Mission

Honey Bee Suite is dedicated to honey bees, beekeeping, wild bees, other pollinators, and pollination ecology. It is designed to be informative and fun, but also to remind readers that pollinators throughout the world are endangered. Although they may seem small and insignificant, pollinators are vital to anyone who eats.

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May 2012
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Plants that Attract Pollinators

Popular Garden Plants:

Basil (Ocimum)
Bee balm (Monardia)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Borage (Borago)
Caltrop (Kallstroemia)
Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster)
English Lavendar (Lavandula)
Escallonia (Escallonia)
Globe thistle (Echinops)
Hyssop (Hyssopus)
Licorice Mint (Agastache)
Marjoram (Origanum)
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)
Milkweed (Asclepias)
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus)
Russian Sage (Perovskia)
Sage (Salvia)
Wallflower (Erysimum)
Wild lilac (Ceanothus)
Zinnia (Zinnia)

Northwest Native Plants:

Aster (Aster)
California poppy (Eschscholzia)
Currant (Ribes)
Elder (Sambucus)
Fireweed (Epilobium)
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium)
Larkspur (Delphinium)
Lupine (Lupinus)
Madrone (Arbutus)
Mint (Mentha)
Oregon grape (Berberis)
Penstemon (Penstemon)
Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron)
Saskatoon (Amalanchier)
Scorpion-weed (Phacelia)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)
Stonecrop (Sedum)
Sunflower (Helianthus)
Wild buckwheat (Eriogonum)
Willow (Salix)
Yarrow (Achillea)

Preparing a top-bar hive for winter

In spite of all the winter alterations I’ve made to my Langstroth hives, I’ve never done anything to my top-bar hive. Previously, when the temperature dipped into the 20s for more than a day or two, I’ve moved it into the garden shed, a space I keep in the 40s so things don’t freeze. [...]

How to tame a baggie feeder

Although more art than science is required to use baggie feeders, they are still my favorite bee “service” because they drown so few bees and because I can use them in any type of hive, including a top-bar. Since many beginners will be using them this spring, I assembled a list of dos and [...]

Baggie feeders and package installation: update

In my earlier post on installing a package, I said you couldn’t use a baggie feeder while you were using my method of installation because there wasn’t enough room on top of the remaining five frames to lay the bags. What I failed to mention is that you can place a baggie feeder on [...]

How to use a baggie feeder

A baggy feeder is nothing more than a 3-inch deep super—a perfect tool for the hobbyist. You can buy them, build them, or slice an existing super into several layers. Each feeder will hold two 1-gallon plastic zip bags of sugar syrup. If you prefer, you can use just one bag of syrup and [...]

What type of honey bee feeder is best?

Many types of honey bee feeders are available. None are perfect; each has its own drawbacks, and beekeepers are quite opinionated on the subject. It seems that every hobbyist I know uses a different kind, so I’ll go through them one by one. Personally, I’ve tried just about every style out there and ended [...]