What's flowering as forage in your area

[E&MBees]

Still lots of buzzing around the garden on Calendula, Alliums and Sanguisorba, all for pollen.

The Sanguisorba is beautiful. Which one is it? We sell the red one at work, it’s very popular, but I haven’t seen the pink one.

 

[Murox]

gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion, when the the idea behind the saying is that gorse is always in flower somewhere so there is always chance of a kiss

Thats a saying I have not heard before.

 

[elainemary]

The Sanguisorba is beautiful. Which one is it? We sell the red one at work, it’s very popular, but I haven’t seen the pink one.

Hi it’s hakusanensis. It’s a really tall variety, mine is about 2m.

 

[E&MBees]

Hi it’s hakusanensis. It’s a really tall variety, mine is about 2m.

Brilliant. Thanks Elaine. I have just the spot for it.

 

[Nannysbees]

Lots of girls in the garden, cosmos very popular as well as the scabious and sedum. Learned a lot this year where to put the wildflowers, made a mistake of sewing calendula and asters in the middle of the border then sewing wildflower seeds, but of course you couldn't see the smaller plants as they were dwarfed by the wildflowers, and I'll succession sew borage which the girls loved

 

[E&MBees]

Walked up by Derwent Water today. I hope there are beeks with colonies close by. Couldn’t see any hives though. The heather was fantastic. Wish there was some close to me.

 

[elainemary]

Meadow was cut & hay spun this week, another years cycle almost over and a new one to begin.

Have collected plenty of yellow rattle (put the leaf blower onto suction mode) and various seed heads including orchid dust which I’ve mixed with fine sand to scatter.

Will be used to share with a friend wanting to do the same and to improve a new area I started last year.

Hopefully lots more wildflowers for our pollinators in the future

 

[Newbeeneil]

Golden Rod entertaining my girls in my garden.

 

[Newbeeneil]

When I spun out some frames earlier this week the extractor danced across the honey room floor! The problem was heather honey that had been deposited in the bottom half of some of the frames.
The girls had ignored the HB on their doorstep and travelled a mile to get the heather below.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Meadow was cut & hay spun this week, another years cycle almost over and a new one to begin.

Have collected plenty of yellow rattle (put the leaf blower onto suction mode) and various seed heads including orchid dust which I’ve mixed with fine sand to scatter.

Will be used to share with a friend wanting to do the same and to improve a new area I started last year.

Hopefully lots more wildflowers for our pollinators in the future

Morning Elaine,
I like the massey it's not a 290 is it? Or 565? With a pz80 drum mower?

Autumn is on its way, I was thinking much the same when sowing autumn/winter lettuce... The growing season is almost at an end .

 

[drex]

On dog walk his morning I passed an ivy hedge in full sun. Buzzing with honey bees. Well early

 

[elainemary]

Morning Elaine,
I like the massey it's not a 290 is it? Or 565? With a pz80 drum mower?

Autumn is on its way, I was thinking much the same when sowing autumn/winter lettuce... The growing season is almost at an end .

Hi, it belongs to my neighbour, he cuts the field and I give him the hay, not sure of the exact model other than it’s a Massey! Never tire of watching him cut and spin it.

 

[pargyle]

On dog walk his morning I passed an ivy hedge in full sun. Buzzing with honey bees. Well early

Too early for it to be in bloom ... are you sure it was Ivy ? There's quite a few Ivy look-alikes - or perhaps there was something amongst the Ivy they had found ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Too early for it to be in bloom ... are you sure it was Ivy ? There's quite a few Ivy look-alikes - or perhaps there was something amongst the Ivy they had found ?

The flowers have only just started to form here, it will be ages before they open

 

[drex]

Too early for it to be in bloom ... are you sure it was Ivy ? There's quite a few Ivy look-alikes - or perhaps there was something amongst the Ivy they had found ?

Yes, it was definitely ivy. My apiary is surrounded by it, but this was on a south facing wall in blazing sun.

 

[pargyle]

Yes, it was definitely ivy. My apiary is surrounded by it, but this was on a south facing wall in blazing sun.

Were there actually flowers on the Ivy ? It's not unknown for Ivy to attract aphids and they can produce honeydew ... the other possibility is that it is a cultivated strain that flowers early ?

My garden is surrounded by Ivy and even down here on the Costa del Fareham the florets have not even started to form yet - I rarely see flowers before the end of September and often later into October.

 

[user 20297]

Yes, it was definitely ivy. My apiary is surrounded by it, but this was on a south facing wall in blazing sun.

I think ivy is very variable. Early last September it was in full flower, in beautiful weather, at the same elevation above sea level only 25 miles from me as the crow flies in a similar mature garden to mine...the bees and flies were all over it. In my wild garden it came into flower in late December when the bees were in bed.

 

[RJC]

A few ivy flowers just breaking bud here (Rutland)

 

[Popparand]

Yep, South Suffolk/North Essex plenty of ivy just starting to open. And rowan leaves turning yellow. Is this a sign of a long hard winter to come?

 

[E&MBees]

Yep, South Suffolk/North Essex plenty of ivy just starting to open. And rowan leaves turning yellow. Is this a sign of a long hard winter to come?

Rose hips, Rowan berries, Elderflower berries are all ripe here. Leaves on the trees at my apiary are falling already. I think it probably is a sign of a long hard winter ahead.