Bee good

[Droogs]

Last year when we made our tiered patio garden SWMBO planted around a dozen plants called Scillian Honey garlic. Now I've never heard of it, and as far as I am concerened, if you plant something then it's 'cos you is gonna eat it later. So I told hear I had never heard of this type of Garlic and where had she found it.
"Oh you silly thing" said she "it's not for us its for the bees. It isn't really garlic."

So over the last 3 weeks the SHG has flowered etc and now my garden is teeming with bumble bees. This morning while having my morning coffee, I counted 27 bumble bees around 6 of the flowers. It is awesome to see so many that re actually flying around and not in the throws of a death jig on the floor. We are definitely going to keep an eye out to see if it attracts the honeybees we sometimes see here as well and will be planting a lot more for next year

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Last year when we made our tiered patio garden SWMBO planted around a dozen plants called Scillian Honey garlic. Now I've never heard of it, and as far as I am concerened, if you plant something then it's 'cos you is gonna eat it later. So I told hear I had never heard of this type of Garlic and where had she found it.
"Oh you silly thing" said she "it's not for us its for the bees. It isn't really garlic."

So over the last 3 weeks the SHG has flowered etc and now my garden is teeming with bumble bees. This morning while having my morning coffee, I counted 27 bumble bees around 6 of the flowers. It is awesome to see so many that re actually flying around and not in the throws of a death jig on the floor. We are definitely going to keep an eye out to see if it attracts the honeybees we sometimes see here as well and will be planting a lot more for next year

Yay! Get her to plant some phacelia as well - you should bee pleased to see the results...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My rosemary has been boiling in honey bees, and the chives have been covered in ground bees.

 

[Droogs]

For me the main thing is, I hadn't realised there were that many bumble bees in Scotland let alone in the middle of Leith 400 yards from the docks :shock:

 

[Woody2Shoes]

My rosemary has been boiling in honey bees, and the chives have been covered in ground bees.

Yup different kinds of plant definitely attract different types of insect. Some flower shapes are impossible for some insect shapes.

 

[ScaredyCat]

We have a Lavatera bush that's gone bananas, suddenly got huge and the rain has made it pull forward. I need to cut it right back because it's blocking access to the rear gate but I can't do it right now because the bees love it and I'm not going to deprive them of it. Once all the flowers have gone I'll do the deed.

.

 

[Garno]

Bee's need to be encouraged.

Nice job to your good lady for doing this.

 

[selectortone]

I became fascinated with bumblebees when a queen took up residence under the back of my garage one spring. It was not long after we moved into our house in 2000. The garden was very neglected and overgrown and I spent the weekends throughout that summer clearing it.

In the evening, before dinner, I would take a deckchair and a couple of beers and sit by the nest opening watching their comings and goings. The queen establishes a nest, lays a few eggs and rears the emerging bees. When they are old enough to forage they take over raising the young and the queen concentrates on egg laying. The nest grows to a few hundred individuals and they exist until the autumn when they all die off except a few emerging juvenile queens who fly off to find somewhere to hibernate over the winter. And in the spring the cycle begins again.

During my summer bee watching the workers grew from small and slim to big and fat, and I loved to watch them coming in to land. I'm an ex-RAF brat and if was just like watching aeroplanes on their final approach . They took no notice of me at all and I felt quite privileged to be given such an opportunity to share their life.

I found this site back then and I'm pleased to see it still up:

Life Cycle Of The Bumblebee

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My rosemary has been boiling in honey bees, and the chives have been covered in ground bees.

Yup different kinds of plant definitely attract different types of insect. Some flower shapes are impossible for some insect shapes.

Yes. I kept bees until I had a sting that very nearly killed me. Quite often you can find longer, narrower flowers with holes chewed through the bases by other bees and insects to get access.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

My rosemary has been boiling in honey bees, and the chives have been covered in ground bees.

Yup different kinds of plant definitely attract different types of insect. Some flower shapes are impossible for some insect shapes.

Yes. I kept bees until I had a sting that very nearly killed me. Quite often you can find longer, narrower flowers with holes chewed through the bases by other bees and insects to get access.

I only discovered quite recently that there are several species of cuckoo bee that look very similar to their 'host' species and do exactly what cuckoo birds do - lay their eggs in someone else's nest for them to look after.

The more I find out about bees, the more amazed I become.

 

[Racers]

We have loads drinking water from the pond and swarming over the geraniums, our buddleia is next for the bees once it flowers.

Pete

 

[Woody2Shoes]

.... I loved to watch them coming in to land. I'm an ex-RAF brat and if was just like watching aeroplanes on their final approach .....

A similar sort of military analogy occurred to me last summer watching a hornet outside a honey-bee hive - hovering, waiting for the laden workers to return, then pouncing on them in mid-flight before taking them to the nearest landing spot to chew the head and tail off before taking the thorax (containing the protein-rich flight muscles) back to her nest to feed her brood. Maybe like an Apache helicopter....

 

[Bm101]

For me the main thing is, I hadn't realised there were that many bumble bees in Scotland let alone in the middle of Leith 400 yards from the docks :shock:

It's all the sunshine Droogs. :wink:

 

[Robbo3]

Watching the bees & the occasional wasp drinking from the bird bath is fascinating & made me question what we were taught at school, that bees get enough moisture from their food source.
The answer is that they take the water back to the hive, pass it to others who fan it into the hot spots for cooling.
Once I'd found the answer, within a couple of weeks this was shown on a nature programme on TV (probably the BBC).