Shrubs covered in honey bees at Lidl car park in Goole

[Gilberdyke John]

Yesterday I was being taken shopping by 'er indoors when I noticed a contented hum from the shrubs forming a hedge between the car park and the shops. They were covered in white flowers being visited by honey bees hard at work..
I've been told that the plant in question is cotoneaster hupehensis. The flowers on this variant are white and fully open, allowing the bees easy access which is somewhat different to the common variety I have growing along my wall at home, only visited by bumblebees.
I can feel a cuttings raid in the offing

 

[Davelin]

Interestingly there is a cotoneaster just up the road with open white flowers with hardly any bees on, whereas the horizontalis, that has almost insignificant flowers is crawling with them.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Our cotoneaster horizontalis is covered in, literally, hundreds of honey bees.
They go crazy over it - as do the bumbles.

An absolute must, IMO.

Dusty

 

[pargyle]

I have a Cotoneaster hedge in the front garden ... so many bees on it yesterday my wife thought they were swarming !! Stopped her gardening as there were so many coming and going ...

Cuttings are very easy to strike ... I just cut off about 6" to 8" with a woody bit at the bottom, dip it in rooting hormone powder and pop them in a pot of compost ... they nearly all strike. You could probably put them straight in the ground and they would go off ...

Good bee shrub.

 

[sean-a]

That's really interesting.
I have two in my garden.
One with white flowers....nothing happening.
The other with tiny pink ones is absolutely heaving with honey bees and bumbles.

I have been wondering what it is....
And why one is popular and the other not.

I think I will propagate from the heaving one!!