Flowers and bees are a perfect match. Bees gather nectar and pollen
enabling plants to reproduce. In turn, pollen feeds baby bees and nectar is
turned into honey to be enjoyed by the bees and you, the beekeeper. Everyone's
happy.
While many kinds of trees and shrubs are bees' prime source of pollen and
nectar, a wide range of flowers contributes to bee development and a bumper crop
of honey. You can help in this process by adding some of these flowers to your
garden or by not removing some that already are there. Did you know that many
weeds actually are great bee plants, including the pesky dandelion, clover,
goldenrod, and purple vetch? You can grow all kinds of flowering plants in your
garden that not only will add beauty and fragrance to your yard but also give
bees handy sources of pollen and nectar. You'll hear the warm buzz of bees
enjoying them before you even realize the plants are in bloom.
Each source of nectar has its own flavor. A combination of nectars produces
great tasting honey. Not all varieties of the flowers described in the sections
that follow produce the same quality or quantity of pollen and nectar, but the
ones that listed here work well and bees simply love them.
To the human eye, a garden in bloom is a riot of colour. Flowers jostle for
our attention, utilising just about every colour of the rainbow. Sunflowers are
made up of two families. They provide the bees with pollen and nectar. Each
family is readily grown from seed, and you may find some nurseries that carry
them as potted plants. When you start sunflowers early in the season, make sure
that you use peat pots. They are rapid growers that transplant better when you
leave their roots undisturbed by planting the entire pot. Helianthus
annuusinclude the well-known giant sunflower as well as many varieties of dwarf
and multibranched types. Sunflowers no longer are only yellow. They come in a
wide assortment of colors, from white to rust and even several varieties of
mixed shades.
But of course, it is not our attention they need to attract, but that of
insects, the perfect pollinating agents.
And as these remarkable pictures show, there is more to many flowers than
meets the eye - the human eye at least. Many species, including bees, can see a
broader spectrum of light than we can, opening up a whole new world.
The images, taken by Norwegian scientist-cameraman Bjorn Roslett, present a
series of flowers in both natural and ultraviolet light, revealing an insect's
eye view.
We gardeners, often unwittingly, do a fair bit to help bees. But if we all
do a touch more, our collective impact may well tip the balance. There are key
ways we can tempt them in and up their numbers.
The commonly held belief that bees enjoy plants from the blues, yellows and
white spectrum is correct. Bees cannot see red: a poppy looks black to them.
Bees find double flowers difficult to work, they simply cannot get to the
nectaries because of the mass of petals.
So choose plants as close to the natural species as possible and add early
flowering plants, so when weary bees venture out into cold, winter sunshine in
February they can gain sustenance. Snowdrops, crocus, Daphnes are all valuable
to bees.
In my garden I have sheets of Symphtum 'Hidcote Blue' under my orchard
trees which comes into flower in early spring.
When Holly waters her greenhouse on sunny days she notices masses of bees
buzzing around on the ground - not after plants but the moisture.
If you have a pool, try and make it shallow in places perhaps with logs and
pebbles so they can access the water. Bees also need nooks and crannies to hide
in.
So leave piles of logs, have climbing plants on trellises to create
sheltered hibernation spaces and don't tidy everything up obsessively but leave
a few wilder bits.
If you mow your lawn a smidgeon higher this will help encourage the wild
thymes, self heal and clover and you will make hundreds and thousands of bees
very happy.
Bees like and do some surprising things. They will ignore laurel hedges in
full flower but be all over them like a rash when just in leaf. The young leaves
have glands or nectaries on the underside which the bees swoon over.
RHS beekeeper Andrew Halstead says that one type of solitary bee shaves the
hairs of the Lambs Ear plant (Stachys byzantinus) with their jaws to line the
tunnels of their egg production areas.
So add a mix of bee-friendly flowers to your garden, allotment, patio or
hanging baskets - and help us create a buzz this summer.
