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Post by shoshannah on Aug 30, 2016 19:05:10 GMT -5
After my husband passed on I moved in with my elder son. The previous owners/tenants neglected upkeep of the yard. The front and back were widely overgrown with ivy and blackberries. The rhodies and azaleas were alive but were not getting enough water. There were not any perennial flowers just a few shrubs and small trees like camellia, holly, Oregon grape, jap. maple, hydrangea, spirea, butterfly weed and mountain laurel. We've been adding flowers as fast as we can. (We also have harder than rock clay soil and shrews.) We've added most of my favorites from my childhood memories of my parent's garden which are mostly native species and attractive to bumblebees. We've also added berries, some fruit trees, and a bunch more rhodies and azaleas, perennial herbs. Pollination is still kind of iffy, but each year I see more pollinators. From reading much on this forum I very much want to have more grown from seed flowers from those that are typically clones. The plants started from seed do seem to be healthier. DIL and I are both interested in attracting pollinators to our gardens for our seed saving projects. When going to a nursery I take note of which flowers and shrubs have the most bumblebees. Growing more flowers from seed to avoid sterile bedding plants from nurseries. I found this PDF with very informative information: www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/conserving_bb.pdfand this extensive list of flowers bumbles like: www.bumblebee.org/FlowerlistUS.htm Bumble bee on my hollyhock this afternoon |
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Post by steev on Aug 30, 2016 21:25:02 GMT -5
Shrews are good, being obligate carnivores, like moles, although less aggravatingly "tunnely"
Hollyhocks are great; I prefer single-flowered, as they are more welcoming to bees; they just get better every year.
Ivy sucks, as it harbors rats, which eat the ivy and the snails that live in it, and if the ivy is thick, nothing can get the rats except snakes, which people tend to kill on sight, ignorant bastards.
Blackberries are a PITA, but nothing compared to ivy.
Your work is cut out for you; it's good to have a "mission"; it will keep you alive and happy to be so. Live long and prosper!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 30, 2016 22:11:36 GMT -5
The most popular flower for bumblebees in my garden are open-centered dahlias.   Another plant that the bumblebees really liked, but didn't grow very well here was Phacelia tanacetifolia.  |
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Post by shoshannah on Aug 30, 2016 23:40:43 GMT -5
Our former cats cleared out all the shrews. The coyotes got the cats. Neighbors cat didn't come back about a month ago.
Our new cats are kept indoors but one is smart enough to open the door if the dead bolt isn't locked. They are great mousers if such
a mouse should enter the house. Lack of cats and now the shrews are back.. Another cat had a shrew in its mouth leaving our yard
and our dog also caught one. She goes for the live mice the cats have cornered but didn't eat the shrew. Unfortunately later she rolled
on it. Glad the smell cleans up better than the skunks she goes after. I've read that shrews are very foul tasting. Cats like to leave the kill
on your doorstep. Shrews have little holes but bulb flowers are starting to vanish. Small mounds of soil all over the edges of beds.
Only positive note is they can dig up our rock hard clay and all they ask for is some delicious bulbs, slugs, insects and mice in exchange.
Nature will keep them in balance. Too many and the hawks and owls will take notice.
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Post by shoshannah on Aug 30, 2016 23:53:05 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, I'll put Dahlias on my list. My dad raised massive amounts of glads, daffodils and dahlias. All I can remember about the dahlias were their amazing colors and shapes. Don't remember really looking if they were open faced or not. Do they have winter hardy dahlias. Dad dug his up every fall.
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Post by steev on Aug 31, 2016 0:39:57 GMT -5
I'm a picky old-fashioned sort; I like single-flowered plants, as do the bees; I think we know what works. KISS.
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Post by reed on Aug 31, 2016 4:13:20 GMT -5
Our bumblebees visit about everything but they are most noticeable in the fall on the wild asters. That might just be because the asters are about the last flowers to bloom around here so the bees are filling up getting ready for wherever they go and whatever they do in winter. I wish I could have holly hocks but the deer love them too much.
I also like the single flowered things, those over breed puffy flowers that most people seem to like are just ugly I think. I have a really nice self sustaining population of single marigolds that has been taking care of itself for many years, I do transplant them to other spots but rarely plant seeds. There isn't much easier things to grow and the bees like them too.
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 6, 2016 20:24:00 GMT -5
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 12, 2016 17:21:31 GMT -5
![]()  Nice pic of honey bee on our fushia Bumble on caryopteris At the garden shop purple salvia and stonecrop plants had loads of bees. The caryopteris was also loaded with honey bees. My DIL was scared to get close but they were gentle bees that eventually left the plant as I carted the caryopteris plant away. I was such a wild child. I used to catch honey bees by cupping my hands around them. They are very gentle. My bees are really liking the caryopteris. |
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 12, 2016 17:39:57 GMT -5
 Hope this works. |
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Post by philagardener on Sept 12, 2016 17:54:31 GMT -5
It did!  |
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Post by steev on Sept 12, 2016 17:55:05 GMT -5
Do your fuchsias get the mites that started deforming the Bay Area's 30 years ago?
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 12, 2016 18:55:21 GMT -5
steev, So far they seem to be healthy. That particular fuchsia is just a year old and grew to be about 10 feet wide. It was just a scruffy little $1.00 plant on clearance. Our neighbor has the same variety and it is huge too. We have to move it for it's planted to close to the rhody.
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Post by diane on Sept 12, 2016 21:26:17 GMT -5
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 12, 2016 23:33:59 GMT -5
We have other pollinators besides bumbles. There are all kinds of smaller insects I don't know the names of. There are butterflies, moths, hummingbirds. Since we have been planting more flowers we are getting a bit more honey bees and bumbles. If I plant for the bumbles the other bees will also come. I just started research with the bumble bees because I like them and can identify them easily. I went into Home Depot and Lowes nursery Sunday and most of the plants were not being visited by bees. I tried to grow squash and the flowers were just aborting for lack of pollinators. I might try squash next year. We had hummingbird moths on our squash blossoms in Montana. PDF of interest ccuh.ucdavis.edu/Events/ysb-series/ysb-2015/3-pollinators-we-never-talk-about-l-kimseydiane, Thank you for the article. |
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