More forage plants/trees for the apiary!!!

[Cindi]

Yesterday was a rather rainy day.  So what better thing to do than trudge down with my muck boots down to one of the local nurseries.  They have a parking lot sale that has been going on for awhile.....oh what fun!!!  The discounts are about the 50% range, so that is the perfect price for this gal.

Previously a couple of weeks ago I had purchased a viburnum in a 3 gallon pot, covered in buds.  They are opening and man oh man, the bees are in love with this shrub.  Next year it will be quite a bit larger and will very obviously provide early foraging for the bees.

This is what I purchased, I have to look at the big picture with two of these, as one is a shrub and one is a tree.  I doubt that they will flower this year, but hey, one never knows.

2 winter heather, that pretty pink that is so common
1 St. John's Wort -- Tri-coulour Hypericum Bypericum x moserianum
1 Spanish broom (fragrant, blooms all summer, yellow blooms) (is all broom yellow by the way?)
1 White Chocolate Crape Myrtle (brown foliage) Lagerstruemia indica
1 Sourwood tree Oxydendrum arboreum Arbol avinagrado

This year the Purple Robe Robina (black locust) that I planted last year should bloom in good numbers, we shall see.  Yeah for the spring that doth come.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day in this awesome life.  Cindi

[reinbeau]

There's no reason why they wouldn't bloom this year, maybe a bit out of season, but they all should!

What a wonderful list, Cindi!  That St. John's Wort is going to be rather large and floppy, if it resembles the standard plant.  Don't plant anything too close to the canopy of it!

Heathers aren't reliably hardy for us here, unfortunately; there was a guy about a mile away from me who collected them and did keep them alive over the winter, if they bloomed the whole front yard (it was a slope down to the street) was really pretty.

Crepe Myrtles are marginal here, too, as Oxydendrums - if you've got the correct microclimate in your garden they'll do ok, but usually they'll die of winter kill, or they'll die back down to the ground and resprout from the roots, and never attain the shape they should have.

I really needt o move just one zone south, but that's getting too warm in the summer months, so I'll just enjoy what grows well here.

[Cindi]

Ann, my dear friend.  How did I know that you would respond to this post, with your wonderful "gardening words" that you always bring to me, I love that!!!  You must know that you are special.

It is too bad that your winters are as harsh as they are and summers too hot.  If only they could be a little bit more warmer and a little more cooler, I know you love the winter snow and dislike that intense summer heat, if I could wave my magic wand......

You have many many wonderful plants at your climate, you have stuff that I can't grow here, so we just live with what we can and we can......we have our ways, hee, hee.

Thank you for all the knowledge and encouragement you give to me, I love that especially.  I can't wait for spring, and man is it comin' on fast, everything is showing buds now, in another couple of weeks, many of these buds will be leaves and soon the lush greeness of summer be here, yeah!!!!!

About the St. John's Wort.  I have never grown it, nor have I seen it grow, I will heed your words and listen, I think it will resemble the standard, so I have given it lots of room anyways.  I did not have an understanding of the growth requirements of it, so I always lean on the side that can give lots of room for expansion, hee, hee, like that term?

Have you ever heard of/grown this Spanish broom.  It sounded intriguing and when I saw that it bloomed all summer with fragrant yellow flowers, I thought that it would be an excellent pollen/nectar plant for the bees.  I will be doing some research to learn how to take cuttings from the plant.  If I can't take cuttings, then I will divide this plant, two ways of propagation that I know are surefired to work.

In another month the anise hyssop 'blue fortune' will be sending up strong shoots.  About two weeks after that time the plants will have grown enough new leaves that I will take cuttings.  I think I now have probably 15 mother plants that I can snip to my heart's content.  And that I will.  Cuttings of anise root so quickly and are simply carefree, snip, remove the lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone, place the stem in the ground, the node of the stem that had leaves I ensure is below the soil medium.  Then keep moist and la la!!!!  In three weeks they are ready for transplanting.

My intention is to have hundreds of hyssop plants all over the property.  This is a reality, not a big picture, hee, hee, and ooh, won't the bees be happy. These being perennials, they will bloom til the end of time itself. 

