What's flowering: Queensland

[max2]

This is an interesting one..

The White Clover was pretty well finished.

We had a week of very mild summer weather with some showers every day...and the Clover has come back.

I have no idea how long it will last or if it will yield any nectar.

The next few days are still quite mild with more showers.

I had hoped to take some honey off and check on the Comb Honey frames but these showers are not the best for beework.

I stick to making up frames for now.

[max2]

Angophora  subvelutina is just starting to flower here.
They will flower through Januaray.

Not much honey and not the best but good pollen and plenty of it.

[max2]

Blue Gum -just noticed on a small branch a lot of little buds.
These trees will flower late Winter.
A long wait but positive

[max2]

I moved some bees from a brood box needing attention into a new box.
A lovely, calm hive bringing in loads of nectar and dark yellow pollen.

Looking around i noticed strips of Flatweed https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/hypochaeris-radicata/

The bees love them.
The plant will grow best along rodsides even in gravelly soil - a tough plant.

For some reason i can not explain, Blackberries are flowering again.
This is the middle of our wet season but the last few weeks have been relatively dry. Great weather for bees >

[Lesgold]

The comb turns quite yellow from the flat weed. Bees seem to work it a lot this time of year. Not sure if it produces much nectar but a mate tells me that if there is nothing else coming in, the honey can be a little bitter. The beeswax from cappings  is often a brilliant yellow (I put it down to the flat weed)

[max2]

The comb turns quite yellow from the flat weed. Bees seem to work it a lot this time of year. Not sure if it produces much nectar but a mate tells me that if there is nothing else coming in, the honey can be a little bitter. The beeswax from cappings  is often a brilliant yellow (I put it down to the flat weed)

What I find very interesting is that one hive in a yard can have very yellow cappings and the hive next to it has " normal" coloured wax.

Our winters have been very mild in recent years - no hard frost- and i notice that Privit is creeping in.
The flowers stink and i wonder what the honey is like?

Up on the range with no frost the slopes are covered in privet. Lucky for me, our bees won't be venturing this far

[Acebird]

Looking around i noticed strips of Flatweed https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/hypochaeris-radicata/

Looks like our dandelion.  My grandfather used to make wine from them.

[max2]

" looks like dandelion"

Dandelion has a single, hollow stem. Flat Weed has multiple stems.
The flower of Flatweed is smaller.

Growing up in Switzerland with an Italian mother we would collect Dandelion as a salad vegetable - all poor people did.
Today dandelion is served in upmarked restaurants!

My mother would serve it with oil/vinegar dressing with a par boiled egg...to take care of the bitterness.

To this day I dedicate a garden bed to Dandelion, Chicory and Rocket ( you may know it as " Arugula")

Farmers liked the dandelion in their pasture as it was increasing milk production.

[max2]

This is our wet season but it has not been very wet. Some showers - about 30mm of rain. Humid..

This is the time when trees may flower but the nectar /pollen is washed out before it is of any benefit to the bees.

We have a weed here " Cobblers peg" , also know as " Farmers Friend" - it has velcro type seeds which will attach to clothing.
One good , very positive aspect: it flowers 10 minutes after rain stopes..good honey and pollen as well, bees love it

[Lesgold]

I didn?t know that Max. I spend a lot of time pulling the darn stuff out. It?s a pretty invasive weed that loves to stick to bee suits and especially socks.

[max2]

It is a nuisance weed here too and people also pull it out...BUT great for bees.

need any seeds?

I watched your video were you are making foundations - I would love one of these embossers.

market tomorrow - all packed up, ready to go

[max2]

Just in case people don't know what we are talking about https://pollinatorlink.org/2015/02/04/the-treasure-in-the-jungle-of-weeds/

[max2]

While the start of the season was painfully slow - floods, too much rain..good b\nectar flows have been experienced in most areas since before Christmas  with avearage harvest around 120 to 150kg per hive.

Blood wood has ben a contributer in recent months.

Blue Gum is budding.

We need more rain this month for a productive Spring start and a good Clover flow

[max2]

Winter has not yet arrived - the bees are busy and honey is coming in...and the Blue Gum is budding like crazy.
Looking good for an early start to the next season

[Occam]

I had to look up what blue gum was, beautiful trees!