Flowers- It's more than just looks!

Early Spring Crocus

I am planning  this years' bee garden, which also functions as a butterfly and other pollinator garden.  When making my choices of what to try, what to leave behind and what to plant more of there are many qualities to consider.

The shape of the flowers is primary for honeybees, as they cannot glean the nectar from anything that is too long and narrow- those are reserved for butterflies, hummingbirds, moths and larger bees with longer mouth-parts.

Color is important as honeybees do have preferences but are not exclusive- they particularly like blues, whites, purples and yellows.

How many plants of this variety will I need to catch the interest of my honeybees?  They prefer  a location with many of the same flowers and will frequently ignore a couple of plants.

Grecian Windflowers- Anemone blanda

Nectar producers are key in my choices and here is where the most difficult decisions and choices are.  Here is where there is difficulty in finding out how much and how consistently nectar is being produced by a particular species, variety, cultivar.  How will the climate and weather in my particular area affect nectar production?  Will I find differences in nectar production between species and hybrids that can limit their use in a bee garden and who has answers to these questions?

I search through seed catalogs during this season and try to make the best decisions but I find it to be mostly trial and error.  I like best those catalogs that point out butterfly and bird friendly plants as it tells me two important things- the plants have nectar; they are not sterile and will produce viable seed.  That means they will also have useful pollen- another important food for bees.  Another important bit of information is where a plant originally comes from- temperature zone and location.  Is the plant happiest with wet feet? Does it need a warm winter?  Does it need real cold for an extended time in order to produce flowers?  And finally, when does it bloom and for how long?

 Each year, I catalog the winners and losers from my researches.  I try reasonable ones in different areas of my garden to find the best micro-climate for the plant.  I experiment and try very hard to learn from my successes and failures.

There are those who are benefiting and maybe even depending on the choices I make in my Bee Garden.

Allium giganteum

Fall Aster-  Aster nova-anglia

Honey- How Whole a Food?

Honeybee collecting nectar and pollen from a Poppy flower

Recently I have been reading a few articles about honey that bother me in different ways.

First was an article that comes from Europe, about EEC requirements that honey must meet in order to be called honey. Namely, a honey producer, large or small must prove that their honey has such and such a percentage of pollen. If it doesn't meet that requirement, it is not salable- it is not honey. (Will this encourage honey producers to add pollen to honey that might not meet this standard? Pollen that has no relationship to the bees or locale in which the honey was produced?  If so, that would create a wholly different set of problems for honey consumers.)

Second was an article (http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/) about the lack of pollen in the bulk of average, store-bought honey from major producers, and questioning whether this should be called honey at all as it is missing a major component.

 As a beekeeper who has exhibited my honey in local agricultural fairs and sold my honey privately, I realize that there are numerous standards by which honey may be judged.  Most supermarket honey has been heated to a temperature high enough to dissolve any crystals forming therein and filtered finely enough to remove pollen particles that might look like bits of dirt to the many that do not have any experience with the true nature of honey.  The average consumer believes that honey that has crystallized has gone bad.  They do not know that honey is made from nectar, processed by honeybees and that it is by nature, sugars.  Sugars will crystallize- that is their nature and that is what we depend on when using sugars to make candy such as Rock-candy.  Until recently, most beekeepers and honey producers have tried to adapt honey to the perceived desires of the public, which means heating and filtering.  The end product is still honey but perhaps not as nutritious as it is coming in its natural state directly from the hive.

Educating the public about honey- what it is and what it contains and why, can solve the problems without making laws that will in the end, confuse and not enlighten- will not increase the appreciation and understanding of the true gift that honey is both to us and to whom it is the staff of life- the honeybees themselves.  It is a pure and whole food that completely nourishes the bees!

A Warm and Green December

Today is a misty and warm day in December.  We have been enjoying many warm days- warm enough to complete gardening tasks I wouldn't have begun until March.  In fact, it has been so warm that I keep thinking of trying out some cold weather vegetables.  I stop myself as I know that here in the Mid-Atlantic we don't really get our coldest days until January, February and March. The time is approaching, though, for starting seeds- planning this seasons gardens and dreaming, envisioning the great plan for my Bee Garden in the city. 

This year I have a few new opportunities as the trees and bushes in my garden have been growing tall enough to begin creating a shaded forest garden area for woodland herbs and plants.    In another area I have been observing, I see that there is shade almost until noon in all seasons and the larger Vitex bushes I have planted there next to my Witch-hazel, have grown in and give the area  bulk and depth.  I now think that some low-growing bushes are what is needed there.  As I plan, my thoughts are directed toward plants with many flowers available for honeybees, plants with herbal/medicinal uses and plants that flower across different seasons.  These are my three priorities- my guidelines as I search for the perfect plants for my garden which is small but has numerous micro-climates.

These areas in my garden are for more permanent plantings and contain trees, bushes, perennial wildflowers and some bulbs.  I try to find plants native to my area and useful to me as well as to the birds and insects living around here.  I am keeping in my mind a vision of a magical place that nurtures the senses, the spirits and the bodies of whoever visits.  A place that contains something green in every season; something useful or edible any time of year; a place that inspires any time of day or night.