Posted by John Savage on November 9, 2007, 8:18 am
From time to time the question is asked: "How to attract bees to the
garden?"
On a recent trip through some drought-ravaged towns I was amazed to
see the amount of bee activity on one particular type of lavender
flower. Wherever I saw this lavender, whether growing in parched street
beds or well-tended home gardens, the flower heads were always
enveloped in a cloud of bustling honey bees.
It's an Italian lavender with flower heads that have the appearance of
a smallish purple-coloured She-Oak cone (if such existed!) but topped
with an impressive three-bladed purple helicopter rotor! I have seen
this lavender labelled "Avonview" but doubt that anyone in Italy would
be likely know it by that name. :-)
Honey produced from lavender flowers would have to be delicious,
wouldn't it?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Posted by Jonno on November 9, 2007, 3:24 pm
I would have thought that any lavender plant would be attractive to
bees. I certainly dont have any problems attracting them in Melbourne.
Is it that different with that particular lavender plant?
John Savage wrote:
> From time to time the question is asked: "How to attract bees to the
> garden?"
>
> On a recent trip through some drought-ravaged towns I was amazed to
> see the amount of bee activity on one particular type of lavender
> flower. Wherever I saw this lavender, whether growing in parched street
> beds or well-tended home gardens, the flower heads were always
> enveloped in a cloud of bustling honey bees.
>
> It's an Italian lavender with flower heads that have the appearance of
> a smallish purple-coloured She-Oak cone (if such existed!) but topped
> with an impressive three-bladed purple helicopter rotor! I have seen
> this lavender labelled "Avonview" but doubt that anyone in Italy would
> be likely know it by that name. :-)
>
> Honey produced from lavender flowers would have to be delicious,
> wouldn't it?
> --
> John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Posted by Andrew on November 22, 2007, 12:50 am
> I would have thought that any lavender plant would be attractive to
> bees. I certainly dont have any problems attracting them in Melbourne.
> Is it that different with that particular lavender plant?
> John Savage wrote:
> > From time to time the question is asked: "How to attract bees to the
> > garden?"
> > On a recent trip through some drought-ravaged towns I was amazed to
> > see the amount of bee activity on one particular type of lavender
> > flower. Wherever I saw this lavender, whether growing in parched street
> > beds or well-tended home gardens, the flower heads were always
> > enveloped in a cloud of bustling honey bees.
> > It's an Italian lavender with flower heads that have the appearance of
> > a smallish purple-coloured She-Oak cone (if such existed!) but topped
> > with an impressive three-bladed purple helicopter rotor! I have seen
> > this lavender labelled "Avonview" but doubt that anyone in Italy would
> > be likely know it by that name. :-)
> > Honey produced from lavender flowers would have to be delicious,
> > wouldn't it?
> > --
> > John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)- Hide
quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -
I grew English, French and Italian lavender at my last house. All
attracted bees but I can't say I noticed any preference for a
particular type.
Posted by John Savage on November 21, 2007, 9:45 pm
>I've heard that bees like blue flowers, so things like borage and buddleias
>are good, along with rosemary and lavenders of course.
Buddleias?? Are you serious? I can't say I've ever seen a bee on a
buddleia. Only butterflies. Possibly the flowers are too deep for the
bee to dip its tongue in? I shall investigate more closely!
> But the most bees I've
>seen per square cm were on some thyme flowers at Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens
>-- you couldn't actually see the thyme!
That would make an interesting-tasting honey.
My award for "best bee attractant" would go to a plant that combines
a long flowering period (up to 6 months with the lavender I mentioned,
I would estimate), with a large number of flowers per sq metre of
garden bed.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Posted by Terryc on November 27, 2007, 6:12 pm
Okay, I'm skiteing, but its exciting.
We have had blue banded for a few years. They just love the bush basil.
This year, we finally have teddy bears.
http://www.zeta.org.au/~anbrc/teddy_bear_bee.html
http://www.zeta.org.au/~anbrc/beesinyourarea.html#teddybearbees
Well, one so far andit was visiting the pelegonium.
This site is well worth book marking if you are interested in native bees.
http://www.zeta.org.au/~anbrc/ .
If anyone around Campbelltown, NSW wants to get rid of some clay, one of
my projects is a banded bee nesting boxen. (Sorry, could not find pdf
again.)
XML site map
> garden?"
>
> On a recent trip through some drought-ravaged towns I was amazed to
> see the amount of bee activity on one particular type of lavender
> flower. Wherever I saw this lavender, whether growing in parched street
> beds or well-tended home gardens, the flower heads were always
> enveloped in a cloud of bustling honey bees.
>
> It's an Italian lavender with flower heads that have the appearance of
> a smallish purple-coloured She-Oak cone (if such existed!) but topped
> with an impressive three-bladed purple helicopter rotor! I have seen
> this lavender labelled "Avonview" but doubt that anyone in Italy would
> be likely know it by that name. :-)
>
> Honey produced from lavender flowers would have to be delicious,
> wouldn't it?
> --
> John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)