I’m just about to plant some more crocus bulbs. It’s quite a performance as I have to make up little wire mesh cages to prevent the mice eating them.
Eryngium is a plant I’d love to be able to grow but they don’t like winter wet or hard frosts, both of which my garden suffers from. The Echinops is the closest I can get, it’s always covered in bees and it’s quite late flowering which helps.
Life is too short to waste.
we have trouble with badgers digging them up here, bless them! but its worth persevering to get them established.
Keep it diverse and you can't go wrong!
I’m lucky because the badgers don’t come near the house, I’ve given up planting them in the orchard, they munched their way through 800 in one night and the mess they left behind was a nightmare.
If I was to cast my vote for bet plants for bees it would be, hmmm. there are so many, aren;t there! (Although there are of course 100 times as many plants that are rubbish for them!).
But certain moments with bees do stick in my mind, such as seeing a clump of white Marjoram just sagging under bumblebees, or Cotoneasters thick with Honeybees, or Blackthorn blossom full of early solitary bees.
For me I think the key to helping bees is actually a suite of factors - choose the right plants, plant them en masse, plant them in a sheltered spot that gets plenty of sun, and try to accommodate not only the rather showy long-tongued bumblebees and Honeybees but give something to the short-tongues bumbles and the solitary bees too - they're just as enteretaining. I promise to cover all that in my RSPB Homes for Wildlife blog next spring :-)
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Adrian Thomas For me I think the key to helping bees is actually a suite of factors - choose the right plants, plant them en masse, plant them in a sheltered spot that gets plenty of sun, and try to accommodate not only the rather showy long-tongued bumblebees and Honeybees but give something to the short-tongues bumbles and the solitary bees too - they're just as enteretaining. I promise to cover all that in my RSPB Homes for Wildlife blog next spring :-)
I’ll look forward to that, I’ve only just discovered the Homes for Wildlife Blog and now check it daily. I’ve got a single flowered Dahlia which the bees go mad for, I counted 30 bees on them today, they were mainly honey bees but there were half a dozen Bumble bees.
WF, do you dig yours up to overwinter or leave them in the ground? I'd love dahlias but due to the arthritis I can't be doing with things that have to be dug up every autumn then replanted the following year.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Squirrel WF, do you dig yours up to overwinter or leave them in the ground? I'd love dahlias but due to the arthritis I can't be doing with things that have to be dug up every autumn then replanted the following year.
They get left in the ground all winter and they always survive. We got down to -11 last winter. The slugs do like the new growth but they manage to grow in the end. If you fancy giving some a go I’ll dig some up when they have died down and send them to you.
The foliage is almost black and the flowers are scarlet (they look a bit orange in the photo).
Thank you WF, that's really kind of you and it would be fantastic - but only as long as it doesn't deprive you of them. They look a gorgeous colour, very striking against the dark foliage.
Squirrel
Wow! Beautiful display of dahlias - and yes, aren't the single-flowered varieties great for bees. I get the feeling I'd like your garden! Is that one of the Bishop of Llandaff or Bishop's Children series of dahlias?
It's Bishop of Llandaff, I'm impressed with you knowledge of flowers, I had to rummage around for the label before I could answer you.
Next time you're in Devon you'll have to pop in.