[Trillium]

the bee 'hotels' work only for the solitary mason/orchard bees which don't live in communities like the honeybee does. I have several bee houses in my orchard and yes, the mason bees do use them. But you must also provide a very early flowering plant for them as they emerge early from their life cycle in the houses and are hungry. Tulips are absolutely useless for all bees so we're talking any form of early flowering shrub or flower. I have lungwort everywhere which is the first to flower for me.

[Mrs Bee]

OH is not allowed to cut the grass once the clover is up as it is covered in bees.

We have bees in the garden from January to January as we have bee friendly flowers all year round.  
The sarcocca is great for bees in the winter when it flowers and then we have a succession of flowers for them.
I will begetting some winter flowering clematis soon as they were flagged up as good bee flowers for the winter.

We don't have wild patches in the garden tho' just lots and lots of flowers.

We put up a bee hotel but no joy, they have made their own homes in the log pile and in the gap of an old rotting tree stump.

The worrying thing was the bee fly I found in the garden last year. I thought it was a bee with a long pointy nose but when I researched it I think I found it was a danger to bees.

[Springlands]

The bees love my fuchsia and they love the flowers on comfrey. 

[compostqueen]

Clover in the lawn will keep a bee supplied for ages so don't mow it!  It won't hurt to leave it.  We used to pick and nibble clover as kids. It's dead sweet so you can see why the bees hone in on it 

[Springlands]

Clover in the lawn will keep a bee supplied for ages so don't mow it!  It won't hurt to leave it.  We used to pick and nibble clover as kids. It's dead sweet so you can see why the bees hone in on it 

Funny you should say that CQ - our grass is full of clover and is humming with bees - also the scent of the clover in the heat is amazing.

[compostqueen]

I hate lawns and they're only any use when they have hens on them or bees at the nectar bar 

[brianbishop]

My lavender is just coming in to flower Bees go mad on it. Also amusing to watch them on poppies, they turn themselves upside down and run around the stamen!!
Bish

[MalcW]

I was looking at our small lawn at the weekend. The clover seems to be spreading, and I thought to myself that I really need to do something about it. Then I thought that actually I quite like the look of the clover, and it doesn't need mowing every 5 minutes like the grass does. And bees like it.

I think I'll leave nature to do it's thing - it gives me more time at the allotment.

[Torgan]

At the moment the bees seem dead keen on my echinops/globe thistle, I was nearly wondering if there was something wrong with them as they sit on the flowers for ages or move very slowly but maybe there's just a lot of nectar for them. They also seem keen on a variety of allium flowering just, I think it's this. Maybe they particularly like this round headed sort of flower? Poppies also seem popular and lots of hover flies on them as well.

[wbmkk]

Earlier in the year I attended a bee keeping course and very interesting it was.

I had the idea of keeping a hive in my back garden .. I thought I had the perfect wee spot. However, after learning all about the hobby, there are quite a few factors which you must take into effect, when planning a site for a new hive.

I therefore had a problem .. wanting to keep bees, but having no location for a hive. I therefore set up a small website, to match would-be beekeepers, with fol having space. Also, for people who want bees on their land, but don't want to look after them, themselves. So far, I have matched up two church groups, who wanted hives on their land (actually one was a roof). Honey bees are in decline, so every little helps (as one supermarket always tells us)

The site has general information too, about the art of beekeeping.

I'm probably not allowed to mention my site here, maybe I am, but I don't know. Anybody interested, please send me a message.

Luckily I have got an allotment now (as of last week) and we are allowed hives. Hopefully, I'll be able to set up a bee colony next year. Better get the plot organised first though, before thinking about honey etc.

I'll buzz off now.

ps. The RHS produce a list of bee friendly plants, see the link below


http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/Plants-for-pollinators

[Sparkyrog]

I may be wrong but I think you are allowed to post a link from this site to your's ! AS Long as you post one on your's to here 

[mumofstig]

wbmkk already has his site in the weblink under his avatar.

He's not allowed to link to it on his posts without permission from Admin as per site policy
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19481.msg99851#msg99851

[Sparkyrog]

wbmkk already has his site in the weblink under his avatar.

He's not allowed to link to it on his posts without permission from Admin as per site policy
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19481.msg99851#msg99851

My mistake Sorry mum 

[wbmkk]

He's not allowed to link to it on his posts without permission from Admin as per site policy
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19481.msg99851#msg99851

I'm glad I didn't then !

thanks 

[devonbarmygardener]

Grow lots of marigolds - mine are still going strong (even though the beans they were planted in front of are long gone) and the bees are still buzzing all over them!
In the garden I have great clumps of sedum - on a sunny summer or autumn day the tight flower heads are covered in every type of bee and butterfly - an amazing plant