Hi,I'm new to this thread.
Just want to offer a attractor.
This spring we planted 3 colonnade apple trees. I am hoping to see bees in the blooms in spring.

Scarlet Spire

Hi JoAnn, thank you for your offering. So the Scarlet Spire blooms in spring?
I sure hope you get lots of pollinators in spring.

I have several fruiting trees and love seeing the honey bees show up when they bloom.

These are the Colonades. Three in a row to act as a interest view .
They were sticks in April.Great leaf out during the summer.




I cant wait to see blossoms. The colonades are tied to the green posts to make them grow straight.
There is a great documentary out.I rented it from Netflix .There are short previews on You tube
"Queen of the Sun" Its about the bee keeping industry and urges everyone to keep a hive for wild bees as they are disappearing due to inbreeding from Bees used in the pollinating of huge agra fruit and almond farms.

Interesting info, Jo! Thank you.

I just found this thread also. I plant lots of things to attract the bees. For Fall, the best are Goldenrod and upright Sedums. Those flowers on the upright sedums are always covered in honeybees, bumblebees and little skipper butterflies.

Hi Rita, Goldenrod really is the bee's knees!!

Upright sedum, I must look into getting some.

I've never had bees on a plant like the year my Angelica Gigas bloomed. It was sorta scary right next to my screened porch wall.

I used to be afraid of bees, it's that buzzing sound scares me. But I've learned over the years that the bees are much more interested in the flowering nectar than they are in me. Now I just walk by, no problem.

New England aster wild burgamot and goldenrod

I plant for the butterflies and hummingbirds and the very best attraction for me to grow for drawing in the pollinators is Verbena bonariensis. It begins blooming early if it overwintered and blooms until frost. Everything that flies seems to be drawn to and loves the little bloomheads. It is quite lanky and awkward looking as a plant but I wouldn't be without it.

Pretty! Do you grow it from seed? I have Verbena bonariensis seeds that I need to plant.

Warning! Verbena Bonariensis is pretty, and attracts pollinators, but it is the most invasive thing I have ever planted. After about 8 years, I'm almost rid of it, but not quite...

Karen

Thank you for the warning, Kqcrna.

So far I haven't had the same experience. I've grown it twice from seed and gotten small plants but they never return. Since they are annuals, I leave the flowers to go to seed, but nothing comes of it. I was kinda' wondering if it's too cold here in the winter for the seeds, but you are colder than I am.

I guess you could cut them back before they go to seed to keep them in check.

Here in zone 4a the seeds do not live through the winter.
It is grown as an annual here.
But it does like to be sowed in early cooler spring weather.
I often wintersow it so it gets a cool ( but not really cold) start.

Ummm.... I don't think seeds are killed by cold? Rather, freezing preserves seeds. In fact, the Doomsday seed bank is maintained at -0.4° F.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
They might be eaten by critters, or washed away by rain, or buried... but freezing preserves them.

But anyway, after much searching through my messed-up files, I found pictures of my VB volunteers in 2007. Each tiny spec in this bed is a VB seedling. And all of my other beds looked much the same. They still come up, though not so many.



Karen

Good point, Karen. They could easily be eaten or other things could happen to the seeds.

I'm a seed saver and trader so I often collect seeds of various plants. As a matter of fact, last fall I found one of my chickens eating all of the seeds from an Agrimony plant! Which kind of surprised me since the seeds are like a burr. She ate them all!

Chickens are not too bright , my dads chickens will eat Styrofoam

gardengus said:
Chickens are not too bright , my dads chickens will eat Styrofoam

Early April and the honey bees are buzzing the Pink Mint (Stachys Drummondi). Recently I've become very interested in our Native Texas solitary bees, which actually do most of the pollinating. Because they don't live in hives, I am in the process of making houses for them. Mine aren't as pretty as some seen online, but I'm hoping to attract some visitors.

Good for you, GrammaChar. Have you found anyone taking up house yet? It looks like an interesting project.