# Whats a good sunflower ?



## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I'm looking for a good sunflower for nector and pollen, Probably plant a pound or 2. Theres a small multi headed sunflower called lemon queen, thats sounds good. There are several places that sell a variety of seed packs, could plant a pound of that and see which ones they like the best. Then collect seed from them.

If anyone knows of a good seed and a place to order it let me know..


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## guyross (Feb 18, 2011)

I planted some black oil sunflower left over from winter feeding and it did good. The bees liked it better than buckwheat.


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I planted some black oil sunflower last year, had more bumblebee action than honeybee but there may of been something better blooming at that time.

I just ordered a pound of 11 different kinds of seeds will see what they like and i'll collect from that,, thanks


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I remember reading a couple years ago, that sunflowers aren't very nutritional for honey bees. 
If you're planting the flowers specifically for the bees, there are better things for the bees health that you could plant.


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## Don'tWorryBeeHappy (May 13, 2011)

I had a small patch (20' by 8') of Mammoth Grey Stripe that the bumbles loved, but the Hons never touched. They went after every thing else in the garden and really loved the basil that went to seed, but not-a on the sunflowers.


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I've already got, borage, purple tansy, basil,lemon thyme, might get some asters. In pots I have 300 linden trees, 20 evodia and a handful of vitex. Just adding some sunflower for height and pollen and the birds. The girls loved the borage this year, waiting to see how they like the purple tansy.


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## avalonweddingsbcs (May 2, 2010)

go to wildflowerseeds.com in fredricksburg texas.. they have a lot of sunflower seeds to pick from...


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Might want to add some anise blue hyssop to the mix. The seeds are surface sown, so they get some light. I usually cover the pots with plastic wrap to keep them moist until they sprout.
An article in the bee magazines claimed 2 acres of the hyssop can support 250 hives. I don't believe the numbers, but if they are even close its pretty amazing.


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## Jon11 (Mar 29, 2011)

I've also heard that an article in a bee magazine made this claim about anise hyssop, but I've never been able to locate the article. Anyone know where it is from?

BGhoney, where did you find the vitex?


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## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

avalonweddingsbcs said:


> go to wildflowerseeds.com in fredricksburg texas.. they have a lot of sunflower seeds to pick from...


The correct address is www.wildseedfarms.com/

They carry a lot of seeds for flowers that bees love. High quality seed too.


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I think I got the vitex here off beesource, I better slow down on seeds, so far I have 18 different kinds, 3 lbs of purple tansy seeds, 3 lbs of borage, hyssop, cone flower and just got showy golden rod yesterday. My big patch will be mostly purple tansy, up to 1500 lbs of honey per acre and 2000 lbs of pollen, guess it tastes good to. I'll put patches of borage all around just to keep them happy during the darth. Check out wiki,, look up nector plants for honey bees..Once my linden(basswood) gets a foot tall or so, I'll ring the field with them. 

I've read a couple of places that basswood pollen can be deadly to larva, but beekeepers rave about finding a lindin forest and all the honey they get. I guess you could be killing your larva and still bringing in lots of honey.


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## Jaseemtp (Nov 29, 2010)

Ohh my did the girls love the basil and borage I planted last year. As long as I kept some water on it they bloomed every day and were always covered in bees. I had several Rose of Sharon and those were visited by the bees too.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I only have black oil sunflowers. They were popular, but not much else was in bloom. Except the butterfly covered plants - ageratum?. Bees seem to prefer yellow - given a choice they liked the sunflowers.


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## sagittarius (Feb 17, 2004)

BGhoney said:


> If anyone knows of a good seed and a place to order it let me know..


 I get black oil sunflowers for the bird feeders in the winter. When broadcast and disked in this germinates great. You can get the larger grey stripe at many bird shops by the pound, or pet warehouse places. I planted both, separate years, in 12' by 400' strips. Both worked great for bumble bees, honey bees visited the grey stripe a bit more than the black oil. Once the goldfinches found it, they stripped the heads before they reached full maturity. It was quite a site watching 200 goldfinches bust out of the sunflowers when you walked by. The doves, and turkeys never got any seeds, deer didn't even bother them much. Gave up on the sunflowers, and put the space back into white clovers.


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