What's flowering as forage in your area

[Sutty]

My bees are loving the flowers on my Holly trees. You would barely notice the flowers as they are not showy and blend in (especially on variegated holly) but the bees find the easily enough!
I'd never though of holly as a nectar source.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My bees are loving the flowers on my Holly trees. You would barely notice the flowers as they are not showy and blend in (especially on variegated holly) but the bees find the easily enough!
I'd never though of holly as a nectar source.

We have lots of holly and normally the trees are buzzing. Last year we got a swarm into a bait hive on May 17 and called the queen holly as the trees were out. This year the buds are still shut tight

 

[GuyNir]

I’m seeing bees coming back completely covered (thorax) with bright orange pollen. Any idea what that is?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I’m seeing bees coming back completely covered (thorax) with bright orange pollen. Any idea what that is?

https://images.app.goo.gl/5Fp3TVVgWrgr3uZ59

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m seeing bees coming back completely covered (thorax) with bright orange pollen. Any idea what that is?

Anybody growing pumpkins in a nearby field?

 

[E&MBees]

Hawthorn is going great guns here and Elderflower is just opening too. Lots of wild flowers around and the bees are making the most of it.

 

[GuyNir]

Anybody growing pumpkins in a nearby field?

Could be. I’ll have to check around. Several field around the apiary. Thanks.

 

[Woodland bees]

Possibly saw a bee and a cell with common mallow pollen today, is it really bright pinky purple? It almost looked artificial.

 

[Swarm]

I’m seeing bees coming back completely covered (thorax) with bright orange pollen. Any idea what that is?

Seeing the same, almost like the Balsam stamp but splashed around the thorax/abdomen area as well.

 

[Moobee]

The cabbage palms are a few days of sun away from flowering, but when they do the girls will go mad!

 

[jeff33]

We were lucky enough to have the hawthorn flowering late at the start of the warm weather. That's coming to an end soon and the clover has just started again helped with the warm weather and the heavy rain yesterday.

 

[hemo]

Wisteria is being paid much attention at the mo, the other day it was Humble bees to day it's a buzz with honey bees and quite a noise they are making as well.

 

[Amari]

Wisteria is being paid much attention at the mo, the other day it was Humble bees to day it's a buzz with honey bees and quite a noise they are making as well.

Our wisteria is out but no honeybees on it. Pea family. As far as you can see, are the honeybees managing to penetrate the flower ie. collecting nectar ?

 

[Swarm]

Yes, every year the Wisteria is alive.

 

[hemo]

Our wisteria is out but no honeybees on it. Pea family. As far as you can see, are the honeybees managing to penetrate the flower ie. collecting nectar ?

Yes, they must be. They are over it like a bad rash, no pollen baskets.

The scent from the flowers were very aromatic today and it was in the air some distance from the flowering. My Wisteria trails up over a pergola structure then climbs it way up a cypress tree and turns a bland looking fir into quite a pretty site to see in the flesh.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, they must be. They are over it like a bad rash, no pollen baskets.

The scent from the flowers were very aromatic today and it was in the air some distance from the flowering. My Wisteria trails up over a pergola structure then climbs it way up a cypress tree and turns a bland looking fir into quite a pretty site to see in the flesh.
View attachment 26518

That's pretty impressive way to camouflage a Leylandii

 

[Antipodes]

With just a couple of weeks to the shortest day down here, our endemic blue gums have started flowering.
These can be really massive trees (tallest presently 91m), and the flowers are generally up beyond reach..but not for the bees! Sickle shaped leaves. I used a zoom lens for this photo.

https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/tas.emblem.html
According to the link "it is grown in large gardens in Cornwall where the cool to mild, damp climate is favourable"

 

[enrico]

With just a couple of weeks to the shortest day down here, our endemic blue gums have started flowering.
These can be really massive trees (tallest presently 91m), and the flowers are generally up beyond reach..but not for the bees! Sickle shaped leaves. I used a zoom lens for this photo.

https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/tas.emblem.html
According to the link "it is grown in large gardens in Cornwall where the cool to mild, damp climate is favourable"

View attachment 26524

We have them in UK but never seen them flowering. I have a four year old one. How long before they flower?????

 

[North End Bees]

We had a huge one in the garden and it did flower. It came down in high winds in the spring about 15 years ago.

 

[Antipodes]

We have them in UK but never seen them flowering. I have a four year old one. How long before they flower?????

Excellent, Well I reckon you'd be getting close. Perhaps in the next couple of years? They grow really fast when they are in the right conditions. In tough conditions they only grow to 3m tall. They rarely flower every year with the interval being 1-12 years. They flowered here in 2016 and 2019. It's a wonderful honey and the leaves have the strongest eucalyptus oil smell I know of. The young ones have the blue leaves so you'll need all of them to be gone to have it flower. This is a photo I took of a young one showing off it's blue leaves (which eventually give way to the mature sickle leaves), which are full of the powerful oil to protect it from herbivores.