# 1st yr vipers bugloss



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Estell Tabor said:


> I planted vipers bugloss last year and it started blooming late may,and so far i'm very impressed with it. My bees work it from dawn till dusk. I only have about 20 plants,but each plant has a few hundred blooms on it. A field of this and Borage would be great. Bees are working the Borage good too.


That's the second time I've seen people here say they gotten Vipers Bugloss to bloom the first year. The books usually say it blooms in its second year. I want to grow more of it but the master-gardener wife usually grumbles that it won't bloom until the second year and so why bother. But if we'd planted it in 2014 we'd glad of it now, I suspect. We have a scattering of plants growing wild, maybe a total of 5 stalks in the drain field. Our bees are almost never seen on it, probably because there's not enough of it. We have a couple of locations where it ought to thrive.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I have very mixed feelings about viper's bugloss. It can be an invasive plant (and reportedly has nasty spines on its vegetative parts), despite being a very good honey plant. It grows along roadsides here and the bees work it. I was just thinking I might try to gather some seed before the highway guys mow it down, as I saw the first flowering spikes this morning.

BTW, Phoebe, I think the OP said she planted it last year. I would expect seed sown this year to bloom next year, most second-year flowering perennials do. I would sow the fresh seed as soon as I collected it.

Enj.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

On the invasive angle, I understand that some states consider it invasive, but others consider it naturalized. We have it already. There are fields in the area with a fair amount, but for the most part you just see a clump of plants here and there, and not particularly invasive behavior _where we live_. If it were invasive, I wouldn't be carefully mowing around the five lonely spikes.

Compared to Autumn Olive, which takes over entire fields, its nothing. We would gladly rip up all of that invasive mess, but the bees have begged with us not to.

As for the nasty spines, they're a large part of the charm for us. There are deer-resistant plants, and then there is Viper's Bugloss. The deer routinely devour our deer-resistant plants ... deer do not seem to read plant labels. But they get the message loud and clear from Viper's Bugloss, and leave it alone. And finally, Viper's Bugloss blooms during our dearth.


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## Estell Tabor (Aug 5, 2014)

I'm a he not a she,and yes I planted late spring last year. I've sat a drank my morning coffee watching the bees work the blooms. They visit the same bloom over and over. They work the borage about the same but the VB has 10 times more blooms. I've also read that it can be invasive but where I'm growing it there is no where for it to go. I plan on collecting seed and planting on my farm. I also have a blazing star blooming and have not seen one bee on it. The mint is fixing to bloom too,can't wait to see if the bees work any of it, they have in the past. As far as the spines their not as bad as I thought they would be. My squash plants have stiffer spines and I have to stick my hands in it.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

There are many different hybrids of the vipers.
Is yours the low growing or the tall ones? Any pic we can see?


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## Estell Tabor (Aug 5, 2014)

I wish I knew how to post pictures,sorry. The shoots on these are 3-4' long after they get heavy with bloom or a heavy rain they fall over. I wish I had put tomato cages there for support but I had no idea they would grow the way they do. After they fall new shoots/suckers grow off the main shoots and bloom like crazy. Best plant I've seen to this point


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

Estell:
I have Cat mint and one other type of mint unknown , bumbles and other pollinators love it ; honeybees here still on white dutch clover and somethin else


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## Estell Tabor (Aug 5, 2014)

My mint started blooming friday and the honey bees went right to work on it. At some point in the day they stop working the mint, there wont be anything on it in the evening time. The VB and borage get worked right up till dusk. I noticed a few bees spending the night on the plants last night. I'm still waiting on my Lacy Phacelia to bloom but at this point I could'nt imagine a plant better than VB. Don't get me wrong all plants are needed I'm just making observations on what i've grown. Buckwheat was really neat and got a lot of attention but by noon it was done. It bloomed 3 weeks after I planted it though.VB took a year to bloom. I love my mint,I started 60 plants from cuttings I took this spring and started 2 patches on my farm. The patch at my house is 3'x4' and 4' tall and it will bloom thru July. I was glad to see my bees working the mint this past weekend I thought it might get ignored.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Bees will take whatever is available next when they run out of
resources. Someone planted 5 acres of the Hubam clover, an annual that
will bloom for 2 months after 2 months to maturity. I think it will be a nice
addition to your bee patches.


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