Re: honey bees
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: honey bees
- From: j*
- Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 17:09:15 -0400
- Comments: Authenticated sender is
Devon Miller wrote:
> What plants do NOT attract bees? Her garden is near her pool (would that I
> could be so lucky), and she is tired of swooshing the bees away.<snip>
>
> (I am looking forward to your answers, because she will then bequeath her
> bee-attracting plants to me!)
Ah so many answers, so little time. First, if they are honey
bees (as opposed to other sorts) :
- since the populations are in dire straits she should be
thrilled that she has them
- honey bees are extremely gentle and non-aggressive. I've
accidently squished them slightly and still have not been stung.
There isn't any reason to have to swoosh them away, they only
need to be ignored.
If she still wants the bees to go away, frankly there isn't
much of anything that is pollen-bearing that is unattractive to
bees if they have no better options within their territory. As
such, she's got a couple of options: replace flowers with
non-flowering plantings and/or put much, much more attractive
pollen sources away(but not too far away) from the pool.
What might those be? If she doesn't have an herb garden, this
is her motivation. :) If she has a perennial border, she
should consider adding thymes that are heavy-bloomers, hyssop,
greek oregano, lavenders, and their ilk. I can provide an
entire list w/ botanical names & cultivars when I have a little
more time available, if you like. My herb/butterfly garden is
so heavily laden with bees that my sister & others that are
allergic can't walk through it. There are bees elsewhere, but
they are also on extremely desireable (to bees) plants like
monarda & buddleia.
If you'd care to post a list of what she has planted around the
pool, I'm sure the heavy bee-attractors can be readily
identified.
regards,
jaime, who is scooting guiltily back to work
jknoble@warwick.net
USDA Zone 6/5 ==> NW NJ
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
