The hard-working honeybee has suddenly found its services more in demand than ever before.
Until recently, the abundance of wild insects provided ample fertilization insurance for those plants that depend upon insects to distribute their pollen.
Changes in agricultural practice, intensive cultivation, and clearing of fence rows and waste places have destroyed many insect nesting places.
The poison used to combat insect pests has also killed valuable insects.
Providing Pastures For Honeybees
The honeybee, the only pollinating insect whose numbers can be controlled, can be moved into areas where its services are needed.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture issued a publication, “Dependence of Agriculture on the Honeybee,” listing 50 dependent crops during the war.
Although many persons are now interested in providing pasture for bees, many gardeners are also finding pleasure in the presence of birds, moths, butterflies, wasps, various insects, and honeybees in their gardens.
The newcomers are attracted by an ample supply of nectar in opening flowers.
Agastache Foeniculum “Anise Hyssop”
The most surprising visitors in my honey plant garden have been large flocks of goldfinches, as many as 50 at one time, coming to the big beds of anise hyssop, Agastache foeniculum.
The anise hyssop, a native plant once common in the Midwest, was used by the Indians as a base for a beverage and flavoring.
It blooms over a long period, from June until September. By day, it is swarming with butterflies and bees, and at night, with moths.
Improved forms of this plant would offer much attraction in the ornamental garden.
The number and variety of insect visitors depend primarily on the amount of nectar available and the sugar concentration.
Some nectar is low in sugar content, as little as 4% percent in some varieties of pears.
On the other hand, Anise-hyssop often contains more than 50% percent sugar, which accounts for its great attraction to such a great variety of insects.
Beautiful Proteas
The proteas, which came to California gardens from South Africa, probably surpass all other plants in the abundance of their nectar.
The beauty of the flowers would be reason enough for their cultivation, even if they were not so popular with the bees.
Ernest Wilson, the noted plant explorer, remarked in his book “Plant Hunting” that the most handsome inflorescence in the world is that of Protea cynarioides seen on its native heath.
Attractive Cleome Nectar
In the desert regions of the West, from the Canadian border southward to Mexico, are found the cleomes.
These spider flowers thrive with limited moisture. Although the nectar is low in sugar content, its abundance is sufficient to attract many insects.
The yellow spider flower. Cleome lutea, is new to eastern gardens but is superior to others better known.
In late summer, as many as 300 flower clusters can be counted on a single plant in our garden.
With ample moisture and freedom from competition in our garden, it reaches a height of 6’ or 8’ feet, which is twice as high as any that I have observed growing in the deserts of the West.
Plant List For Bee Garden
The list of plants suited to the bee garden is sufficiently varied to meet many tastes.
A well-known English seedsman catalogs 58 different plants easily raised from seeds one may select.
Many are annuals, but most gardeners prefer more permanent planting and find perennials more satisfactory.
Asclepias Tuberosa “Butterfly Weed”
The orange-flowered milkweed, commonly known as butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, attracts so many butterflies that the name “butterfly weed” has replaced the names of pleurisy root and Indian posy by which it was formerly known.
It is one of our finest native plants and is still common in sandy soils in Indiana, Massachusetts, and other areas.
Antigonon Leptopus “Coral Vine”
Plants with a long season of bloom are especially desirable. For this reason, the coral vine or pink vine, Antigonon leptopus, is so popular in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
In favorable situations, it flowers from midsummer to midwinter. It covers fences, porches, and trees, often reaching 25’ to 50’ feet.
The deep rose red blossoms are a never-failing attraction for the bees and other insects.
Lythrum Salicaria “Purple Loosestrife”
Not many plants with showy blooms do well in boggy spots and wet soils.
The purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, will grow in shallow water.
Its masses of pink or light red spikes are of never-failing interest to the bees.
I have seen it growing equally well in wet meadows in New York and across the continent in western Washington.
Its nectar is so abundant that beekeepers can harvest good crops of honey where the plant has become extensively established.
It is being grown more often in ornamental gardens, growing very well in ordinary soil.
Monarda
Light sandy soils often limit gardening, but the monardas, beebalm, offer exceptional opportunities for such situations.
The one commonly known as horsemint, Monarda punctata, with its flowers one above another on the stem like beads on a string, is an unusual garden subject and a favorite of the bees.
Kolkwitzia Amabilis “Beauty Bush”
A well-grown specimen of beauty bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis, will offer thousands of flowers in June.
Not only will the flowers be swarming with bees, but large numbers of the swallowtail butterflies will seek the abundant nectar.
The beauty bush is worth growing for the butterflies alone.
Tatarian Honeysuckles
The Tatarian honeysuckles bring insects in bloom and later bring birds for their abundant fruit.
All of the honeysuckles are rich in nectar, and the long-tubed varieties attract many hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.
Madrona Tree
The madrona tree of the Northwest offers nectar in such abundance that the many insects which come to it would provide material for a lifetime of study.
Hummingbirds in flocks of a dozen or more at one time may be seen flitting about when a tree is in full flower.
One with a bee garden need not go far afield to find a great variety of interesting subjects.
The variety of plants is limited only by the gardener’s time, space, and energy.