# What trees do you wish you had more of for your bees?



## Josiah Garber (May 22, 2013)

Trees take a long time to grow, but what trees do you wish you had more of on your property?

Thinking of planting some trees in the spring and would love to get suggestions.


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## soloshot (May 7, 2013)

linden trees are bee trees


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

If I had the power to create any 3 trees I would like it would be 3 new varieties of Almonds. The ones for February can stay right were they are at. 

In saying this I am not looking for pollination money. Its all about bee health. Three varieties where each type would bloom every three months throughout the year would conquer just about every bee issue I can imagine setting aside foul brood. There is nothing that pushes the walls off of a box of bees like Almonds. Nothing!!!!!


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## awebber96 (May 28, 2012)

+1 on the linden/basswood tree


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

How many of these linden trees would one need around before you noticed any honey off of them ?


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

I'm going for more SourWood trees myself. Got the seeds for them, just gotta get them growing


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## awebber96 (May 28, 2012)

Harley Craig said:


> How many of these linden trees would one need around before you noticed any honey off of them ?


Who knows. Such a question is impossible to answer; there are way too many variables. That said, the one big linden in my front yard positively hums with thousands of bees for a week every summer. That week usually corresponds with the peak of my flow. But it's impossible to quantify.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

How come nobody mention the bee bee trees?
I grow them from the seeds easily here. I would like to find a
source of the sour wood tree seeds also. Where can I get some?


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Another good one is Vitex, or Chaste Tree. 

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=vitex+tree&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=1

I have two of them here. They bloom in late spring, covered in bees. Cut off the dead blooms when done blooming, then it will bloom again in early fall. Very beautiful showy shrub/bush/tree, depending on how you prune it.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Another one I really like is European Privet Ligustrum Vulgare
I have it here, and have gotten seedlings of it planted along several fence lines around the yard and driveway. It blooms in late spring with bees all over it.

http://www.hybridpoplars.com/privet.htm

It is a fast grower and can be trimmed as a hedge or tree. There are several kinds of Privit. I don't care for the Texas Privit that I purchased locally, it grows too slow and is more like a small bush for low hedge. The Chinese Privit I have is more like a large bush/shrub. The European Privit is fastest growing and can be a tall thick hedge or a tree either one, depending on your pruning.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

beepro said:


> How come nobody mention the bee bee trees?
> I grow them from the seeds easily here. I would like to find a
> source of the sour wood tree seeds also. Where can I get some?


I got mine through datreestore.com I bought 500 with shipping and all came to 6.75..


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

beepro said:


> How come nobody mention the bee bee trees?
> I grow them from the seeds easily here. I would like to find a
> source of the sour wood tree seeds also. Where can I get some?


not sure about seed but here are actual trees cheap http://shop.arborday.org/product.aspx?zpid=921


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

o any kind of fruit trees
o linden
o black locust
o tulip poplar
o red maple
o pussywillow
o golden rain tree
o sourwood
o tupelo
o other gum trees (tupelo is a gum tree)


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## gjt (Jul 24, 2014)

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia).


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Anyone that I should have planted twenty years ago!


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Michael Bush said:


> o any kind of fruit trees
> o linden
> o black locust
> o tulip poplar
> ...


This list seems to be what I really would love here. Maybe by the time my kids take over the business there will be enough to make an awesome crop or two if I get started now.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

For early pollen more willows.
More eucalyptus for winter bee food

For summer bee food 
korean evodia
pepper
bottle brush 
acacia

Find trees that bloom during you're derths.


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

gjt said:


> Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia).


:thumbsup: This ^^^. :thumbsup:


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

We have a few huge old tulip poplars on one of our lots. The regret is that just across our property line, a number of these grand old tulip trees have been marked blue, apparently for harvest. We own a back lot that the loggers worked over before we bought it, removing the mature tulip poplars. We with we had them back. There are young trees growing on the back lot but it may be 20 years before they're good bloomers.

And black locust grows in our area. We used to consider these to be big weeds, but are now regretting our efforts to remove them from our lots.


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## heaflaw (Feb 26, 2007)

RayMarler said:


> Another one I really like is European Privet Ligustrum Vulgare
> .


Around here, Privet honey is considered to have a bad taste and won't sell.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Yea heaflaw, I've heard some people say that privet honey is not good, but I've heard other people say it is good. For me, I can't tell, because it's all mixed in with other flowers that bloom the same time, along with blackberry.


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## Estell Tabor (Aug 5, 2014)

I like the list that Michael Bush and KQ6AR gave but I'd add the Catalpa tree. It has a long bloom period in June when most if not all trees in my area are done blooming.


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## texman034 (Feb 19, 2015)

I am pretty sure that black locust have some nasty thorns. They are blooming like crazy in my area though.


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## TheCompound (Jan 24, 2011)

texman034 said:


> I am pretty sure that black locust have some nasty thorns. They are blooming like crazy in my area though.


They sure do. I don't know if I'd want them in a small yard, but I wish I had more of them in my shelter belts.


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## Buzzsaw2012 (Feb 1, 2012)

here in the north it would be sour cherry , apple and ornamental crabapple . only ones that will survive zone 2-3.
bees hammer all 3 and are nice looking in your yard.
Lee


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## c10250 (Feb 3, 2009)

Black Locust then Linden. I Love BL honey, and I am not particularly fond of Linden honey . . . very minty. By the way, I have a 135 inch in circumference (yes, over 11 feet)Linden in my back yard. It's a MONSTER!. . .It might be top 3 largest Lindens in IL. maybe that's why my Linden honey is so strong.


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## TheCompound (Jan 24, 2011)

That is a monster tree! It doesn't have the conical shape they usually have, but when they get that old I'm sure they vary quite a bit.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

All of them. Sure, it'd be nice to have a huge linden tree but I'm sure someone within 2 miles of me has one or two.There is one only 1/2 mile from here. Have a really huge locust tree literally shading my backyard apiary. So many trees but I want more! Having a large variety is pretty nice. There used to be so many willows. 

What I really wish is people would mow their lawns at a higher height and less frequently. Give the clover a chance. In the 60's and 70's it was fairly common for people to let their grass go to seed before the first mowing of the spring.


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## SeaCucumber (Jun 5, 2014)

I think I'll add some black locust or some other legume. I don't have nitrogen fixing trees. I might take down birch, maple, and cherry. I air layered 2 large willow branches. Those might be temporary. For locust, I think I can find a friend who would let me dig suckers or air layer. I would also like some more edible legume trees and shrubs. I have the inoculant for them. I haven't eaten black locust flowers.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Ones that look like they were planted twenty years ago!!


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

TheCompound said:


> They sure do. I don't know if I'd want them in a small yard, but I wish I had more of them in my shelter belts.


As they mature they have less thorns. We have some Honey Locust here, when you prune them they react by producing more thorns. I wish I had more Black Locust.

Alex


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

I will give the 5th vote for sourwood. I did plant a golden raintree. Love the tree, hate the name. Makes me thing of yellow snow. 

I am trying to find some reasonably large (5 gal.) sourwood trees. At 68, I would like to see at least one bloom.


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## tpope (Mar 1, 2015)

Anything besides the monoculture I see locally of short leaf pines.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Sourwood. There's not much of it left around here.


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

1. Sourwood - really pretty tree, was a favorite before I became a beekeeper.
2. American Persimmon - Bees really like this tree, blooms between poplar and Sourwood for us
3. Black Locust
4. Any of the sumacs. They bloom during our summer "dearth"


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