Bee Friendly Gardening

Each January, as the seed catalogues arrive, I begin the ritual of planning any garden changes for the coming year. Along with the new flower garden that I will add around the hive, I'm going to add more bee friendly plants throughout the rest of the front garden.

The front garden gets sun for most of the day. I've been conditioning this soil ever since we purchased the house six years ago and it's the garden where I have success with just about anything that I plant here. Currently there are are two butterfly bushes, an 18 year old hydrangea, bridal veil, purple cone flower, brown-eyed susan, shasta daisies, columbine, a phlox or two and a mysterious yellow-flowering plant that was passed along by seed from my aunt to my mother to me.

Along the front of the porch is a well-conditioned garden that is mostly shade and there is a clematis at the sunny end.

Marigolds are hardly staples at the garden centers. They are available locally in numerous varieties, sizes and color combinations. Look for pops of them all over the yard. I'll also add many more hyacinths, snowdrops and crocuses this coming year. (I'd actually like to naturalize the front lawn full of crocuses but that's another dream for another time...)

I'm thinking I'd like to add lavender along with bee balm and various mints. Thankfully, the lawn is full of clover and we have many holly trees.

Bee Friendly Plants

Annuals
Asters	Calliopsis	Clover
Marigolds	Poppies	Sunflowers
Zinnias
Perennials
Buttercups	Clematis	Cosmos
Crocuses	Dahlias	Echinacea
English Ivy	Floxglove	Geraniums
Germander	Globe Thistle	Hollyhocks
Hyacinth	Rock Cress	Roses
Sedum	Snowdrops	Squills
Tanzy	Yellow Hyssop
Garden Plants
Black Berries	Cantaloupe	Cucumbers
Gourds	Peppers	Pumpkins
Raspberries	Squash	Strawberries
Watermelons	Wild Garlic
Herbs
Bee Balm	Borage	Catnip
Coriander/Cilantro	Fennel	Lavender
Mints	Rosemary	Sage
Thyme
Shrubs
Blueberry	Butterfly Bush	Button Bush
Honeysuckle	Indigo	Privet
Trees
Alder	American Holly	Basswood
Black Gum	Black Locust	Buckeyes
Catalpa	Eastern Redbud	Fruit Trees
Hawthorns	Hazels	Linden
Magnolia	Maples	Mountain Ash
Sycamore	Tulip	Poplars
Willows

Honey Milk Balls Recipe

We're in the midst of our second snow storm this week so enjoying the downtime surfing the Internet. I came across this vintage recipe, transcribed below. Publication date is unknown. It sounds so good on this wintery day!

Honey Milk Balls

6 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup dried milk
1/2 cup crushed wheat flakes or powdered sugar

Blend honey and peanut butter and mix well. Add powdered milk gradually and work into the honey mixture well. Form into small balls and roll in the crushed wheat flakes or in powdered sugar. Chill until firm.

BUMBA Short Course

Signed up for the Short Course offered by BUMBA - The Bowie-Upper Marlboro Beekeepers Association. A short course is a volunteer-taught introduction to beekeeping basics and bee biology held each Spring.

Membership to BUMBA is included with the class fee so attended a meeting the other night. The crowd is lively and there was standing room only! I didn't know what to expect but I didn't expence such a fun crowd. The program was interesting. I know I'll have many mentors to lend a hand should I ever need anything.

If you are interested in learning more about bees, I recommend you get to know the folks at BUMBA.

Decisions, Decisions...

Of the many considerations given when starting a hive, which type of bees to order and how you want them were relatively simple choices.

Many races and hybrids of honey bees are available and each have their own pluses and minuses. Certain characteristics were important to me, mainly gentleness and disease tolerance. The bee girls at the farm have Italian and Carniolans so I chose Russians. I thought it would be interesting to be able to compare the three. Russians seemed to have developed a resistance to the pesky varroa and tracheal mites. They also winter in smaller colonies which leads to better success when it comes to over-wintering.

One of the most popular options is to purchase a package of bees. Packages are about the size of a shoebox and contain a queen and three pounds of bees (about 11,000). Another good option for a new beekeeper is to buy a nucleus (nuc) colony of bees. A nuc consists of four to five frames of brood and bees, plus an actively laying queen. When I contacted my friendly neighborhood beekeeping supplier, Dave Polk at Free State Bees, he offers packages so decision made!