# What Can I Plant



## Ron5252 (Jan 19, 2011)

Ok, so I am looking for suggestions on what to plant as forage for my bees. Specifically, some marshy/bog areas near ponds, drainage ditches, etc. These areas are usally either spongy or water logged from very late fall or winter until about now. Any suggestions? It would be nice to make use of these areas outside of growing swamp grass and mosquitos.


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## belliott (Apr 17, 2011)

Anytime I get carried away with the tractor I always sow back with clover. It makes decent honey and the deer love it. It grows anywhere down here, I don't know how well it would perform up north.


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## Riverratbees (Feb 10, 2010)

Wildflowers create a dark honey but very sweet. Buckwheat Is a dark honey and alfalfa. But with alfalfa just put a hive in or close to a field you can check weekly but you will know with that flow cause it will come and go in a 2 week period. Honeysuckle bees love the nector. Blackberrys,blueberrys,apple trees. Hope this helps


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

Riverratbees said:


> Wildflowers create a dark honey but very sweet. Buckwheat Is a dark honey and alfalfa. But with alfalfa just put a hive in or close to a field you can check weekly but you will know with that flow cause it will come and go in a 2 week period. Honeysuckle bees love the nector. Blackberrys,blueberrys,apple trees. Hope this helps


I don't think bees work honeysuckle. I have never seen honeybees work honeysuckle where I live.

Shane


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## hipbee (Sep 11, 2009)

my bees love honeysuckle, both the bush and the vine variaties.......also one of my bushes blooms in febuary-March and it is the first thing to bloom so it sounds like a swarm on warm days!


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## Ron5252 (Jan 19, 2011)

These are some great suggestions and I have some already growing. On the drier land I have tried sweet clover in two areas with no success. I think it is too acidic because the blueberries do great and they like acidic soil. Dutch clover is great where we have to keep the grass short. I planted some alike clover last fall and it took in most of the areas where the sweet clover failed. So far I like the Dutch and Alike clover combination. But there is alot of this boggy, soft, water logged land that seems to only support swamp grass. There has to be something beneficial that like this type of ground.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 5, 2011)

How about milkweed?

http://www.123rf.com/photo_392799_b...p-milkweed-flower-together-while-feeding.html


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## sevenmmm (Mar 5, 2011)

Skunk cabbage is another one:

http://www.bedfordaudubon.org/seasons/spring/skunk_cabbage01.html


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## sevenmmm (Mar 5, 2011)

Since I just keep googling:

http://thomania.org/gardensite/education/student_work/webpage_wetland.html


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## Ron5252 (Jan 19, 2011)

Hey thanks for the ideas. I may look a little more at milkweed since that seems to bloom through the summer, a time my bees could use a little more foraging options.


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## forgeblast (Feb 4, 2011)

http://www.ernstseed.com/seed-mixes/

They have seed mixes for just about anything. 
I have a marshy area that i have enrolled in a government program to help with erosion. 
They cost share planting trees and shrubs. Elderberry is a good one for marshy areas, so is american cranberry (there are high bush varities).


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## Omie (Nov 10, 2009)

skunk cabbage loves boggy swampy areas. It's one of the very first flowers to bloom in the Spring (before dandelions where I live) and bees love it. It'll give your bees some food at a time when they may be very low of food stores. Plus, it's a native plant so it's good for the wetland environment.


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## Cindy (Mar 21, 2011)

I would start with some Marsh Marigold, very early spring blooms then add Bogbean and Lizards tail. Another one of my favorites is the Arrowhead, very pretty white flowers. Now, my all time favorite is Cardinal Flower, wonderful red spikes of blooms that atract Bee's and Humingbirds. All are perenial plants and come back every year for me here in Ohio.


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