Chelsea & RHS - Plant with bees in mind

[bronwen]

Hello everyone,
I too was inspired and hopeful to see attention being drawn to this on the Chelsea tv programme.
I have only a few different flowers within my small container veg garden but had really chosen them for companion planting and back in April sowed nasturtiums and french marigolds (not flowering yet). I bought a few violas which are flowering and at the same time a double surfinia in a beautiful purple shade. Now feel a tad guilty about the double surfinia, but it is only one plant! I will certainly be looking for some more pollen rich flowers to add colour and attract the little critters to the garden

My pak choi bolted and went crazy with its small yellow flowers and that seemed to attract quite a lot of bees and hover flies!

[Jo Sara]

Maybe a 'What fruit and veg is attracting the most bees today' thread would be handy on here. The bee/butterfly flower lists are quite established now, but fruit and veg wildlife attraction info is a bit sparse. I know most fruit and veg is pollinated by bees, but which ones get the most 'bee action'? Chives have been mentioned, and bolted Pak Choi. Actually, I let my radish run to see once and the bees loved that.

In late April/ early May my mini apple tree blossom was attracting the most bees. Then my autumn fruiting raspberries which I've left a third of last year's stems on to get an early crop were flowering in early May and the bees were all over that. My broad beans have been flowering since early May and are still flowering well and attracting bees. My strawberry flowers were attracting bees in May, so were my blueberry bushes. So fruit and veg flowers are useful to bees too. The garden flowers could be chosen for flowering when there's not so much flowering in the veg garden to get the longest nectar season.

[Davyburns]

I have planted no more species than last year with the exception of 6 Allium. I have marigolds in every Tomatoe bucket, but thats normal, and the number of bees in my garden has trebled since last year. Surely its not just through 6 Allium?

[VirginVegGrower]

Alliums are on the top of the list for us. The boss has wanted them for years but we never seem to pick any up. The colours will also work as the garden has a definate blue and white biase for most of the year.

Cheapest way with alliums is to buy the bulbs from somewhere like Wilkinsons or we have a bulb stall in what's left of our local market which the Dutchman supplies. Not all year obviously. If you buy them potted you will pay a small fortune for very little.

[bronwen]

That is interesting davyburns! Who knew 6 alliums could make so much difference!

But when I bought a few pots of flowering violas and popped them outside a month or so ago I think the hover flies appeared straight away... hadn't seen one before that!

[buzzingtalk]

My chive plant flowered this year (last year I didn't give it a chance!) and I have noticed a lot more bees in my garden, I see the odd one every day or so which is much, much more than usual. Last week, there were two at once! I have 6 marigold plants which should be flowering next month...but is there anything else I can add? I don't have much room at all, and am a container gardener so it needs to be small, tolerant of shade, and able to grow well in pots.