QUOTE="alancooper, post: 773583, member: 14286"]
Do you see honey bees on Yellow rattle and Pink campion. I have both in a garden grass patch but have not seen either used.
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I’ve seen bumblebees on yellow rattle, in fact I think one of the photos I posted had a pic of a white tailed bumble with v large pollen baskets from the rattle. The purpose of the yellow rattle is to act as a semi parasite to feed on grass roots, so weakening it, to allow the sword to open up and allow other wildflowers to germinate.
I’ve definitively seen bumblebees on pink campion. But the best wildflowers for honeybees are birds foot trefoil, plantain (pollen), scabious and knapweed.
What I love about wildflower meadows are that they support all pollinators, such as solitary bees and moths. Plus wonderful for ground nesting birds and they attract a full ecosystem of wildlife such as bats and swallows and hares, feeding on vegetation and other insects.
We’ve lost 96% of our wildflower meadows since the last war (& 50% of our hedgerows) so I’m on a mission to promote them to anyone who will listen!
We invested in a good leaf blower last year that can work in reverse ie suck up the seed, so plan to sell a bit on eBay this year, not to make much money as quite time consuming, but to encourage others to wild garden.
Sorry long answer and a side ramble, to a short question, but I can easily get carried away with my passion for meadows and wildlife
Do you see honey bees on Yellow rattle and Pink campion. I have both in a garden grass patch but have not seen either used.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen bumblebees on yellow rattle, in fact I think one of the photos I posted had a pic of a white tailed bumble with v large pollen baskets from the rattle. The purpose of the yellow rattle is to act as a semi parasite to feed on grass roots, so weakening it, to allow the sword to open up and allow other wildflowers to germinate.
I’ve definitively seen bumblebees on pink campion. But the best wildflowers for honeybees are birds foot trefoil, plantain (pollen), scabious and knapweed.
What I love about wildflower meadows are that they support all pollinators, such as solitary bees and moths. Plus wonderful for ground nesting birds and they attract a full ecosystem of wildlife such as bats and swallows and hares, feeding on vegetation and other insects.
We’ve lost 96% of our wildflower meadows since the last war (& 50% of our hedgerows) so I’m on a mission to promote them to anyone who will listen!
We invested in a good leaf blower last year that can work in reverse ie suck up the seed, so plan to sell a bit on eBay this year, not to make much money as quite time consuming, but to encourage others to wild garden.
Sorry long answer and a side ramble, to a short question, but I can easily get carried away with my passion for meadows and wildlife
