Planting

[rink123]

I am going to plant this in my garden this year Echium Dwarf Hybrids , As anyone done this before ? And will it help my bees out so they don't have to fly for miles, To make me some nice honey maybe

 

[Poly Hive]

Nice idea but bees can cover 7sq miles.

On saying that at Craibstone the grass was heavily planted with crocus and the bees thoroughly took advantage as they also did of the sequential planting of willow along the burn banks.

So it does pay to plant locally but it also pays to plant thoughtfully.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
One plot of garden has no meaning as a food source of bees.

Last summer I had natural Echium plantagineum and its breeded annual dwarf strain.

Biennal nature strain had more flowers because it started quite early and it was tall.

I dig those biennals frow waste land as one year old. Their roots were really big, about 10 litres.

Now I wait that those two strains make crossings and maybe something special.

They bloomed 3 months when I fertilized them with liquid.

One bee can clean 10 x 10 metre cultivation in a day. It does not need more bees.

In Australia Echium is important bee plant and its pollen has high nutrition value.

.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bees do like Vipers Bugloss. They will need to be planted in the sunshine;you need to plant masses of them in one patch and they need to be away from the hives.
I have a big bank of sedum which flowers late in the summer early autumn and it is alive with bees if it is sunny.

 

[Suzi Q]

Bees do like Vipers Bugloss. They will need to be planted in the sunshine;you need to plant masses of them in one patch and they need to be away from the hives.
I have a big bank of sedum which flowers late in the summer early autumn and it is alive with bees if it is sunny.

I've bought some seeds, echium vulgare, although think they are biennial so will be of use next year, but how far away from the hives should I sow?

 

[RoofTops]

The problem with any single plant is it will only flower for a few weeks. Bit like people putting their bees in orchards - a source of nectar for a short while - then nothing.

Not that there is anything wrong with putting bees in orchards - I have some, but they are not there for the nectar, only the position with respect to the surrounding countryside. Any blossom nectar is a bonus, of a sort.

However, (I love that word...) this is not to decry someone planting flowers in their garden for bees and taking pleasure form seeing the bees work them. My bees go mad over the Sedum late in the season, just don't expect a few plants to keep the bees alive all year.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've bought some seeds, echium vulgare, although think they are biennial so will be of use next year, but how far away from the hives should I sow?

I'm not really sure. My hives are 100 metres away from the garden. I have planted a couple of thousand crocuses only feet away however as I understand that in the winter forage close by is used. The emerging bulbs are buried under five inches of snow with the consistency of concrete at present.
The boxes are surrounded by knapweed and I hardly ever see a bee on it.

 

[biglongdarren]

i bought a load of borage seeds today,roughly how far should i plant them from the hives?
Darren

 

[drstitson]

"They bloomed 3 months when I fertilized them with liquid."

sounds like we have a budding Finnish Bob Flowerdew on our hands!!!!!

 

[For want of a better word]

"They bloomed 3 months when I fertilized them with liquid."

sounds like we have a budding Finnish Bob Flowerdew on our hands!!!!!

Writing his name in the snow with recycled cider?

 

[susbees]

i bought a load of borage seeds today,roughly how far should i plant them from the hives?
Darren

Our initial borage patch, tucked behind a building must've been a straight 200 metres from the nearest hives, only perhaps 10 foot by 6...it was busy from the June gap til the first minor frosts. With borage even one good plant draws bees like a magnet. This year we are adding three more including one white patch and another to replace an enormous bank of nettles around 100 metres from the nearest hives.

 

[Finman]

"They bloomed 3 months when I fertilized them with liquid."

sounds like we have a budding Finnish Bob Flowerdew on our hands!!!!!

It seems that there is lack of jokes.

 

[Finman]

.
I like these flowers Verbascum nigrum, perennial.
Crossing between Finnish x Yogoslavian.

In the picture there is only one individual. It gives lots of pollen and is beautifull.
Because individual plants are crossings, they bloom in different times.

 

[drstitson]

"They bloomed 3 months when I fertilized them with liquid."
sounds like we have a budding Finnish Bob Flowerdew on our hands!!!!!
It seems that there is lack of jokes."

Finman - here's a picture of a group of National Trust Gardeners following the advice of Mr Flowerdew and a little pic of the man himself (perhaps ready for a sauna - in fact his hair makes him look like ALL the Finns I've seen in the flesh - perhaps need to find an alternative word - real life.)

 

[Finman]

.
HAH HAHA

..., but you really are short of jokes.

 

[Cazza]

Thanks Finman - you made me laugh out loud in the MORNING!! That is a small miracle.
Cazza

 

[steve1958]

Here is an excellant list of Bee friendly plants as recommended by the Royal Horticultural Society CLICK HERE

 

[Finman]

Here is an excellant list of Bee friendly plants as recommended by the Royal Horticultural Society CLICK HERE

Where is dandelion Taraxacum officinale!

 

[Erichalfbee]

A herald of the swarming season in these parts

 

[biglongdarren]

Will the borage I sow this year flower this year or will I have to wait to next year till see it? Can I just sow it in seed trays and then plant them out when there big enough or sow it straight onto th prepared ground??
Darren.