Bee Friendly or Honey Bee Friendly?

[Margaret Elisabeth]

I am a gardener by profession and inclination. Though I cannot claim to be organic in practice I try to be the least harmful to wildlife as gardening will allow.
With this in mind I plant what seem to be bee friendly plants as much as possible. I have read regularly articles on planting for wildlife etc. Last year I noticed that the Phalecia I planted was completely ignored by my bees but that various other bees and hoverfly seemed to love it. likewise with all the other plants that the year before my bees had visited. The only thing that they visited in my garden were sunflowers and that was later in the season.
Does anyone have a plant list that is especially useful in regard to honey bees and gardens as opposed to any bee.

 

[Oscarmonster]

Last year we had OSR in flower until mid July. I didn't see a honey bee in my garden until it had finished flowering.

 

[Dishmop]

Not flower person but they dont look at anything in our garden.
Thier concern is to leave the hive and get up up and away.

 

[Beesand]

I have a blue campanula in my garden that attracts both bumble and honey bees

 

[beeno]

Hi Margaret Elisabeth,
It is frustrating isn't it. You plant what is supposed to be honey bee friendly plants in your garden and you never see any of your bees on it! I have plenty of buddleia in my garden, but never seen any honey bees on mine. Went next door and loads of honey bees on my neighbours! Saying that, early spring flowers like Scilla and Bluebells in my garden are foraged by my bees. They also love my Prunus, apple blossom and Wisteria. Some say that honey bees don't forage near their hives for security reasons, but I don't know if there is any science behind that!

 

[madasafish]

I grow opium poppies. The bees love the pink ones for pollen.. And phacelia, and poached egg plant, and ceanothus for nectar.

We have no arable crops within a 3 miles radius so local woods and gardens are all visited by my bees - including our own garden...

 

[pargyle]

Does anyone have a plant list that is especially useful in regard to honey bees and gardens as opposed to any bee.

Any plants for pollinators will usually benefit honey bees as well as other bees.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/Plants-for-pollinators

 

[Erichalfbee]

Early and late bloomers do best in my garden.
Crocus and Hellebore then Sedum and Aster. I have lots of both and a thousand crocuses planted in the apiary.

 

[Cazza]

BBKA website has a list.
Cazza

 

[YorkshireBees]

As far as I know it will depend a lot on what else is available in the area for the bees to forage.

As others have said if a 'high sugar content nectar' plant is within foraging range bees will almost certainly ignore lower sugar content nectar plants.

Oil Seed Rape is a classic example, if it is in range of the bee hives and giving a nectar flow bees will ignore everything else until it stops giving nectar.

As others have said, any plant that is pollinator friendly will generally be good for honey bees.

There is another list on the B bee ka site --> http://tinyurl.com/oty6eqo

 

[Rich0909]

Honey bees seem to like having multiple flowers of the same type to forage from so trees, bushes and large plantings of annuals / perennials are generally favoured over individual plants or small groups, in my (small) garden the apple tree and the privet hedge are about the only things visited regularly. I grow a big patch of phacelia at the allotment and honey bees will visit it when there is a dearth of other pollen / nectar sources but if anything better is on offer they don't come near, it did have well over 100 bumble bees foraging on it one day last summer though.
If planting specifically for honey bees aim for plants that flower when honey bees have few other sources available - when this is will be specific to your local area.

Rich

 

[user 6228]

Honey bees seem to like having multiple flowers of the same type to forage from so trees, bushes and large plantings of annuals / perennials are generally favoured over individual plants or small groups, in my (small) garden the apple tree and the privet hedge are about the only things visited regularly. I grow a big patch of phacelia at the allotment and honey bees will visit it when there is a dearth of other pollen / nectar sources but if anything better is on offer they don't come near, it did have well over 100 bumble bees foraging on it one day last summer though.
If planting specifically for honey bees aim for plants that flower when honey bees have few other sources available - when this is will be specific to your local area.

Rich

Parsnips put up a very large plant similar in formation to a hogweed with large numbers of flowers. 3 or 4 parsnips in flower attracted the honey bees.
a half dozen leeks in flower next to the parsnip meant you could hear the honey bees from a distance. And of course about 4 different species of bumble.

 

[peterbees]

Our website page on Planting a bee garden may be of interest.
Please see http://tinyurl.com/p4je38j

 

[Luminos]

Winter flowering honeysuckle - covered in honeybees, bumbles and even a carpenter bee, when there's not too much else in flower

 

[Heather]

They certainly forage near to the hive if there is the food. I have a few thousand purple crocus (don't plant yellow as birds strip out) and with the first decent day today, I reckon practically every flower has a bee feeding. Sounded near to swarm noise. Wonderful.
Below - my garden
Crocus, cherry prunus , snowdrop in Spring.
Sedum, penstemon, aubretia, bacopa, borage in Summer.
Michaelmas daisy, single dahlia (i.e.- not the fancy double things) Echinacea, phlox, in Autumn
But they do forage for a couple of miles as and when nec. And for OSR much more.

 

[Beesand]

Does anyone know if honeybees forage on violets?
The garden next door to my apiary site is literally carpeted in violets which look like they are about to start flowering. Big time bonus for the bees if they do