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BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: Sydney guy on September 23, 2016, 02:18:27 am

Title: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on September 23, 2016, 02:18:27 am
I'm a hour south west of Sydney and I'm seeing lots of things in flower. Clover, orange trees, fireweed, patterson curse, a small yellow flowered weed I don't have a name for and Wisteria.

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on September 23, 2016, 02:38:54 am
Anyone know what this is? Bees love it.(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160923/1e0c98ccca18926b2764a2414d572055.jpg)

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Andersonhoney on September 23, 2016, 06:22:30 am
It's a brassica. Not a great photo. Either canola, radish or turnip etc. Yes bees love it. High protein in the pollen and a good nectar supply usually.  Lots of pods set in that photo so it's all but finished.
Well done on starting this thread.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on October 07, 2016, 08:13:33 am
Thank you Andersonhoney you are right i found it in a bee book.

Does anyone know what the quality of honey is like from orange trees. Next door has an orange orchard and its in full bloom and bees are working it full on.

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Andersonhoney on October 07, 2016, 08:18:28 am
Highly regarded honey, and yes with a citrus tang.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on October 07, 2016, 08:47:31 am
Awesome can't wait to try a bit :)

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Pet Bear on October 07, 2016, 11:09:48 pm
So happy to see this thread started. Mid north coast here. Think I'm seeing lots of stringy bark been on a staggered bloom for the past 6 weeks plus the jacaranda just starting.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on October 08, 2016, 05:39:32 am
Yeah Pet Bear I hope people contribute, I'm in a property investing forum that is full on and this one is really slow, there has to be more beekeepers out there lol. I checked my Jacaranda trees and nothing yet.

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Andersonhoney on October 08, 2016, 05:57:52 pm
Keep at it. What's flowering victoria thread is almost 12 month old.(well done ozbuzz for starting it) Almost every time I post on it there is another 100 views. Still not many contributors, but that can be beekeepers sometimes not wanting others to get their flowers. Good luck.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on December 04, 2016, 03:19:59 am
Tee-Trees are out in flower and bees are all over it. :)

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on December 04, 2016, 03:21:03 am
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161204/2a7060c926102bd779e82fb6a75da520.jpg)

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on December 04, 2016, 03:23:06 am
Tee-Tree

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 04, 2016, 03:32:49 am
Wort, curse, clover and most of the thistles are flowering around here.
Hope to have my first hive set up in about a week, should still be a bit of the above around for a few more weeks. Blackberries haven't started here yet and will continue in patches until Feb/Mar.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on December 04, 2016, 03:35:09 am
Where are you from 220?

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 04, 2016, 04:29:36 am
South, not far from Batlow
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 08, 2016, 10:13:57 pm
Have been away the last week, blackberries are just starting around here. Still a bit of clover and trefoil along with thistles, wort and  curse. Haven't noticed any of the messmate flowering yet.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Kona Bob on December 16, 2016, 06:36:48 am
I have these trees at my place near Penrith and they have long green bud type things at the moment and it amazing the amount of bees, native bees, wasps, dragon flies, butterflies all over them. I can hear it going off from 20 or 30 meters away.I tried to post pic but don't know how
Also noticed the gum trees with pinky orange trunks are starting to flower around the place too. Soz I don't know any of the names of these trees
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Lancej on December 23, 2016, 03:45:44 am
For those looking for a copy of Honey and pollen flora, there is a knock off on gumtree and ebay at the moment. Already have one, not too bad a copy, but the price seems to be going up.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on December 29, 2016, 09:16:25 am
I have noticed over the last couple of weeks the blackthorn and privet are starting to flower around sydney.

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 30, 2016, 07:13:04 am
Noticed bees were working the blackberry Wednesday while driving around the farm, was going to inspect today but raining until around 8 and then overcast and threatening all day. Watched my hives for a few minutes, plenty of bees flying and lots of golden pollen coming in.
Could be wort, saffron thistle or dandelion as they are all in bloom.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on January 29, 2017, 11:34:34 pm
Plenty flowering here in Sothern NSW, blackberry is pretty much done but what the locals call dogwood has been going strong for a few weeks and the Aus blackthorn has just started. Still a lot of ground cover flowering, scotch thistles are still going and I am guessing the dark pollen the bees are storing is from it. Plenty of bright yellow/golden pollen still coming in as well, not sure if it is from the St Johns wort or the dandelion that are both still going. Lots of saffron thistle and the bees were coming back into the hive with pale yellow pollen 10min after sunrise this morning. Not sure what it is, still some small patches of white clover flowering and a few other ground plants Im not sure on.
Apart from one messmate tree that had a few flowers on one small limb the trees are doing nothing yet.

This is what the local call dogwood
(http://madmick3006.com/ahngallery/upload/files/2017-01/d198066a.jpg)

While I have plenty flowering I have no idea of there value as pollen or nectar sources for bees.
Can anyone help with pollen and nectar values on the dogwood and Aus blackthorn.

Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Milo on January 30, 2017, 04:13:35 pm
Hey mate, I tried getting my google-foo on for Cassinia aculeata (dogwood) but couldn't find any data.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on January 30, 2017, 04:55:05 pm
I had the same problem, found a couple of references to it being a valuable nectar source for butterflies but that was all, no references to its value to bees.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Andersonhoney on January 30, 2017, 06:47:49 pm
I've only got data on cassinia laevis.  2 records of it count 13% protein,  and 21% protein.  So read that as you will. I'd say fair quality of pollen.  Mixed with all the others you listed, thisles etc your bees should be doing alright.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on March 08, 2017, 05:24:54 am
Still a bit of dandelion flowering southern NSW 750m, messmate still hasn't done much, noticed a couple flowering 4km away a few weeks back but nothing since. Checked an ideal box I put on a nearly 3 weeks back, 10 days ago they were just starting to draw the frames, today 75% is drawn and 50% filled. They are obviously finding something, don't think I will get a harvest but they should be well stocked for winter.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on March 29, 2017, 02:13:10 am
Bees are still finding a feed, noticed a couple of trees along the creek while fishing today that have what I think is some sort of ivy growing over them getting worked really hard by bees.
(http://madmick3006.com/ahngallery/upload/files/2017-03/433bc4ce.jpg)
Still a few chasing the dandelion
(http://madmick3006.com/ahngallery/upload/files/2017-03/de200973.jpg)
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Miikeboyle on March 29, 2017, 05:33:22 am
Where abouts are you located 220? Here in Sydney the paperbarks are in full flower and a break in the wet weather has seen a fair bit of bees on them. My bees are near Braidwood and last week there was not much in flower I could see and they were looking pretty short on honey.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on March 29, 2017, 07:05:54 am
Bees are at Batlow, hives are about 750m.
Seemed to have a reasonable flow at present but Im not sure what they are bringing in. No big bloom at present that I can identify, tail end of the dandelion, a few thistles still and the odd euc.


Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Sydney guy on April 23, 2017, 06:41:05 am
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170423/0e7213938fb61f1ebb5570eb1bcae4cc.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170423/2227afdcb2044a2d811c04e48caa0f89.jpg)

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Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on October 12, 2017, 03:30:13 pm
Early apple varieties were just starting to flower last weekend, back on the tools working 7 days for a few weeks so wont get to have a look in my hives until towards the end of the month. Made sure they all had at least one empty deep.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on October 21, 2017, 04:42:28 pm
Managed to check my hives yesterday, apple trees are all in various stages of bloom. Didn't have a good look to see if the bees are working them but they were certainly working the white clover.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: JimW on November 10, 2017, 04:09:09 am
Love this thread!
I?m in Sydney and of course there are lots of jacarandas, and seeing some gum trees flowering.
I?ve planted a bunch of Manuka this year (sorry Kiwis, I mean leptospermum scoparium - don?t sue me for using the descriptor for a native Australian plant!), they seem to be taking a while to grow so not sure how suited they are to Sydney.
Camellias and virbirnums are all done now, but lots of other random stuff is flowering.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on November 25, 2017, 02:28:34 pm
Noticed the a patch of blackberry with the first flower on it yesterday, plenty of dandelion and white clover still flowering. A bit of curse about and the dogwood has been going in patches for a few weeks.
Everything seems a bit earlier for us this year, to be expected seeing we have only had 800mm rain against over 1600mm last year.

Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 22, 2017, 06:15:54 am
Dogwood and blackberries are really going now, had 6" rain the first 7 days of the month, white clover is still going. Bees have really kicked on the last week, had a look today at a hive I put a super on 7 days ago. They have drawn 8 frames and filled better than half.
Looks like we might be in one of those flows I've heard about where bees can fill a super in a week. Hopefully it  keeps going a bit longer, blackberries look like they should continue for a few more weeks, clover will keep going for a while as will the dogwood.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: max2 on December 22, 2017, 04:52:23 pm
About that Dogwood. The leaves look very much like what we call " Ballon Cotton" - when you cut the stem does it ozze white sap? Ballon Cotton is worked by bees.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on December 29, 2017, 02:06:54 am
Haven't noticed any on our place but talking to the neighbour yesterday he has a few messmate starting to flower, Blackberries and dogwood are still going strong. I have thrown more supers on hives as 12 days after putting on the last they are 100% full.
Just waiting for them to cap now so I can start removing honey.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: 220 on January 08, 2018, 01:54:09 am
Still a good flow here, since the 15th Dec my strongest hive has drawn and filled 11 deep frames and 8 ideals. Threw another box at them today. Split a unproductive hive 3 ways a bit over a week ago, they are back filling all the brood comb as quickly as the brood emerges. Have thrown another box at them as well in the hope they draw a bit of comb and the queens have somewhere to lay once mated. Even the set of flow frames I put on christmas eve are being filled. Blackberry is done in the open country although still a bit in flower in the gully bottoms, the dogwood has slowed but still a bit about, the messmate and narrow leaf peppermint have been going for a week or two.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Dark Angel on April 15, 2019, 07:00:05 pm
Had a walk around my area over the last few days.  naturally lots of gardens with various flowers as I'm in town.  Of note was finding a large stand of African Boxthorn behind the old railway lines behind my yard and seeing some bees working it.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: queenman on April 18, 2019, 10:43:27 pm
Driving home yesterday noticed a Mugga Ironbark flowering.
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: eltalia on April 19, 2019, 05:46:12 am
Driving home yesterday noticed a Mugga Ironbark flowering.

Had to g00gul that one. So that Ironbatk has red flowers?
And welcome to the camp...expect a drubbing once State of Origin kicks off
as us Canetoads have youse blokes outnumbered here five to one. ;-)))

Cheers...

Bill
--
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~sideroxylon
Title: Re: What's Flowering: NSW
Post by: Dark Angel on April 19, 2019, 08:25:44 pm
Walking around Narrabeen yesterday. LOTS of flowering Hibiscus and other plants but have so far seen a single bee. Just one lone girl.