Interview w/Mike Darcy ‘In the Garden’ on KXL-Planting for Honeybees 6/6/15

I had a great time talking with Mike this morning about planting for honeybees and our native bees.  Every plant I mentioned receives a wide array of solitary bee visitors as well, not just honeybees.  Bumbles, Sweat bees, Mining bees and Masons.  I talk about the value of Elderberries and Ninebark, both native and lovely purple cultivars in the interview. The top photo is of a Ninebark, Woods’ Rose and Snowberry hedgerow planting in my own garden. Plant one or several and watch the pollinators show up in droves!  Elderberry ‘Black Lace’, one of my favorite trees for small spaces because of its arching multi-stemmed habit that can be pruned back hard every few years and for it’s lovely pink flower panicles and the fact it’s a medicinal plant, great for the respiratory tract and will keep you and the bees humming along. The ‘Magic Mountain’ Basil I mention at the end of the interview is pictured in the middle, from one of my gardens in Hood River. I think it grew to more like 6′ in diameter, than the 4′ I mentioned, when not pinched back.  Extraordinary. Thanks for listening and for planting flowers that make life sweeter for bees!

Join me on Facebook where I post daily photos of bees of all kinds in plants! @ https://www.facebook.com/MelissaBeesCommunity

Posted on Friday, June 5th, 2015 at 11:09 pm. Filed under: Blog Tags: Feeding the Bees, Flowers for Honeybees, Melissa Bees with Mike Darcy, Planting for Honeybees, Planting for Pollinators, Pollinator Hedgerow RSS 2.0 feed.