What's flowering as forage in your area

[Curly green finger's]

It's very variable is Hawthorne, needs the right conditions to yield copious nectar.
Called the 11 O@clock tree as on a warm day that is the time of day when nectar (and bees) arrive in the flowers.
Had one good Hawthorne crop about 3 years ago, nowt since despite lots of Hawthorne in blossom

It was you N that told me that hawthorne was called the 11 of clock tree a few seasons ago . ever since I've been looking at the hawthorne at 11 am ..... the season after the beast from the east Temps of 17 c at 11 am was producing really good nectar in the trees and we had our first hawthorne crop.

 

[Antipodes]

Thanks Mark, I'm not sure if there is a flow from it or not. It got to 32 degrees today and we have only had 325mm of rain for the whole year. Bushfires have started ....I'd be surprised if any nectar given the dry, but I am getting some honey in from the eucaylpts at the moment which have decided this is the year to flower. I think I'm tasting mainly Blue Gum honey at the moment.

Hawthorn has that unusual strong smell from the flowers ....and it does take me back a long time every year I smell it ...we used to build cubbies under the shade of the trees as kids.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Thanks Mark, I'm not sure if there is a flow from it or not. It got to 32 degrees today and we have only had 325mm of rain for the whole year. Bushfires have started ....I'd be surprised if any nectar given the dry, but I am getting some honey in from the eucaylpts at the moment which have decided this is the year to flower. I think I'm tasting mainly Blue Gum honey at the moment.

Hawthorn has that unusual strong smell from the flowers ....and it does take me back a long time every year I smell it ...we used to build cubbies under the shade of the trees as kids.

The smell from hawthorne is very distinctive, I've been Trying for the last few years to put a list together of when trees/ plants are producing nectar ... times of day and temp/ weather conditions etc , which would give honey flows .
The list is small at the moment . I've been out in the field tasting flowers recording temp / time weather conditions as this is something I'm very interested in and I will keep gathering data over subsequent years .


Sounds like your having a warm spring ??

 

[Erichalfbee]

The smell from hawthorne is very distinctive, I've been Trying for the last few years to put a list together of when trees/ plants are producing nectar ... times of day and temp/ weather conditions etc , which would give honey flows .
The list is small at the moment . I've been out in the field tasting flowers recording temp / time weather conditions as this is something I'm very interested in and I will keep gathering data over subsequent years .


Sounds like your having a warm spring ??

Have a look here for different Nectars
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1952.tb06127.x

 

[Curly green finger's]

Have a look here for different Nectars
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1952.tb06127.x

Thanks Dani, it's a shame they hadn't recorded the temperature also but all the data I can gather will help
Cheers....

 

[Antipodes]

Very interesting about your data gathering Curly g f.

They reckon warm and humid conditions favour nectar secretion in gum trees, and a cold change immediately stops it.

Given the experiences here last year (v.dry year and worst honey harvest in living memory), and to some extent this year, the biggest factor overall seems to be severe lack of rain which appears to result in the trees shutting down nectar production. As one experienced beekeeper put it, "nature looking after itself".

 

[Erichalfbee]

Very interesting about your data gathering Curly g f.

They reckon warm and humid conditions favour nectar secretion in gum trees, and a cold change immediately stops it.

Given the experiences here last year (v.dry year and worst honey harvest in living memory), and to some extent this year, the biggest factor overall seems to be severe lack of rain which appears to result in the trees shutting down nectar production. As one experienced beekeeper put it, "nature looking after itself".

And yet here last year we didn’t have a drop of rain for nigh on three months and I couldn’t keep up with the bees bringing in nectar from the bramble. I guess it’s a deep rooted plant and rainy WALES has a higher water table.

 

[Antipodes]

Yes Dani it is strange...but we are generally on ancient soils. I'm on 270 million year old permian mudstone...it is like dirty beach sand over a soft rock, so it can't hold water. In areas in the west/south west where the leatherwood failed earlier in the year, there are shallow soils and the trees rely on almost constant/regular rainfall. Leatherwood can't really tolerate any dryness around their roots in the growing season apparently....so soil type is an issue.

By the way...one of the wettest times I can remember was in South Wales ...we were in the Caerphilly castle area...I thought the moat would overflow!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Very interesting about your data gathering Curly g f.

They reckon warm and humid conditions favour nectar secretion in gum trees, and a cold change immediately stops it.

Given the experiences here last year (v.dry year and worst honey harvest in living memory), and to some extent this year, the biggest factor overall seems to be severe lack of rain which appears to result in the trees shutting down nectar production. As one experienced beekeeper put it, "nature looking after itself".

Having apiarys in south shropshire (Clee hill) and on the Welsh boarders I've never experienced such conditions as Dani said last year was dry for months and the bramble kept producing nectar .
We had our best honey crop from balsam last year but this year it was the summer crop that was the best , Spring crop got left for the bees and I think quite a few beeks did the same localish.

And yet here last year we didn’t have a drop of rain for nigh on three months and I couldn’t keep up with the bees bringing in nectar from the bramble. I guess it’s a deep rooted plant and rainy WALES has a higher water table.

Much the same for me last year I extracted two crops three weeks apart ...
This year was our best though after uniting colony's
Did you find that we didn't have a June gap last year because of the dry conditions? In Wales?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Having apiarys in south shropshire (Clee hill) and on the Welsh boarders I've never experienced such conditions as Dani said last year was dry for months and the bramble kept producing nectar .
We had our best honey crop from balsam last year but this year it was the summer crop that was the best , Spring crop got left for the bees and I think quite a few beeks did the same localish.




Much the same for me last year I extracted two crops three weeks apart ...
This year was our best though after uniting colony's
Did you find that we didn't have a June gap last year because of the dry conditions? In Wales?

Actually here there was a bit of a dip but not really significant. The year before we had so much dandelion I couldn’t believe how yellow the fields were

 

[pargyle]

It stopped raining and blowing a gale for a few hours today so I stood watching my girls making the most of it .. quite cold but didn't seem to bother them unduly. The ivy in my garden broke into flower about 2 weeks ago - same as most years - 2nd/3rd week of October - but it was raining at the time so not worked as much as some years in the past.

Today ... loads of bright orange pollen coming in to all colonies .. Ivy for sure. There's still some in bloom in the garden but they must have found a real crop of it somewhere.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ivy is all but done now
There are a few flowers and the bees in the tree box were out in force this afternoon
Been planting more crocuses today

 

[Chiangmai member]

Rice is flowering in northern Thailand, so frames look like attached. Interestingly bees only seem to collect rice pollen from around 6am-9am.

 

[Tomlow bee]

My ivy is always late and has only just started flowering. When we had a rare decent day at the beginning ofbthis week, the ivy was alive with bees. Not seen since with the rain!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Ivy is going over in shropshire and the borders , last Sunday we watched the gorse being worked .
All quite this week .
-4 out side and possibly will be getting some snow this morning.

 

[Millet]

Now the weather has warmed a little the bees are making a lovely humming sound on the Ivy which is in full flower.

 

[Antipodes]

Does anyone know what this bee magnet is please? In a friend's garden....

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is it a Deutzia
My ma in law has one in her garden and it’s always covered in bees.

 

[Antipodes]

Brilliant Dani.

I've passed it onto him.....his garden is a riot of flowering plants at the moment

 

[Antipodes]

Always a welcome sight this one.

Solstice nearly upon us. Still 28c at 8pm and plenty foraging.