Bee Plants -- a great list

[Cindi]

I am unsure if this is the correct forum to place this list in, it will be moved if it is not right.  These plants are all bee friendly and many are easy to grow, there are many members that are asking about what flowers to plant for bees and I thought this may help everyone out a great deal.  Any questions, bring 'em on, have that beautiful and most wonderful day, Cindi

BEE PLANT LIST
Centaurea Blue Boy Bachelors Button -- Bees and hover flies love
Borage officinalis -- Bees love it, cousin to comfrey, not affected by rain because of drooping blue flowers
Agastache (Anise Hyssop) --  loved by bees
Comfrey -- Bees love it
Centaurea Dwarf polkdot mix Bachelors Button -- Bees and hoverflies love it
Consolida (larkspur) Consolida ambigua  -- attracts beneficials
Eryngium planum Sea holly -- Bees are mad about this variety
Thyme T. Vulgaris -- a good honey plant for bees (thymus vulgaris)
Fireweed -- excellent honey, bees love it
Canary Creeper T. peregrinum -- bees love it, late late pollen plant
Cosmos â€"- valuable for late nectar source
Phacelia tanacetifolia (Purple Tansy) -- attracts bee from miles
Poppy giganthemum p. somniferum poppyseed poppy
California poppy “Apricot chiffon”eschscholzia californica -- bees love it
Catnip Nepeta Cataria -- a good bee plant
Lemon Balm Melissa officinanlis -- Perennial, bees love it
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis Perennial, -- bees, hoverflies
Lovage Levisticum officinale -- bees love it
Spearmint Mentha spicata blooms late summer, --- bees, hummingbirds
Helipterum (Acroclinium) helipterum roseum  Sensation Giants Mix
Yellow rocket
Impatiens capensis grows wild around my house, great for late nectar/pollen, lasts til frost-kill
Great Blue Lobelia L. siphilitica perennial, dappled light, self-sows, flowers summer through autumn
Salvia Violet Queen S nemorosa  -- particularly attractive to butterflies & bees  Flowers 2nd year
Crimson clover Trifolium incarnatum outstanding cut flowers, -- annual, bees love it
Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum -- bees love it, turn under 10 days after flowering to avoid seed drop
White Dutch Clover Trifolium repens -- all beneficial insects

[Janemma]

Cindi thank you - On Sunday DH and I are going to the garden centre to buy some plants for my bees (they arrive tomorrow!!!) and my garden!  This list is perfect!  Of course I would LOVE LOVE LOVE Fireweed but I can't find it anywhere here and seeds/ plants are so hard to find online.  A friend of mine in Alaska is going to TRY and gather a few for me this year but I hear it is almost impossible to catch as it blows in the wind!

Fireweed honey is the BEST honey I have EVER tasted :)  and that was in BC ;) 

I'm printing off your list to take with me :)  thank you!

Oh - do you happen to know if there is a perennial mint that could survive Albertas temperatures?  Hmmm It's the kind of thing Lois Hole would have known!

[Cindi]

Janemma.  Glad that the list will help you out, hope you get some good plants.  About the mint family, I think that they are tougher than tough!!!  I would imagine that they would grow just fine, many perennials withstand freezing temperatures and come back, they are perennial, which means all year round, through cold and heat.

Fireweed, ah, I have hundreds of seedlings that I started from the seed.  I propagated them inside and will set them out soon, when I have that spare moment in time, hee, hee.  I also set about 2 brown bags (large bags) into the soils, I just brushed soil lightly over them and they will germinate when ready.

Fireweed seed must be gathered while the seed pods are still on the stalks.  Tell your friend to keep an eye out for this.  The seed pods are long and thin, and when they are touched the white fluffy stuff that surrounds the seed is set to the wind.  If the seed is gathered before the seed pod opens, then they are just fine.  The seed pod is interesting.  It is about 2 inches long, thin as old get out and if you rub the seed pod together, it bursts open and the fine white fluffy stuff shows itself.  It is amazing how much fluff could have been inside that pod.  When I pick the seed pods I put them into brown bags, that way if they burst open the fluff remains within that bag.  So tell your friend that when it is seen that the pods have made that pod, that is the time to pick.  They don't have to be fully mature pods, ready to burst, they can be picked a little bit sooner, they will mature in the bag (or whatever is used to house the seeds).  Good luck.  You will have fun plant searching, and have the best and most wonderful day, Cindi

[randydrivesabus]

cindi-when fireweed seed pods are growing do they look like thin beans? and then they turn brown and very think over the winter?

