Best food for your honeybees.

[beavertonjan]

I am not a beekeeper but am an avid gardener here in Beaverton, OR and love almost all of my insects. For many years, I have planted flowering perennials that tend to draw honeybees and bumble bees. This year I have a major redo going on in my yard and have removed a large amount of sod and plan to replace it with landscape plants. I'm looking for suggestions for flowering shrubs (small/medium) or other perennials that are preferable in the type of nectar they may bring back to your hives. Do you even care?  Currently the plants I have the bring in the most honeybees are: sedums, caryopteris (bluebeard), hyssop, catmint, beebalm, spirea, sunflower, zinnia and the usual vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, beans). Are any of these bad for honey production?


Would love suggestions.


2nd question: Can hummingbird feeders that honeybees can access sugar water affect quality of honey? I have a friend that must live near a beekeeper. She literally has hundreds of honeybees emptying her feeders on a daily basis. I keep encouraging her to change to a different type of feeder where the bees cannot reach the sugar water. 

Beaverton Jan

[apismellifera]

The pollinators seem to love salvia - I had a pinespple sage in the sf bay area that was a big hit, but had to root prune that baby every year so it didn't go out of control. I now have oregano that they love but a root runner also. Both of those are wonderful, the salvia blooms all season long and the oregano a bit later which is nice.

Your neighbor may be spoiling someone's honey if those aren't wild bees. And if she's into the hummers it's a waste of syrup and probably an annoyance to the hummers to have to compete with the bees.