Flora.

[VEG]

LMAO

laughing my a** off

 

[Hivetool]

Thank you VEG for adding to my knowledge of criptic computer language.

 

[PaleoPerson]

Roflmfao

 

[sahtlinurk]

how do you call these plants? my bees seems to love them a lot

 

[gavin]

oooo, can I have a shot?

Viper's bugloss - Echium vulgare

Chicory - Cichorium intybus

Gavin

 

[Finman]

.
We have now Centaurea jacea in bloom. It is a good bee plant and easy to spread on poor ground. It loves road verges.

This is quite rare but very prosperous Centaurea prygia

One plant in the picture, height 120 cm

 

[Hivetool]

I think the common name for your plant is Brown Knapweed.

The second is Wig Knapweed

 

[the naked beekeeper]

I've just identified a plant that the bees LOVE in my garden!
Escallonia macrantha.
Also does anyone know if bees like butterfly bush buddleia davidii??

 

[Bcrazy]

the plant Escallonia macrantha does not have a common name.

From Wikipedia;
Escallonia flowers from June to October. It has masses of rosy crimson flowers, with a honey fragrance, and grows to be 5-10 ft.

No wonder the bees love it.

Regards;

 

[ribblesbees]

I've just identified a plant that the bees LOVE in my garden!
Escallonia macrantha.
Also does anyone know if bees like butterfly bush buddleia davidii??

I had 3 large butterfly bushes when I lived in Kent. Butterflies certainly covered it and both bumble bees and honey bees went for it as well. That may have been influenced tho by what else was available for the honey bees.


I'm sure I've heard of Escallonia macrantha. being referred to as Portuguese Laurel.

 

[Gaz Fella]

Buddleia?? Seems like some variants are structured to allow honeybees to get nectar from, and some suit only the longer tongues [esp of butterflies and moths] This is a rough observation - I haven't yet troibled to study the openness of flower structure of those bishes which bees love and those on which you never see them.

 

[Geoff]

A few weeks ago some people said that honey bees would visit Buddlea globosa (the orange ball one) but not B. davidii which is the one flowering now - known as the butterfly bush. I have the variety 'Black Knight' and it gets covered by butterflys but my bees visit it as well and they are not biting through the sides. Their tongues go down the centre of the flower. However my bees are pure bred Carniolans and they are supposed to have the longest tongues of any honey bee.

 

[rollingpinboy]

Himalyan Balsam - Someone has told me (read an article or something) that the presence of 'Himalayan Balsam' is helping the Honey Bees recover and/or from declining further. Anyone know if this is true or has the article info..Many thanks...Ray

 

[kazmcc]

Pocket Pollen Colour Guide (c) Stephen Hardy
email: [email protected] (only contact details on the guide)

Less than A5 folds in half (double sided), lists all forage plants with a colour match sample for the pollen, listed in rough seasonal order from spring through to autumn.

It's great - assuming the colours are right of course! A snip at about 75p from memory (picked it up at a bee open day at RHS Harlow Carr run by Harrogate & District BKA)

I've seen this recommended before, but I bought mine from Northern B** B**** and it's pants the printing is awful and uneven and the colours seem misaligned too....not a happy bunny. Going to wait and treat myself to the big £12 one me thinks

 

[Erichalfbee]

Kaz I've got "a Colour Guide to Pollen Loads of the Honeybee" by William Kirk. It's excellent. the index has common as well as latin names. You obviously have to have an idea of what is in season but it's very useful.

 

[peteinwilts]

there is something very wrong with this list... the pictures don't have bees on them! (this IS a beekeeping website!)

A 'good' list would be a flower with a bee in the picture servicing the flower. They should also be catorgarised as found in the wild or grown by a gardener (although both may apply in cases!)

where my bees are there are a huge amount of different types of flowers, but I have only seen bees on just a few...

 

[Hivemaker.]

Their tongues go down the centre of the flower. However my bees are pure bred Carniolans and they are supposed to have the longest tongues of any honey bee.

The Caucasian honey bee has the longest tongue.