Recommend a plant for best results

[Wingy]

Ok almost finished building my retaining allotment boundary and looking to plant it up for the bees. Here’s what I’ve got:
Approx 20m long, I’ve used 2” square welded wire to make gabion style baskets. These are filled with old bricks & rubble and a little bit of soil thrown in near the top. Approx 8”-10” tall & 18” deep. I’m looking for something that I can plant in the small spaces between the rubble that will spread, come back year after year, provides nectar / pollen for the bees, can cope with little poor soil and could have periods of dry spells as it’s very well draining.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Japanese knotweed and gorse.

 

[Wingy]

Japanese knotweed and gorse.

LOL - I’ve got some gorse thrown in my mixed hedge along the public footpath boundary. Don’t think I’d be flavour of the month if I introduced Japanese Knotweed though

 

[GuyNir]

LOL - Don’t think I’d be flavour of the month if I introduced Japanese Knotweed though

My thought exactly...

 

[Beefriendly]

Mediterranean herbs might do well as can cope with drought. Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and even lavender.

 

[enrico]

Yep, trailing and upright thyme
E

 

[Murox]

Try perennial wallflower "Bowles's Mauve",mine never stops flowering even now there are a few blooms; or the Sedums and chives & marjoram left to flower.

 

[Finman]

.
Verbascum nigrum is a good pollen plant, and nice to look. Perennial..

 

[Wingy]

Thanks for the suggestions, I like the idea of herbs & have lots of lavender planted near the hives, however I think it would be too tall and leggy for where I’m planting.
Has anybody any knowledge of
Campanula portenschlagiana and
Corydalis lutea
These look ideal but description states unscented & I can’t find any reference to bees, nectar or pollen

 

[peterbees]

Thyme should do well.

 

[jeff33]

My bees love wild marjoram and lavender. if you want to give them early access to pollen (crocus, daffodils although you have gorse) otherwise how about strawberries?

 

[Curly green fingers]

Ive got herbs planted in the walled court yard lots of alpine thyme, lavender doesn't do so well i don't think it likes being so exposed .
the gabian baskets would be perfect for herbs as they like to be grown hard . There is a mahonia you could put in there it grows quite small.
Bulbs for spring crocus would do well if you plant them really deep .
My bee's love oregano and the thyme's .

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...FjAhegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw0btntnr6DcZfYk66TC2SoO

 

[Wingy]

Thanks for the ideas, think I’m going to go down the line of planting mostly herbs. Thyme, oregano, marjoram etc. Also like the idea of strawberries, I’ve got a 6’ x 6’ bed already but could easily spread then along the border.
Also looking at some periwinkle and some alpines.
Now just need to get busy, the snowdrops are out & crocus just about to flower.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Thanks for the ideas, think I’m going to go down the line of planting mostly herbs. Thyme, oregano, marjoram etc. Also like the idea of strawberries, I’ve got a 6’ x 6’ bed already but could easily spread then along the border.
Also looking at some periwinkle and some alpines.
Now just need to get busy, the snowdrops are out & crocus just about to flower.

Vinca (periwinkle) can be quite invasive but looks good for a long time . Here's a list of alpines to glee over .

http://www.portraitsofalpineplants.com/Portraits of Alpine Plants.htm

 

[Fusion_power]

I'm surprised nobody recommended borage. It has an extended bloom season, produces pretty flowers, and is well adapted to UK gardens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borage

 

[Repwoc]

I'm surprised nobody recommended borage. It has an extended bloom season, produces pretty flowers, and is well adapted to UK gardens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borage

Borage is great; bees love it and the honey is good too. However I think it would struggle to grow in the conditions Wingy is proposing.

I’m looking for something that I can plant in the small spaces between the rubble that will spread, come back year after year, provides nectar / pollen for the bees, can cope with little poor soil and could have periods of dry spells as it’s very well draining.

 

[bontbee]

A tree? pussy willow/fruit/Chinese bee tree/horse chestnut/tulip tree/lime???? Spread out a tree and it gives a heck of a lot more flowers for the area planted. Might have to wait a bit for anything other than willow, though!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Cotoneaster - variety like Horizontalis will also thrive in the vertical plane, if planted at the base of your gabions and allowed to grow up it - we had one years ago from a cutting from my Great Grandfather's house when we moved into a council house with a chainlink front fence - when I moved to Brynmair it had grown into a many layered narrow hedge. Loads of blooms for the bees and the red berries, as well as supplying winter feed for the birds, give some colour in a dull part of the season.

 

[madasafish]

Ceanothus and cotoneaster are loved by bees..(I have both). But ceanothus is not very frost hardy in some varieties..


Horse chestnut and sweet chestnut are superb. (Local National Trust Garden has lots of both)


Shrubs and trees give far more pollen per sqkm than flowers..

But if you want summer pollen, opium poppies are superb.