# BEE BULB : Bee Value of some fall planting bulb (Ipheion , Brodiae, Hyacinthoides)



## Leo82 (Oct 13, 2015)

Hello everyone!
This is my first real thread (other than my formal presentation on the welcome section). I am writing to you to have suggestions about some specific fall planting bulbs. I am planning to buy several bulb species to see how my feral bee colony reacts this coming spring. I searched already by the searching engine the name of each variety that I will list below, and I did not find much or in some case (e.g. spanish bluebell) the information are contradictory. I know for sure that Camassia is very good, all the other species are still a big question mark for me..... 
I was wondering if you guys , with your experience , could help to understand better the bee value of the following plant so I can (eventually ) make a change on my plant list and buy some other bulb more suitable for bee.

*Bulb Species * * Bloom time*

Wild (?) species tulip: Tulipa Turkestanika March/ april
Wild (?) species tulip: TULIPA DASISTEMON April
Spring starflower (Ipheion) April/ May
Spanish Bluebell (HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA) May
Wild (?) species tulip: TULIPA BAKERI (var. LILAC WONDER) May
Queen fabiola (Brodiaea) May/June
siberian Lily: (IXIOLIRION TARTARICUM SSP PALLASII ) May/June
Quamash (Camassia) May/June
ALLIUM NEAPOLITANUM May/June
ALLIUM COWANII June
ALLIUM MULTIBULBOSUM June/July


Thank you very much
Leo


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I go for crocus, both the species and Dutch. (Fall blooming crocus is also very useful, bu it's too late to plant that this season - look for it in the catalogs in mid summer, order and plant it right away and you'll get flowers in just a month or two. Those are expensive.

Also squill, snow drops, winter aconite, and the blue flower (Chionodoxa) which will colonize grass.

All of the above are very early and provide much-needed pollen when there is sometimes little available.

You need to really splash out, though, in terms of numbers, as in 200-500 bulbs all planted fairly tightly together (3" spacing). Bees don't want to spend a lot of time ferreting out the odd bulb tucked in here and there.

I don't think tulips (of any kind) do much for bees. And I can't grow them due to deer and rodents, anyway.

Camassia and the alliums are useful to the bees, but by that time I usually have tons of pollen from other sources so I concentrate on the earliest ones where there is little else. My crocus, etc. will bloom early even if the trees (willows. maples) are delayed. Plant the crocus fairly close to your stands so the bees will find them quickly.

Next week I am planting 2000 little bulbs.

BTW, many bulb dealers offer very good prices (so-called wholesale) if you buy them in lots of 500. The bees won't care if you don't have all the available colors the first year. You can add more next year. Mixtures are often lower-grade bulbs, but if price is important they are also an option. But they may not produce as many flowers early on and if your climate is not great for increasing you will not get a good supply of flowers, for years. (PA is not a bad place, but in some areas it is too cool in summer to promote a fast increase.) Some of the small bulbs are beloved by voles and mice, some are OK. I'd test them in groups of 100, at first, and abandon any there the little pests eat.

It is very satisfying to see your bees working a large patch of flowers when you know there is nothing else for them. Plus if they work crocus and small bulbs you can watch them, whereas when they are up in the trees you can't And by crocus season I am seriously hungry for the sight of my little buzzers. It is disappointing though if you only plant a few dozen bulbs in a garden. Chances are they won't find them, or at least not when you're watching.

Enj.


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## scituatema (Aug 30, 2014)

Where do you buy those 2000 bulbs and how much did you pay?


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## Hops Brewster (Jun 17, 2014)

enjambres said:


> I go for crocus, both the species and Dutch. (Fall blooming crocus is also very useful, bu it's too late to plant that this season - look for it in the catalogs in mid summer, order and plant it right away and you'll get flowers in just a month or two. Those are expensive.


Fall crocus is _crocus sativus_ aka the Saffron crocus. Yes, that saffron. My neighbor grows a plot of them about 12' x 12' and harvests enough saffron to use in recipes for half the year. I have seen bees on them, but not a whole lot of them at any time. We still have Russian sage and silvermound in bloom this time of year, and those are much more popluar with the local bees. 

I do see bees on spring crocus more than on tulips. I did not see a lot of bees on my hyacinths as other things were in bloom.

Allium is very popular with bees in my yard. I can hear bees on my allium patch from several yards away, when they are in full bloom. The expression I use is "enough bees to haul away the garden". I consider these an early summer flower, late June/ early July.


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## Leo82 (Oct 13, 2015)

Thank you guys for the fast answer! I agree, crocus and winter aconite are the best as early spring bulb bee-food supplier, but this year I am really trying to go beyond crocus (with bulb) for my (feral) bee...And the bulb list that i provide earlier would extend the pollen/nectar supply for a good couple of months before my star perennial really take over....
Last year I bought around 400 of crocus and I made the mistake to create small spots of 50s in my lawn....Considering your suggestions I will definitively correct the mistake creating spot much larger of 200-300 crocus planted very closely...But again , my biggest problem is still the bloom time post-crocus...I have several perennial that I am afraid will not provide as much nectar/pollen as I would like ..tulip species are a good fit since they bloom immediately after crocus and a bit earlier than allium all the other bulb that I listed are very good naturalizer (e.g. queen fabiola) It would be great if they were also good bee food supplier...
I do order on whole sale supplier (Van Engelen for me work the best in terms of price and quality)


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## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

I have a lot of different bulb types and species, mostly daffodil types. Our bees pretty much ignore all of them except Anemone blanda ( Grecian wind flower). They work the Anemone from the start of bloom to the end.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I planted about 200 muscari bulbs in a single patch last yr and had bees all over them this spring


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

leo are you on 3rd street in harrisburg ?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

At the local garden store there is this gigantic bulb weighing about 5-6 lbs each.
It will bloom in mid-May after other little bulbs had faded away. It is impressive
growing at 4'x6' in size with long white flowers on strong multiple stalks. It is call the giant squill at $25 per bulb. 
Also, the yellow flower oxalis are the bee's favorite when they boom in mid Spring too.


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## K Wieland (Sep 15, 2011)

I too am interested where you can get crocus bulbs bulk. Last year I got some through dutchbulbs.com. They had a tricky website, though, where you had to game it to get the right prices. This year I got 250 for $25 at http://www.vanengelen.com/flower-bulbs-index/crocus.html. These are the small ones. The larger ones are twice this. Let me know if you find a better deal; I love these flowers in spring.

Two hints about crocus.

1. Deer don't like them, but chipmunks (not squirrels) will dig them up and eat them.
2. I plant them out in my grass. By the time I am ready to mow, the blooms are long gone. I don't have a manicured lawn, though, so YMMV.


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