The plants they love

[alleyyooper aka trailtwis]

The classic bee on the Purple Cone Flower.




Crimson King Red Clover


Blue Scabosca


 :D Al

[Anonymous]

Bee on Agastache, Blue Foutian. The first flower species in bee keeping for dummies.



Purple Lartis is also good bee food.



Who said that honey bees didn't like Red Clover?
They do here.



They like my pan of rocks as a water source better than the bird bath I have in place for them. Fact is I never see them at the bee bath even though I have it fixed with perches for them.







They love this shrub, I have forgotten the name of and and have to go back through our old plant tags to find the name. I do remember it starts with an H. We are also looking for more of them to plant.



Autum Joy Sedum, They were on this one so thick last fall you couldn't see the flower head. We have planted 10 more plants along with a bunch of Asters for fall bee food sources.




 :D Al

[mattoleriver]

Al,
your mystery plant is  a Hypericum, commonly called St. Johnswort.  It was one of the first plants that my llamas (meadow maggots!) decimated.  It's an attractive groundcover, I wish the llamas would have left some for the bees.
George

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the name of the Hypercum plant. been looking for two weeks for another one to put in the new bee garden we planted with out results.
Here are some more favorites of theirs in this area this year. I say that because last year they were all over the sweet clover and this year they are rarely going to it. I'm told all the rain we have been getting washes all the nectar from it.

Butterfly Bush Indigo some thing or other. Is hard to remember all the names with about 12 in the different gardens.


Doing chin ups.


 :D Al

[Anonymous]

This is called Swamp Milk Weed.


Yellow Butterfly Bush






 :D Al

[Anonymous]

Here is one on Purple Lobelia. They chew a small hole near the base of the trumpet shaped flower and suck the nectar out.


A Pink one.



Our new bee garden. Has grown even bigger this week.



 :D Al

[Beth Kirkley]

Al-
Those pictures are absolutely fantastic. Thank you. :)

Beth

[Anonymous]

Thanks Beth. Planing on doing some more bee plant pictures today. They are going goo goo over a blue Spiera we have in the front door garden. I like them (the blue mist ones) so when we were shopping for one We were told by a nurseryman with some scrouples that the Blue Mist (common name) was border line hardy here. We bought a slightly different variety based on the bee count last summer of the three varietys he carryed.
 :D

[Anonymous]

Well the Autum Joy Sedum is in bloom now and the bees are just going crazy over it. While the sun is on it there will be so many bees it is hard to see the blooms. We have bought more plants and put them in the new bee garden.









 :D Al

[Anonymous]

I have always liked the Blue Mist Spirea, we bought one last year(2003) early in the summer. Then latter in the summer while at a garden center I was watching the bees work them. There were 3 types, Blue mist, with a few bees, one wiith a number rather than a name which had a few bees also, then there was Dark Knight just loaded with bees. I would have said 5 to 1 difference.
We bought one of them then and another one just a few days ago for the new bee garden.






:D Al

[Anonymous]

Here is one of the girls working a different Sedum which I forgot the name of but is of a varagated type.



 :D Al

[Anonymous]

They also like our butterfly bushes. This one is called Pink Delight, yes I know there isn't a bee on it in this picture. Seemed to be rather spooky the day I took the picture.



I have for gotten the name of this purple one, It isn't dark enought to be what else Dark Knight.



 :D Al

[Anonymous]

This is one of my planted Asters the bee love.



 :D Al

[Anonymous]

The Purple cone flower again.



 :D Al

[apigard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdXk84mmsI    Compilation of Gorgeous Flowering Plants that Will Attract Bees

[BeeMaster2]

Apigard,
Welcome to Beemaster.
Nice video.
Bee sure to read the bylaws.
Jim Altmiller

[beelife]

Spring is coming

[The15thMember]

Welcome to Beemaster, beelife!    You know that is a fly, right? 

[beelife]

I think it is a wild bee. 

[The15thMember]

Nope, it's definitely a fly, probably a drone fly of some sort that is mimicking a honey bee.  Notice how it has very short antennae, only 2 wings, no pollen carrying hairs on the legs, and different mouthparts than a bee.  A bee will have long antennae, 4 wings, and usually visible structures for carrying pollen (unless it's a male, a cuckoo bee, or a bee who carries pollen internally).  I have another picture of a drone fly attached, along with a honey bee and a leafcutter bee for comparison.  Drone flies are still important pollinators though!