Looking toward spring already!

[KONASDAD]

In anticipation of spring and next season, I have planted a bunch of stuff for me and the bees! I planted this fall, 2 filberts, six rasberries, 3 goosberries, 1 persimmon tree, 2 mulberries, 8 apple, 2 peach, 2 pear, 2 hardy kiwi, garlic, wildflower patch about 200 sq ft and I transplanted some Honey locust seedlings to a bare area out back. Didnt kill any weeds either! easiest past of beekeeping!

[Understudy]

The tomatos are starting bloom. I can't keep up with the Papya. The cotton is getting taller.
The bananas and plantains are growing. Lots of weeding was done today.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I can't wait for spring myself.

Trees
Gala Apple tree, Snowdrift Crabapple, Redbud, Goldenrain tree, Crapemyrtle, and I'll be ordering a Seven Son in the spring time.

Shrubs
Next year I'm experimenting with lilacs that are colored, White, Light Blue, Pink, Dark Purple, and Red. But they're all so small now I don't expect them to bloom next year, at least not much. I'll be ordering a Clethra too. I also planted last month Blue Mist shrubs, and Sea Holly. And I hope to buy a bunch of Blueberry plants.

Seeds
Blanket Flower, Lavender, Zinnia, Poppies, and I'll be planting watermelon.

[Cindi]

Konasdad and MrILoveTheAnts.  You guys are going great guns!!!  Yeah, you're gonna have some wild and beautiful stuff growing and your bees will love ya!!!!  Yeah!!!!!

The Sea Holly the bees will go nuts on, do you remember the pictures I posted (I think I did anyways, I'll post another one here).  The bees and so many beneficials were nuts on the Sea Holly without a doubt and those soldier bugs, it was their breeding ground, never saw so many of those in my life before (they were always doing that thing).

Brendhan.  You have stuff growing and blooming now, that is crazy, but then, you poor guy, you don't get that winter shutdown, hee, hee, you have to work outside in the garden all year  :-P :-D, kidding aside.  It is kind of cool to hear what is growing like wild fire in the warm places like where you live.  Tell us more, make us drool!!!!  Have a wonderful and beautiful day today, tomorrow and forever.  Cindi

[Understudy]

It is just amazing to me the different zones climates and terrains that exist on the planet and the plant life that is specific to those areas . I would love to grow Pride of Madeira.



Bees love it but it doesn't grow well in my climate.

However I can Mexican Flame vine, Potterweed, Beauty Berry , Wild Coffee, Firebush and others year round.  It's just the way things are in my area. I don't do well with Cherries but I do great with Citrus. I can grow peppers year round. But my tomatos wither in the summer beacuse of the heat.

But on top of that is just so much fun I get to grow wonderful tropical carnivorous plants like Venus fly traps, sarccenia, drosera, and nepenthes. They in some cases actually experience a winter when the temprature drops below 70F/21C. No frost but just a dip in temp that is enough for them to say I am going to sleep for a few months and not taking any appointments.

Florida I have said has two seasons hot and hotter. It isn't completely true we do have four seasons but they aren't like the ones further north. Our fall the leaves don't change colors the old ones just fall off and the young ones stay green. So you really don't get that change in scenary. Winter in Florida is no snow, no frost, and no icey roads. Just 6 million snowbirds driving slow in the passing lane. People still go to the beach in in 65F/18C and swim in the ocean(insane). Spring in Florida does bring about a new growth for lots of plants. The amount of daylight has come back to normal. Plants produce more flowers than they do in winter. Summer is a test against the thin blooded. It's hot and in south Florida it's humid. You take a shower walk outside and feel like you just stepped in a sauna. It's wonderful. However it is also the setting for London Broil. The heat can weaken those who are not use to it. And the nights do not cool off. It makes it a bit different here. But I look at things like snow and ice as different.

I may not be able to grow certain plants but I am not plugging my engine block into an outlet at night and hoping my car will start in the moring or stuck behind someone who didn't scrap the snow and ice off their car and at 50mph/80kph as it comes hurling at my windshield.

So I will sip my frozen margaritas and tend to my firebush, jasmine bushes, my wild grape vines, plantain and , banana trees. My wife wants me to try and make a papya frozen daiquiri. And they think I am wierd.  ;)

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Cindi]

Brendhan, Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans).  What a beauty, I googled it and it can be propogated by seed or cuttings.  I think it is one that I will try to grow here, likes poor, sandy soil, don't know if I could find that place here, but I could make it in a large pot, hee, hee.