I believe that the "blue fortune" is a hybrid, I am pretty sure, that is why I have always taken cuttings.  (do you know anything about that cultivar?, any thoughts????? please elaborate).  If I thought that the seeds would come true to the parent, I would attempt that (maybe I will, just for fun), I think each plant would provide more than one million seeds each, hee, hee.  Maybe that will be a journey I will take next year, just for the fun of it.  Oh, oh, I am ramblin', what the blinking blink!!!  Can't seem to stop doing that sometimes, eeks!!!!  Ann, have the most wonderful and beautiful day, (take cuttings off your hyssop too, girl, get them going when they come up and are ready, put some up at the Maine house).  Cindi

[reinbeau]

Since Anise Hyssop 'Blue Fortune' is cross between A. rugosa and A. foeniculum it has to be propogated vegetatively, either by cuttings, as you do, or by root division.  One thing I wasn't aware of is it prefers a more alkaline soil - that my be why many of my hyssops don't reseed as readily as they should, except for one bed next to the foundation (foundations leach just a bit of lime and the soil is usually pretty sweet there).  The standard Agastache foeniculum reseeds pretty nicely over there.

[Cindi]

Ann, aha!!!  Maybe a key here is to lime the soil a little bit here too.  I have never had our soils tested here for pH, but I can bet with my bottom dollar that with so much rain, the pH is not correct.  Think I am going to do a little experimenting with some mother plants and try a little lime with a couple and see if there is any difference in growth or health of the plant.  I have several different areas where the mother plants live, so they are separated and I could perform a true test.  Guess that would indicate if my soil is neutral or alkaline eh?

Root division is a very difficult thing to do with some plants.  I am going to stick to cuttings, they are a piece of cake and I can do about a hundred in no time at all (or 200, or 300, hee, hee).

I wish that I was more used to knowing the latin names for so many plants, as you do, I use the more common names, unless I know the species by the latin name.  Oh well, that's life I guess.  A. rugosa and A. foeniculum I am familiar with, slightly, when I read those names they rang some bells about when I was researching Hyssop Hysopsus.

My last post was long, you missed my question, hee, hee, bad girl!!!

Have you ever grown Spanish broom or know anything about it, tell me about it if you do.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, lovin' this life we live.  Cindi

[Brian D. Bray]

If I were a beekeeper in Ocean Shores, WA I would specialize in Crepe Myrtle honey.  That sand spit is covered with Crepe Myrtle from one end to the other.  10 miles long and 1-1 1/2 miles wide.  Every vacant lot (and there's alot of those) is covered with the stuff.  If you get down on your knees and crawl under the brush for about 10 feet it like suddenly walking into a Cathedral, the Myrtle arches over head like a dome.

[Cindi]

Brian, ooooh, what a pretty picture you have painted.  I have heard about Crape Myrtle and excellent for the bees, that is why I chose one of those to grow here, about a 8-10 foot shrub, upwards and sideways, hee, hee.

Ocean Shores.  I had a girlfriend when I worked in Vancouver some 20 years ago that had moved there.  She commuted to Vancouver each day to work, what a haul.  What a gal.   It always sounded like a very pretty place to me, so many years ago.  Have a great and awesome life.  Cindi

[Brian D. Bray]

Brian, ooooh, what a pretty picture you have painted.  I have heard about Crape Myrtle and excellent for the bees, that is why I chose one of those to grow here, about a 8-10 foot shrub, upwards and sideways, hee, hee.

Ocean Shores.  I had a girlfriend when I worked in Vancouver some 20 years ago that had moved there.  She commuted to Vancouver each day to work, what a haul.  What a gal.   It always sounded like a very pretty place to me, so many years ago.  Have a great and awesome life.  Cindi

Are you sure you haven't confused Point Roberts for Ocean Shores?  If she lived in Ocean Shores she either only went home on the weekends or slept while she drove.  Ocean Shores is a 5 hour drive from me.

[reinbeau]

Cindi, I have no experience growing any of the brooms.  I'll have to look into them.

[Cindi]

Brian, no this sounds weird.  It was Ocean Shores, not Roberts Point.  I used to go to Roberts Point sometimes as a child with my girlfriend and her parents.  That does sound strange eh?  Maybe she was pulling my leg.  I am positive of the name of the place where she lived.  Is Ocean Shores south of you?  Maybe it was Ocean _______, not Shores, but I thought it was Shores, that was 20 years ago, is my mind failing me now?  Hee, hee.  I remember it was a very long drive.  Actually, I am now confused....I wish I still had her telephone number to ask her where she lived, but we lose contact with old friends along the way sometimes.  She was my best buddy when we worked on the beautiful ocean front of a beautiful tall office building, such beautiful sights we saw.  I would start work at 6:00 AM, the sunrises over the mountain were beautiful, and the drive into work in the summer were even more astounding. 

The pastures that had the cows grazing in the fields really come to my mind.  The morning mist that surrounded the stock would take my breath away, I loved those early morning drives from the country into the city. And in those days, the traffic was so much more light.....oh, I long for those early morning drives now and then...thoughts for the summertime coming on here.....oh how I ramble....have the most beautiful and loveliest of days, we be lovin' this life we live.  Cindi