# Fall forage - anything besides goldenrod and asters?



## Huntingstoneboy (Feb 10, 2013)

Japanese Knotweed and Purple Loosestrife here in New York.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Dandelions can have a large bloom in the fall.
White clover can still have some flowers.


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## KDM (Jul 12, 2007)

boneset, smartweed, Spanish nettle,& milkweed are a few.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

We have Ironweed, Boneset, Asters, several types of Goldenrod, and Swamp Sunflowers down here.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Technically I think it is an aster, but not the usual pretty backyard variety: Wingstem, and a close cousin that looks almost identical except that it has opposing instead of alternating leaves.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Joe Pye weed is a big one here.


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## EvanS (Feb 27, 2015)

crofter said:


> Joe Pye weed is a big one here.


We have Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, queen annes lace, and milkweed. I haven't seen many bees on the queen anne's lace though.


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## quattro (Oct 2, 2014)

Sorry for the late post, but I cut down my Viper Bugloss after it bloomed in the summer (it was falling over and didn't look great) and now it has regrown and is lit up with flowers. Not sure if this is normal, but I will do it again next year.


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## Illinois Bee (May 6, 2015)

Now that our fall bloom is winding up, I thought I'd report what I saw. In addition to goldenrod and asters, I also saw white clover blooming and dandelions as some had mentioned. We had some good rains at the end of Aug & Sept so I suspect the moisture helped the blooms. I also saw some sunflowers peaking from late Aug to late Sept. I later identified these as sawtooth sunflowers.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Hard to tell if it's over because the stinky honey is or was flowing. Could smell my hives 100 feet away.
I'm leaning towards over but my feeders are barely being touched. One day they take it, the next two or three they don't. Really hard putting them last extra winter pounds on. Will weigh again this weekend and see what's what.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

My retired coworker gave me a small dried branch of the sweet annie with tiny tight yellow flower cluster.
She said they are blooming now growing like a bush 6' high and 3' across. It is absolutely teaming with
bees that even her retired husband cannot resist but to sit quietly observing the bees working on the tiny flowers.
Not sure if they will provide any nectar but definitely the pollen. The last word she said was I will email you. So I
somehow got them interested to be a beekeeper at their new place. Will try some sweet annie next year if I can find
some seeds or plants here.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

It's kind of funny how every beek has a neighbor who has some flower that's the miracle of life to bees (in their mind). My neighbor has Dahlias (many) and thinks all the honey in my hives came from them. I've told the guy a hundred times that the bees travel 2-3 miles to forage and to draw a box around my yard that's 4 x 4 MILES and then start watching all the plants in the box. He disagrees and thinks the bees are all in his garden. He has no clue that there are roughly 0.75 million bees in my yard.


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## centrarchid (Jun 13, 2014)

I am from close to you and currently have the same problem. I am also learning their is exists multiple species each of golden rods and asters that can differ in terms of bloom dates and importance to the bees as nectar and pollen sources. My flows are essentially done for 2015 and did not provide much in the way of surplus. This fall at no point where the bees unable to keep up with the flow and the flow duration where they appeared to be making headway likely did not last 10 days. I have two ways to tackle this; first is too increase abundance of species already present, an second is to diversify the species present to expand upon what the currently most abundant species provide. Also several plant species listed by posters although with the possible exception of Bonesets are not important honey producers. Look into the blue-colored asters that have the actual flower part being yellow. They are just coming on now but I do not seem them in landscape outside of patches intended to represent native plant assemblages.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Chicory is still blooming here. Goldenrod and asters as well but the chicory will outlast them. Smartweed. Some things were blooming but have quit now, such as the milkweed.


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## centrarchid (Jun 13, 2014)

Many plant species are blooming here but that does not mean many are important as nectar / pollen sources. Plants blooming outside their peak bloom periods such as chicory and even some low growing clovers attract little or not bee activity. Also, if a given plant species is too rare within the landscape the bees will effectively ignore it. A big part of the problem is the bees simply have to fly too much to hit visit enough blooms to fill their crops and pollen baskets. This problem is one of species and density. Drought and possibly too many colonies does not help matters. 


Late season asters I am going to try an promote in coming years as they are just starting to come into bloom. Also there may be some cryptic goldenrod species that bloom later and if abundant enough might extend flow. I have spotted several of the latter that will be targeted for seed collection.


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## *P*Grass (Oct 28, 2015)

my bees are loving my maximilian sunflower and ageratum, also seen them on my zinnias, butterfly bush and mexican petunia. 
all of these are still in bloom right now 10/28 at my house. but the butterfly bush is about to stop, the sunflower started blooming october 5th and ageratum is slowing down.


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

Nothing here en mass as I can tell, bees just bringing in grain dust; both hives are taking 2:1 with mega bee mixed in.


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## Biermann (May 31, 2015)

Hello,

I seeded some phacelia tanacetifolia late August https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacelia_tanacetifolia

It is surprisingly still flowering after many nights with -6 to -9°C (21°F - 15.8°F). The bees just love it and still feed when we get above 15°C (59°F).

It needs very little seed, 5-8 lbs/acre, about 20-30 lbs/acre of N, some rain helps, but it is very drought tolerant and is good for the soil.

Funny thing is, when I grew it in Germany about 40 years ago, it was dead when we had -1°C. Must be the elevation in Alberta or the dry climate, who knows.

Cheers, Joerg


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Have observed honeybees literally mining marigold flowers for pollen. Mine are still blooming and getting a work-over by the bees. Didn't expect honeybees to work marigolds at all. Bumblebees are all over them all summer long.


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