelor Buttons

Sunflowers

These three seed packets are my top recommendations for planting for bees.

Wildflower Mix

The wildflower mix will be the hardest to manage because some plants will sprout later or maybe take a year to establish themselves.

When planting a wildflower mix, plant in an area you can set aside and observe since the flowers may show up at different times of the year. That is one of the ways you can help pollinators, making sure they have something offering them pollen continuously through the growing season.

Bachelor Buttons

To that end, bachelor buttons provide a nice pollen source through summer and into fall. Once established, bachelor buttons will self-seed and spread so give them room.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, if planted early enough, will provide pollen from summer through fall, which includes the dreaded Missouri August dearth. When temperatures reach more than 90F for a week or more, plants stop producing pollen leaving bee colonies at their highest population numbers bereft of a food source.

There are other seeds you can plant to help bees, these happen to be the ones I recommend to someone just starting out.

Have you tried to grow these? How did you do?

Charlotte

Hello, Henbit!

Hardy henbit grows everywhere including in rock walls.

Hello, Henbit!

Of all of the first flowers of spring, henbit is a bee, and beekeepers, favorite. Although many in the midwest consider henbit a weed, it is actually an herb.

Henbit grows by roadsides, in cropland, pastures, in waste areas, in gardens, and on lawns. It is often one of the first spring plants to offer bees a generous source of pollen.

Henbit prefers light, dry soil and cultivated soil. It tends to grow in bald spots and works well to prevent soil erosion.

This edible plant originated in Eurasia and Northern Africa. It also grows in Australia, South America, western Asia, Greenland, and throughout Canada and the United States.

Henbit can be consumed fresh or cooked as an edible herb, and it can be used in teas. 

For bees, henbit is an invaluable source of spring pollen so let it grow in your garden. 

Charlotte

Eastern redbud Offers Spring Pollen

Spring in Missouri is lovely with a variety of trees adding color to the spring garden palette: Service berry starts the show, followed by a favorite pollen source of honeybees, the Eastern redbud. 

I didn't use to walk through my spring garden staring up at the sky until I started to follow my bees. 

One of my honeybees visiting an Eastern redbud tree in bloom spring 2016.

Beekeepers often talk about "BD," which stands for "before dandelions" and "AD" for "after dandelions," a prolific source of spring pollen. I tend to think of spring as "BR," "before redbuds," because these lovely ornamental trees seem to marshall the rest of spring flowers bloom.

Flowering Eastern redbud attracts honeybees from Bluebird Gardens.

Eastern redbuds grow close to one of Bluebird Gardens apiaries.

Do you enjoy seeing bees and other pollinators in your spring trees?

Charlotte