Bee attractive plants
During my visit to Holland, I was lucky to see a number of gardens that belonged to friends and relatives Here are some of the bee attractive plants I saw in these gardens.
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| A close up of the tiny pink flower. |
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| Unfortunately I do not know the name of this 5 foot high bush. The tiny pink flowers were very attractive to bees. |
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| Pink Delphinium |
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| Foxglove |
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| Holland: bicycle stall at a railway station. |
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| Bluebell |
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| Old city of Dordrecht, Holland |
Right in front of the medical clinic on Quadra Island, a raised bed had some surprises in store for me. I was certainly not expecting numerous bumble bees foraging on 4 patches of sage ground cover. We were meandering along the store fronts, and there they were- too busy to take any notice of the photographer. |
| Very little of the ground covers’ green leaves were visible amongst the dense layers of flowers. |
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| There were numerous bumble bees present on these patches of sage. |
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| The bees’ tongue is visible probing the flowers |
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| Flower Market in Utrecht, Holland |
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| Campanula- a bee attractive plant. |
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| These two varieties of bee attractive Sage |
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| Salvia, a bee attractive plant |
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| Buying flowers at the market |
Here a few pictures of bee attractive flowers at a flower market in Utrecht, Holland. I only took pictures of flowers that had bumble bees foraging amongst the flowers. This is a great way to buy flowers that are bee attractive and flowers that will feed bees in your garden.
Over the past several weeks, during my travels, I kept my eyes open for ‘Bee attractive’ plant’s. I watched out for bees on flowers knowing that these plants provide the bee with pollen or nectar or both. Keep in mind that a ‘bee attractive plant may not always appear attractive to bees. For instance, when more attractive (provide more food) flowers are present, bees go to the rich source of food, and not the poor source of food. Visitation strongly depends on if other attractive flowers are present in the area. If you don’t see any bees on a variety of flowers, it might mean temperatures are too cold, or that there are no bees in the vicinity.
Flowers provide food for bees in the form of nectar and pollen. Thus flowers are critical to their survival. However, not all flowers produce pollen and nectar. The best way to find flowers that are attractive to bees is to go to a garden center on a sunny day. Bees will point the way to attractive flowers, the ones that will provide them pollen or nectar or both. The ultimate for bees is the have a garden that has continuous bloom from spring through the summer.
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| At first sight, this is a very uninteresting side-walk, one that is purely functional. This was the case until I drove by . I had to have another look. |
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| On closer inspection, this hedge was a Pieris japonica hedge. The scent was awesome. It seems that trimming the hedge stimulates more flower production. |
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| Pieris japonica, flowers in full bloom. |
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| A Vancouver residential street. No leaves were visible on these trees. |
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| Blooming heather plants in a rockery. |
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| Blooming cherry blossoms. |
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| Stanley Park, Vancouver BC |
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| Stanley Park, Vancouver BC. North shore mountains in background. |
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| Stanley park, Vancouver BC. No leaves on these giants yet! Grass was green and crocuses were out. |
