Gardens of Suburbia : Forage month by month

[Tom Jay]

This is my second season beekeeping and I realize I have a bee heaven: a large area of suburban gardens complete with riverside woods and overgrown common. I thought it would be good to record, and have others in similar situations record, what their bees are foraging on in this kind of environment: where you see them, or identifiable pollen on their return being the evidence.

'Month by month' will be all over the place given a global site of course! But we'll see from posters' profiles the regional whereabouts of their apiaries. Here goes!

 

[Tom Jay]

Mid August here on Tyneside then.
Snowberry all day, early to late.
Autumn Raspberry but not as many as the bumbles.
Montbretia 'lucifer' - the deep red one. Very popular, but none of the more common orange Montbretia.
Thistle, especially the 'creeping' thistle.
Fuchsia, a few local shrubs of it very busily, and others not at all.
Rosebay Willowherb and huge stands of it along the railway line.
The last flourish of Bramble flowering too.
That's what I've seen today.

 

[B+.]

That's what I've seen today.

What about Buddleia? There are usually lots of these on old railway embankments.
The sedum will soon be coming into flower here too

 

[Tom Jay]

What about Buddleia? There are usually lots of these on old railway embankments.
The sedum will soon be coming into flower here too

I've not seen mine bother with the purple Buddleia [Davidii I think?], but they were on the little round orange Buddleia [Globosa] in huge numbers - those were all over about three weeks ago.

Sedum is still tight and green here. Last year our little patch of sedum rarely had less than fifteen bees on it at all times of day for weeks. I've added to the patch this year, borrowed divisions from a friend's garden. His will do better for it, and that's in range of my bees too.

 

[B+.]

I've not seen mine bother with the purple Buddleia [Davidii I think?], but they were on the little round orange Buddleia [Globosa] in huge numbers - those were all over about three weeks ago.

I have several: "Black Knight" https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=267 is an absolute magnet to all insects and smells divine! The white one doesn't get so much attention. I think it depends on which variety you have.

 

[Tom Jay]

I have several: "Black Knight" https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=267 is an absolute magnet to all insects and smells divine! The white one doesn't get so much attention. I think it depends on which variety you have.

Now I've seen that really deep one in gardens around here! I'll look see if my honeybees are on them.

 

[thorn]

Thistle, Japanese anenome and privet, plus the HB missed by the bashers.

 

[itma]

Sadly, compared to much of the countryside in the South East, suburbia is indeed "Bee Heaven".
No great gluts of forage, but pretty much always something worthwhile.

Down here, raspberry and bramble are long past, however the bees are still working hard on the Fuchsia and some types of Lavender. Ignoring the purple Buddleia, leaving that to the butterflies.
A friend's garden had something I was told was a form of mint, flowering abundantly, and covered in honeybees (plus a few bumbles). Wonder what that is going to taste like!

The Ivy hasn't started yet

 

[daroco]

Passionflower seems to attract steady attention, and flowers from July to September. There's still a bit of interest in some of the lavenders in the garden, and there's a huge variety around the village. Ivy is looking very close to flowering - and with the amount close to the hives.

 

[patl]

On my suburban allotment, globe artichokes seem to be the favourite at the moment with 6 or 7 bees on each flower. Other than that runner beans seem to be popular.

 

[Tom Jay]

Anyone identify this shrub? Just down the street my bees were all over it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hebe

 

[Swarm]

It's a Hebe.

 

[Swarm]

LOL...Snap.

 

[theeggman]

In a country garden.

It's in our country garden but will grow anywhere.

Winter Savoury, (spelling could be c**p).
From 6.30 am bumbles and honeybees all over it currently, plus SWMBO uses it in cooking,whatever that may be.

Attached picc'y is taken from our back door, 5 ft. away.

 

[Millet]

It's my first year and i'm clueless but here is my list.. Meadow sweet/ Rose Bay and broad leaf Willow herb / Thistles / Snow berries / Bramble / Willow / Oak / Sycamore and another tree i can't identify and a million other plants within the bee flying radius..

 

[Tom Jay]

Hebe

It's a Hebe.

LOL...Snap.

Thanks all. The Hebes I know are smaller leaved and less brilliant flowered that the one I saw. I'm guessing it's "Hebe Sunset Boulevard", from a google images check against my photo. I've looked into this as Hebe in "Plants for Bees" - Kirk and Howes - is given just one star and the plant I saw was covered with happy foragers.

Is it the case that, while a genus in general may be mediocre as a nectar source for honeybees, some of its species will be exceptions to the rule?

 

[Tom Jay]

It's in our country garden but will grow anywhere.

Winter Savoury, (spelling could be c**p).
From 6.30 am bumbles and honeybees all over it currently, plus SWMBO uses it in cooking,whatever that may be.

Attached picc'y is taken from our back door, 5 ft. away.

looked that one up and it might not be clever for me in the North East. Glad yours love it in Devon!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Don't forget old man's beard; big source about now around me.

 

[Swarm]

Thanks all. The Hebes I know are smaller leaved and less brilliant flowered that the one I saw. I'm guessing it's "Hebe Sunset Boulevard", from a google images check against my photo. I've looked into this as Hebe in "Plants for Bees" - Kirk and Howes - is given just one star and the plant I saw was covered with happy foragers.

Is it the case that, while a genus in general may be mediocre as a nectar source for honeybees, some of its species will be exceptions to the rule?

The star rating is accurate enough, higher yielding plants plants form more of the overall honey source and of course, the availability.