Beekeeping in my garden?

Worried about the plight of bees in the UK? Why not consider beekeeping. According to the British Beekeepers Association all you need to keep bees is to be reasonably fit, have somewhere to keep them, and be able to understand the basics.

First Steps in Beekeeping - a Beginners Guide

Too much for you? You can also grow plants that bees love, such as:

buddleia
lavender
salvias
runner beans
valerian
verbena bonariensis

Spring flowers:
wallflowers
primroses
pansies
aubrieta

autumn flowers:
Michaelmas daisies
dahlias

Re: Beekeeping in my garden?

Reply from Barry Tabor

Hello, Nicola,
Just a quick note on your list of 'bee-plants' if I may?
Probably most people already realise it, but it may be worth repeating that Dahlias of the fancy kind are of no use to bees whatsoever. In fact, very few double flowers of any kind produce pollen or nectar, as the multitude of 'extra' petals are usually replacements for stamens, and the nectaries also mostly disappear. Thus nearly all single-flowered daisies are bee-friendly but doubles of any kind should be avoided for this purpose. Likewise most highly bred bedding annuals and even a lot of highly bred single flowers have had the bee-friendliness bred out of them. As I say, most gardeners already know this, but it bears repetition as there may be a few members who have never been made aware of this fact. Sorry if I've bored anybody .....

Barry

Re: Beekeeping in my garden?

Reply from maria jones

Hello, We've recently started Beekeeping last year and are trying very hard to keep a bee friendly garden. Wallflower Bowles Mauve and Scabiosa did really well for them last year, but most of these have died and I need to rep,ace them. Annual Cosmos were good too. I would like to try growing someDianthus bit I'm not certain if these are classed as double flowers. Can anybody enlighten e please?