You have some beautiful flora that you can grow at your place, that is a nice feeling.  Having fresh home grown food all year around is a very pleasing thought.  Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your climate in your area, nice.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, greatest of health to us all. Cindi

[Kathyp]

understudy, those of us who grew up driving in California have a much practiced hand gesture i think you'd recognize!

my tomatoes are slime on the ground.

question for you gardeners.  i have 3 different kinds of clover that grow here.  big red stuff, kind of purple stuff, and and white.  i have some extra room and would not mind planting more, but noticed that the red and purple didn't seem to be so attractive to the honey bees.  the white clover is kind of spendy.

do the honey bees not like the red and purple clover?

[Scadsobees]

Kathy,
The "red" clover is supposed to be not as nice for honeybees...it has a longer flower that they have trouble accessing the nectiary.  But some people report that their bees will, but I think bees will forage on them if there is nothing else, but not if the nice white clover is blooming.  Bumble bees like it from reports.

Konasdad, don't plant mulberry unless you have a nice big area and no fences or sidewalks nearby.  They are a scourge in my yard.  Grow everywhere, hard to pull up, and when you cut them down, it is just a challenge to them to grow that much faster.

Not to mention...I think the birds use mulberry for "tracer bombs".

I'm glad we have winter here...otherwise I'd never get anything done in the house!!  Sure, it gets too long, but nothing can compare to the absolutely amazing anticipation for spring!  Keep your frozen margaritas and i'll keep my frozen tomatoes! :-P

Rick

[Shawn]

I really dislike the tracer bombs! it even seems some are fitted with heat seekers.

[KONASDAD]

Konasdad, don't plant mulberry unless you have a nice big area and no fences or sidewalks nearby.  They are a scourge in my yard.  Grow everywhere, hard to pull up, and when you cut them down, it is just a challenge to them to grow that much faster.

Not to mention...I think the birds use mulberry for "tracer bombs".


Rick

I know. I have a wild one next door. They were sent to me by accident from Edible Landscaping. Great products, horrible service. I planted near a neighbor i dont like, w/ his pool and gazebo :shock:. Tracer bombs are what i had in mind :evil:! And the bees will like it in spring.

[Cindi]

Kathy, if you are going to plant clover for the bees specifically, do plant the white or Dutch,, t.repens, I believe it is called.  As far as the red or purple clover that you speak of, the tongue of the honeybee (whether Carniolan or Italian) is just not as long as the Bombus, and they cannot as easily reach the nectary of the flowers.  The Bombus go nuts on the red and purple clovers, so it is still OK to plant these species for the bumblebees.

I have the white clover that grows like wildfire all over my property.  In particular there is a massive wild lawn around and behind my apiary.  I cut this lawn, which is full of white clover, with my lawnmower, the clover never stops blooming.  It keeps flowering and flowering, right up until the end of the fall.  I believe that this is because of incredible fertilization from the bodies of the dead honeybees (or poop).  These clovers are gone wild.  I think that mowing them continues the flowering cycle.  We all know that deadheading many perennials (and of course annuals for sure), can prolong the flowering season for an extended time.  So does mowing the clover field.  First year that I have had a great clover (and grass lawn) lawn that grows so beautifully around the apiary.  Kathy, clover also sets nitrogen into the soil, so it is a wonderful plant to have growing on your property, plants thrive on great nitrogen within the soil.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, great health wishes for us all.  Cindi

[Shawn]

So let me ask this. What about the yellow sweet clover? I was planning to plant a mix of yellow, white dutch, and the crimmson red.

[Cindi]

Shawn, I googled yellow sweet clover and came up with this site:

http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/physiology/cam/urbanherbs/yellow_sweet_clover.htm

It was a very interesting read, and yes it is used for honeybee pasturage, excellent.  I probably have seen it but never have heard of it before you mentioned it.  Read the site.  Have a beautiful day, great life.  Cindi

[Kathyp]

thanks for the clover info everyone.  i had made an effort a few years ago to kill most of it.  it had choked the pasture grass.  now i have fewer horses and more bees and want the clover.

i noticed that the bumble bees liked the red clover a lot.  guess i'll break down a buy some white this year.  should it be planted now, or wait for spring....can i freeze it and plant in spring if it's usually a fall planting

[reinbeau]

The bees really seem to go for the white clover.  I've got patches of it all over the place, and they're usually covered with both blooms and bees.

[Cindi]

Kathy, hmmm....I thought that I had already typed a response to your post, maybe I plain and simply did not post it.

I like to sow all my seeds in the springtime.  I am certain that clover can be sowed in spring too.   Many seeds can be sowed in the fall and will germinate in the spring when they are good and ready.  But I don`t like to sow in the fall because there are so many birds that are extra hungry in the fall (compared to middle spring), I think that the chances of ending up with little seed left to germinate in the spring could be a big issue.

Do this Kathy:  google `sowing white clover`, you will see that there are quite a number of sites that look like they may give you some very informed information.  Good luck, great day, great life.  Cind