Something nice for me, and nice for the bees?

[Shaydee]

Hi

I'm planning on making part of my garden into a slightly wild flowery bee heaven.

I want all the plants in it be edible, smell lovely and have some pretty flowers on. It would be great if I could have some early, mid and late flowering plants so that there's always food for the bees.

I have chosen a few varieties of mint so far... But please post any ideas you might have!

[SaraJH]

Hmmmm not edible per se but you can't go wrong with lavender.

What a about marigolds and nasturtiums. Not sure it bees like those?

[vixylix]

Chives? Most herbs really!

[Scarlet]

Ive grown some Bergamot from seed - I can't see it flowering this year but it's a perrenial, pretty and has some culinary uses.
https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Bergamot_Plant/

[Containergardener]

Definately herbs, thyme is good. Mine are just flowering now and the bees love it.

[SusieG]

Ive grown some Bergamot from seed - I can't see it flowering this year but it's a perrenial, pretty and has some culinary uses.
https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Bergamot_Plant/

Scarlet, thanks for the link (?) I've just spent £34. .........

[Gillykat]

What about marigolds and nasturtiums. Not sure it bees like those?

Bees go absolutely NUTS for these two, especially the nasturtiums

Others I found they liked last summer were....

Poached Egg Plant (Limnanthes douglasii)....Verbena bonariensis (tall but always busy with both bees and butterflies)....Calendula....Sunflowers.

[KevinWG]

I'd recommend golden marjoram, which has a lovely sweet scent, can be used in loads of different dishes, and it gets little white-ish flowers through summer which I've always found bees and other insects go bonkers for. Add to this that it spreads really fast as ground cover, can be cut back regularly to keep shorter and is easy to divide and dot about, and it's a winner in my book.

[Jungle Jane]

If you grow rocket as edible leaves through the summer,then leave it to flower,it has flowers for months handy for when the bees emerge in the early spring because there's not usually many flowers about early in the year. Chaenomeles flower in February & can be fan trained against a fence to save space.

[Verinda]

Cotoneaster horizontalis is extremely popular with bees, they also love dandelions and birds foot trefoil too

[HoneyChild]

borage can be grown for eating leaves and flowers, bees seem to like them too.

[SusieG]

My 'something nice for me, and for the bees' order arrived today from Victoriana Nursery Gardens - a lovely surprise as I wasn't expecting my order to arrive until next week ....

Anyway I hurriedly unpacked everything:

Blueberry bush 'Jersey' - 'cos I love eating them and apart from the old apple tree, never grown fruit! (I'm going to grow this in a large tub - need to get some ericaceous compost now ....)

Borage x 1 plant
Thyme x 1 plant
Chives x 1 plant
Poppy 'Ladybird' x 5 plants
Cornflower seed 'Crown Blue'

So, hopefully, my last 'bed' will soon be planted out with some pretty, useful goodies!!

[alldigging]

Herbs. Went to a talk by a lady who has written a book and she said buy two of each - one for you to use and the other for the bees.


Gardening for Bees with Maureen Little. Was excellent talk and would recommend it if you see her doing a talk near you.
The library has her book.

[happyhumph]

Have you thought of trees? Thinking apples/pears/plums. On dwarfing root stock if not a lot of space?

[SusieG]

Hi happyhumph. And welcome to the Vine!
I'd like ideally to grow something fruity to try to get 14 year old son mildly interested - I have some strawberries on the go ................

Are 'patio' sized fruit 'trees' ie peach worth a try - guess nice for bees too .....?