[ccwonka]

okay, so I found a place that sells bare root and seed fireweed in some bulk, but apparently I can't post it since I'm a newbie . . . .

cie la vie :-\

[ccwonka]

I guess I can say the name? 

I assume someone will correct me soon enough if not (hopefuly without getting banned). . . if you google prairiemoon fireweed the link will come up and you can order fireweed in bulk . . .

[Cindi]

ccwonka, you are funny.  I hear your worry about being banned for making a link.  What is meant in the warning about linking stuff is that if someone is a new person here and they try to "include" a link by doing things to that link to get it to "link" by bypassing stuff is what is meant here.  I understand what you are saying though.   You know what a link is right?  A link is when someone basically puts in a "code" we will call it, that when a forum member clicks on it, that will take them directly to that site.

No problems talking or telling people about where to look at all, it is just putting a direct link in that is now allowed for new members.  That is just a security measure so that the integrity of new members is known, if a new member could post a link to say, a porno site, that would be what we are trying to keep out of here.  We are a safe little community here, we all need to be safe from the nastiness of what can be in this outside world.  That is good that you found a site where you can get fireweed, yeah!!!!!

Randy, I wish that I could have taken a picture of when I was gathering seed.  KathyP and I had the same experiences when we were gathering seed and we talked about it on the forum, we would be covered in white fluffy fireweed fluff, it can get all over ya, hee, hee.

Fireweed seed pods are about 2 inches in length and about 1/8 of an inch wide.  That is the best description that I can make.  I am going to goggle it and see if I can find a link so you can see the seed pod.

The seed pod forms where the flowers were, each flower petal (we will call it a petal) makes a thin little seed pod.  So when you look at the fireweed picture of pink flowers, think of each petal as a place where that seed pod will form, it is a very beautiful and lovely wildflower.  Beautiful and most wonderful day, lovin' this life we all share.  Cindi

Oooh, that is a beautiful picture of fireweed.  It is very indigenous to my province.  It grows everywhere here, and now will grow everywhere on my property, it blooms first year from seed.

Look at the petals near the top of the plant that are sticking out horizontally, that would be what the seed pod would look like coming off the stem when it is mature, but they are brown.


http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/wildflowers/fireweed.htm

Now look at the third picture, well it should show up as the third picture, the one where the plant looks fluffy white, that is what the plant looks like when the seeds are maturing and the pods are starting to burst, the white fluff is so fluffy, it blows everywhere, just like when dandelions get that fluff and you can blow that fluff, I know we all have done that one time or another, spreading the glorious little seeds everywhere!!!!

http://www.ontariowildflower.com/wildflower_waste2.htm#fireweed

[randydrivesabus]

hmmm....i have something growing that the bees loved last year when it flowered and it produced these long thin green pods that hung down...i think the flowers were white though. So now those pods are brown and when you split one open its like you describe fireweed to be. 14 bazillion puffy white seeds that fly all over in the wind.

[bberry]

Great list Cindi-thank you for posting that! We are so slow this year in getting our garden together it is ridiculous but i so look forward to planting more flowers and bee friendlies :lol: Last year i was impressed at how much the bees loved our Cosmos so i will be planting a lot more this year.

[poka-bee]

Fireweed is usually one of the 1st things to pop up in a clear cut or burned area. Once the trees/bushes/grasses start growing well they crowd it out.  If you drive along logging roads or into the mountains you should find tons growing but it will be in different areas each few years.  We have tons here too, it is truly a beautiful sight to see hillsides covered in the purple/pink.  I have a few plants here but have to keep everything else down aroud them.  We have tons of foxglove too...I laugh when I see it for sale at the nurserys...I'm always pulling it up every year in the pasture!  Now that Haley is gone it can go wild for the bees!  If the goat is dumb enough to eat it...well then.... :roll:  Have a great weekend!  Jody

[doak]

Persimmons are starting to bloom.  :)doak

[Cindi]

Jody, I remember some time ago that you said you would tell us about Haley.  Can you talk about her yet?  If you can, please tell me what happened, I feel your pain.  Have that most beautiful, greatest day that we all can.  Cindi