Found 18 results tagged with 'Bees'

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Blue lupin

Details  Grows well in most locations where it improves soil with organic matter and nitrogen. Bees enjoy the flowers.

Practical Plants
Plants for a future

Common name  Blue lupin

Botanical name  Lupinus angustifolius

Family  Leguminosae

Height (m)  1

Forest layer  herbaceous

Nitrogen fixer  

Propagation method  Sow direct

Tags    Bees 

Flowers  Blue

Rating  

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The bees are back

This year we have seen an impressive rebound in bee numbers. It is unlikely due to anything we have done but it is wonderful to see them working frantically on all the things we have planted in the last couple of years. So we are helping them in some way.

January 13, 2013

  bees 

olmec

Phacelia

Details  Quick growing manure crop or as a sanctuary for predator insects to feed and plan their assaults from. Dig or plough in anytime. Sow from September through to April at a rate of 30g per 10m2 or 1kg per 300m2.

Common name  Phacelia

Botanical name  Phacelia tanacetifolia

Height (m)  1

Forest layer  herbaceous

Date  July 08, 2013

Propagation method  Sow direct

Tags    bees 

Shade / Sun  Full sun

Soil type  Most

Flowers  Purple

Sunflower Seeds

Botanical name  Helianthus annuus

Details  This easy to grow plant will produce a single large yellow flower 1 to 2 meters above the ground.

• Plant climbing beans amongst the sunflowers when they are a meter high, the beans will climb the stem
• The seeds ripen in April and can be fed directly to chickens or left for birds
• Can get blown over by strong wind

Edible  

Seeds / nuts / tubers  

Tags    annual  flowers  bees  birds 

Price  $3.90  20 seeds

Colour  Yellow

Propagation method  Sow direct

Only 7 in stock Order

Tagasaste (tree lucerne)

Botanical name  Chamaecytisus palmensis

Details  Fast growing, drought resistant nitrogen fixer (legume). This small tree has white flowers which are loved by bees, bumblebees and native pigeon.
Grown as a nurse or support tree during the establishment of more long term tree plantings. Useful as a quick canopy / umbrella over citrus, avocados etc. or used as physical scaffold for climbers such as grape, kiwifruit etc.
Good firewood from mature trees.

Pour hot water over the seeds and soak for 24 hours before planting into course sand.

Nitrogen fixer  

Perennial  

Tags    perennial  tree  legume  birds  bees 

Price  $3.90  50 seeds

Out of stock

Bee swarm

It started with a few bees buzzing around the corner of the house and quickly turned into several thousand.
Hoping to prevent their entry into the roof cavity I blocked up the small hole they had discovered and tried to forget about it. They wouldn't give up.

November 19, 2010

  bees  swarm  insects 

olmec

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The bees and the bees

With the invasion of the varroa bee mite there has been a reduction in the number of nearby hives (both wild and domestic).

I was surprised and relieved to witness a large number of bumble and honey bees servicing the apricot tree.

This photos shows one of the more wild bees. Notice the dark colouring, where 'normal' bees are orange an black striped.

September 05, 2011

  pollination  bees  blossoms  fruit  apricot  orchard 

olmec

Melting Beeswax

I hate to see anything go to waste so with the fire going to heat the bath I remembered the deserted beehive with the exposed comb.

Crushed up and sitting in an iron pot near the fire it slowly melts down. Once I have skimmed off the impurities perhaps I can make a candle...

November 11, 2011

  bees  wax  fire 

olmec

Alexanders

Common name  alisanders, horse parsley, smyrnium

Botanical name  Smyrnium olusatrum

Details  With a taste live celery or parsley, this easy care plant can be eaten raw or cooked.

I have grown this plant with good results in areas infested with twitch / cooch grass. The plants self seed and grow again the following season, replacing the grass.

Edible  

Tags    bees 

Price  $3.90  20 seeds

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Phacelia seed

Common name  Blue tansy or purple tansy

Botanical name  Phacelia

Details  Quick and easy to grow, this fantastic bee plant can get up to a meter tall, covered in purple flowers. As it produces a large amount of plant matter it is also useful as green manure or mulch. Produces plenty of seed for next season.

Tags    annual  purple  bees  seed 

Price  $3.90  100 seeds

Forest layer  herbaceous

Out of stock Related info

Hollyhock

Botanical name  Alcea rosea

Details  Easily grown in most soils and climate with plants reaching up to 2 meters tall. Large bright flowers over an extended period, loved by bees. Produces masses of big seeds.

Tags    flowers  bees 

Price  $3.90  50 seeds

Flowers  Pink

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Mixed Poppy

Botanical name  Papaver

Details  Easy to grow annual flowering plant with bright coloured flowers. This collection of seed includes a range of colours and sizes.

Tags    flowers  annual  bees 

Price  $3.90  tea spoon of seed

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Hardenbergia vine seeds

Common name  Coral vine

Botanical name  Hardenbergia

Details  Vigorous evergreen climber native to Australia. Requires a warm, sheltered location. Can grow in dry conditions. Purple or pink and white flowers loved by bees in early spring.

Drought tolerance  

Evergreen  

Frost sensitive  

Nitrogen fixer  

Perennial  

Tags    perennial  vine  bees  legume 

Price  $3.90  20 seeds

Flowers  Pink / purple

Only 3 in stock Order Now Related info

Foxglove

Botanical name  Digitalis purpurea

Tags    biennial  flower  bees 

Price  $3.90  half teaspoon (hundreds of seeds)

Family  Plantaginaceae

Forest layer  herbaceous

Out of stock

Lavender seed

Botanical name  Lavandula

Details  Seed collected from a selection of different lavendar plants of varying type, some seed grown and some commercial cultivars.

Drought tolerance  

Perennial  

Tags    bees  purple  flowers 

Price  $3.90  30-50 seeds

Only 6 in stock Order

Columbine

Common name  granny's bonnet, columbine

Botanical name  Aquilegia

Details  Purple flowers, loved by bumblebees. Grows well in a range of sites. Seeds are poisonous.

Perennial  

Tags    flowers  purple  bees 

Price  $2.90  30-50 seeds

Out of stock

Honesty seeds

Common name  Annual honesty

Botanical name  Lunaria annua

Details  Easy to grow from seed and tends to naturalize. An annual or biennial growing to 90 cm with large, coarse, pointed oval leaves. In spring and summer it bears terminal racemes of violet flowers, followed by showy, light brown, translucent, disc-shaped seedpods the skin of which falls off to release the seeds, revealing a central membrane which is white with a silvery sheen, 3–8 cm in diameter.

Tags    flowers  bees  pioneer 

Price  $2.90  20 seeds

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Licorice Mint

Botanical name  Agastache foeniculum

Details  Also known as Anise Hyssop, this strongly licorice scented mint has a distinctive sweet taste and nice purple flower spikes for the insects.

Edible  

Tags    mint  licorice  bees  flowers 

Price  $3.90  50 seeds

Out of stock