Both foliage and flowers are deliciously aromatic.As with other members of the mint family, monarda can become aggressive if given the right conditions. The shaggy tubular blooms, in shades of pink, red, violet and soft white, appear throughout summer's...
Deadheading bee balm should bring about a second round of flowering later in the summer. You can also achieve rejuvenation within a single growing season.If your plant has bloomed a little and faded, remove all the spent blooms.
I really do love them, and the scent of the leaves makes weeding something to look forward to!!Photo credit goes to myself, hczone6, JoanJ, poppysue, victorgardener and Tammylp. The fastest spreading is the red one, but I don't mind.
Fistulosa genes, also won an AGM in 2001. Somewhat similar is ‘Squaw', another bright red selection that reaches 140 cm., a Canadian introduction with confirmed M. Alas, all of these cultivars are susceptible to powdery mildew, the bane of beebalm.
Keep an eye on problem areas and pull the small shoots as soon as they appear. This dainty little plant that looks so innocent when you buy it at the garden center can reach a height of 2 feet and a spread of 3 feet by the end of the first growing season.
If you see signs of flowers forming, pinch them off. However, growing herbs like lemon balm in containers inside adds much more than just a cheerful splash of living green.Lemon balm looks nice, but it also smells nice.
A member of the mint family, lemon balm is easy to grow, even for newbie gardeners. If you're wondering what to plant with lemon balm, read on for a few suggestions to get you started.Lemon balm companion planting is a real boon in the garden, as this...
Most commonly, lemon balm leaves are used in. While not as popular as other herbs, lemon balm is nevertheless a wonderful herb to have in your garden. Keep reading to learn more about how to grow lemon balm.) is actually a member of the mint family and...
A middle-ground option could be a DIY strainer fashioned from two 5-gallon food-grade plastic buckets. The bees smell the honey and come and clean everything up, bringing the leftover honey back into their hives.
“For those orchards isolated from semi-natural habitats, farmers can consider creating some alternative habitats for wild pollinators by planting flowers and leaving some bare ground for bees to nest in.” Tags bee diversity , Honey bees , pollination...
The honeybee may seem simple to the naked eye, but nature has expertly crafted her for aerial flight, pollination, effective communication, honey production and so much more. The underside of the abdomen is home to the bee's wax glands, where wax scales...
Stirred into hot tea with a bit of lemon, it's used as a soothing, healthy elixir to help fight just about any bug. Modern archaeologists have unearthed pots of honey from Egyptian tombs, and discovered that the 3,000-year-old honey was still preserved.
Of the hundreds of different perennials I grow in my garden, common yarrow ( Achillea millefolium ) is a personal favorite. Petite varieties reach only 18 to 25 inches in height, about half the height of regular cultivars.
By looking at the roles that each worker plays in the hive, it's obvious that the honeybee colony is a well-tuned, expertly functioning machine, with each cog playing its role beautifully.
We farmers play a huge role in supporting the many species of native bees that live right outside our front doors. These little creatures pollinate upwards of $3 billion in crops each year, a number that could rise if we all start promoting and preserving...
She is initially attracted to the nectar produced by the flowers, and the pollination process appears to be inadvertent. A busy worker out in the field can often be spotted with tiny yellow, orange, red or even purple (depending on the cultivar) particles...
Sharing the colors and hues of bee balm it provides a sturdy mostly care-free floral display that compares favorably with monarda. Both species like the same garden condition of full sun, regular water, but no overhead irrigation.
I just wish someone would tell that to the bees! It's often a chestnut brown color, and in the summer, when warm, it's quite pliable. What's most remarkable is how the bees are able to collect it, return home with it, and transfer it to their sisters...
After we've prepared them for the winter, the best we can do is check them regularly, read up to ensure we're better stewards of them year after year, and send them warmth and love from our own hearths.
About 50 species of bumblebees live in the U.S., and they're particularly important to crops in the nightshade family, such as tomatoes and peppers, because they vibrate the flowers to shake out the pollen found deep within the flower.
« More of the Prescription Gardener» Tags bees , gardeners , hive , prescription gardener , queen bee , winter The rest of the colony is made up of workers. The constant hum that fills the air on a bee farm has fallen silent for a few months.
The TFSP is not the only group concerned about neonicotinoids. Now that one-third of America's Honey bee colonies have died, scientists are sounding the alarms. Aside from the occasional sting—and I get it that some people are dangerously allergic to...
They prefer sweet smells best of all, which, of course, motivates them to visit sweet smelling flowers in search of nectar. Dinner Conversation Food sharing within the hive is constant and integral part of communication.
After spending all winter cooped up indoors with several thousand family members, the worker bee understandably has a serious case of spring fever. We're pretty sure that there are some of these plants along the creek because the bees can be seen bringing...
Cut the plant stalks into 6- to 8-inch lengths and bundle them in groups of 20 or more. “Protect and promote them as best as you can because, in reality, they are making money for you,” Vaughan says.
His simplified beekeeping methods allow him to keep 200 hives for slightly more work than he was doing to keep just four. Bush admits that the equipment might not last as long, but not painting them (and especially not painting them every year) is a big...
Tags bees , bumblebees , Honey bees , plants , pollinate , pollinators You'll find them buzzing all over fruits from carefully manicured orchards to wild roadside brambles, and the honey produced from fruit tree nectar is divine.