# Planting herbs for a bee pasture



## thomas (Apr 23, 2006)

Howdy all a good freind brought me some sumac seeds an then he gave me a lot of different types of herb to plant which my wife will love.He gave me about 8 lavender packs of seeds along with thyme, rosemary.catnip,sage i sure hope my bees will like it my wife sure is going to have a field day wth them. My thing is this will this be a good source for my bees and what else could i plant.


THOMAS


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

thomas, another herb that you could plant is borage, it likes full sun, heat, and does not mind it dry. It gets up to 2' tall and gets lots of star shaped sky blue flowers. I planted a small patch last season just to see if the bees liked it, they loved it. They were on the stuff before sunrise when the temperature was only upper 50's, and worked it constantly all day until well after sunset. I hear it produces nectar like crazy, that would explain the way the bees were on it. Even when the clovers started blooming, they still worked the borage the same way until it quit blossoming in the fall. I plan to plant a much larger area this year. John


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## thomas (Apr 23, 2006)

Hello John do they sell this at the nursey or the plants themselves because i could call my local nursery to find them. plan oplnting alot of stuff this year near my yard so if it gets dry i can run the water hose an keep them wet and still booming.


THOMAS


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## Omie (Nov 10, 2009)

Borage grows _very_ quickly and easily from seed.  I have a packet of seed waiting right here for Spring planting. Anise Hyssop is another herb that bees love.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Cilantro
You can buy the seeds in the hispanic seasoning section at your local market.

Ernie


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## JPK (May 24, 2008)

Try Catmint as well.

My bees were all over it last year.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

thomas, I've never seen borage plants themselves for sale, I would just go with borage seed, like Omie said, they come up quick from seed and grow fast. Someone posted a place to get the seed the other day, I'll have to look it up and get back with you. John


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

>I have a packet of seed waiting right here for Spring planting. Anise Hyssop is another herb that bees love.

I tried some anise hyssop for the first time last year, my bees loved it like you say, only thing I noticed with mine is that once the clovers started producing they quit coming as much to the hyssop, only bumblebees for the most part came. As soon as the clovers eased up the honeybees started coming more again. Borage on the other hand had my bees on it all season continuously, its a great bee plant in my opinion. I just read something this morning that said it only takes two minutes for a borage flower to fill with nectar again after being sucked up by a bee, I don't think they are exaggerating.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

By the way, if anyone is interested in some Anise Hyssop seed, I have way more than I need this year, I harvested my own seed last year from my plants. Also have alot of common milkweed and swamp milkweed seed if anyone is interested, just PM me.


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

jmgi said:


> By the way, if anyone is interested in some Anise Hyssop seed, I have way more than I need this year, I harvested my own seed last year from my plants. Also have alot of common milkweed and swamp milkweed seed if anyone is interested, just PM me.


I don't need hyssop seeds, but I need to know the secret to growing it. I have tried for years to get it to grow, by direct seeding, broadcasting, starting indoors. I've never had one single plant grow past about 1/4" tall. I am an avid gardener, and usually have no problem getting stuff to grow. Any ideas?


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

thomas said:


> Howdy all a good freind brought me some sumac seeds an then he gave me a lot of different types of herb to plant which my wife will love.
> THOMAS


Sumac can be difficult to get started.

From my book on growing Texas natives:
"Seeds of most Sumacs have a hard impervious seed coat that requires relatively long periods of acid scarification before germination will occur. In addition, some species, like Fragrant Sumac have both a hard seed coat and a dormant embryo and must be stratified for 30-90 days at 41 deg F after they are scarified."


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

>I don't need hyssop seeds, but I need to know the secret to growing it.

I have only been successful starting it indoors. I got a flat full of those peat pellets, added water to swell them up, deposited about 3-4 hyssop seeds into the center hole of the pellet, and that's it. Put plastic over top of the flat to prevent drying out. The key to getting them to sprout is not covering the seed with dirt, and keep them under lights or by a sunny window. Not letting the peat pellet dry out is also important, I used a spray bottle and misted them with water a couple times a day until they were 1'' tall, then I transplanted them outside. You have to keep them moist until they get established good. After they get about 6" tall they don't seem to require as much watering. Good Luck. John


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

Thanks a bunch. I will give that a try this year. And darnit, if I didn't throw away a bunch of peat pellets last year because I had them for years and never used them.


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## Brenda (Nov 23, 2006)

Most of these listed have a licorice flavor. Does that flavor the honey?


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

Sumac, Be carefull what you wish for, we have four different types of sumac that grows wild here in SW Mo. and it can be evasive, i can't imagine having trouble getting it started. it must be the soil type. It can get 8ft. to 10ft. tall, and when you mow it down with the tractor in the fields it leaves a stub that can puncher your tire the next year, and come back with a vengeance. Some people are allergic to it like poison ivy. The bees do work it hard and makes a good amber honey. Jack


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

The poison sumac has white berries, the sumac with the red berries is not an irritant. As a matter of fact, you can eat the red berries and make a drink with them that tastes like lemonade. Just be sure you know what you are picking. I use the dried red berry clusters as smoker fuel also.


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

brooksbeefarm said:


> i can't imagine having trouble getting it started. it must be the soil type.


It's getting them started from *seed* that is difficult. Once they have successfully germinated and grown, they reportedly spread by the root system. That's why you see them in concentrated clusters.


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

The birds ( quail,doves ect.) eat the seeds here and scatter them around especially fence rows. jmgi, i know what you mean about the seeds, i use them in my smoker also, and when hunting will put a few seeds in my mouth to get that lemon flavor and chew on a sassafras stem once in awhile. When i dig sassafras roots, i keep the tree and cut it up in small pieces, let it dry to burn in my smoker. Gradma and mom use to put sassafras leaves and stems in hen nest,to keep mites out. So i wonder if it would help with mites on bees? jack


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## ErnieW50 (May 2, 2009)

Where can I buy bulk borage seed I want to plant a couple acres


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

Ernie, here is a place that sells it by the pound. I have no idea what the planting rate is per acre. http://everwilde.com/index.html


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## mcooper (Dec 3, 2009)

dragonfly said:


> I don't need hyssop seeds, but I need to know the secret to growing it. I have tried for years to get it to grow, by direct seeding, broadcasting, starting indoors. I've never had one single plant grow past about 1/4" tall. I am an avid gardener, and usually have no problem getting stuff to grow. Any ideas?


I used a jiffy peat pellet "greenhouse" that was less than $5 at lowes. It had 36 pellets...I have thinned to two plants per pellet and plant on transplanting to 4" pots this afternoon.


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

Thanks mcooper I have my seeds- I just need to get the peat pellets and give it a try. I will be thrilled if it works, because I've been trying to grow hyssop for about 8 years now.


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