# Planting



## beegeorge (Apr 19, 2012)

sweet clover - but remember it is bi-annual,, so you need to plant 2 consecutive years for true annual coverage


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## maedmonson (Mar 5, 2012)

Hubam sweet clover annual blooms about 70 days after planting in OK. Since it is a legume, it provides nitrogen to your soil. Draught resistant

Mix some Phacelia and borage with the Hubam


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## Tazcan (Mar 25, 2012)

Ya know,
I have clover all over the place and the bees are not touching it, they are focused on or tala trees in bloom instead.
My trees are humming it's so cool.


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## ccar2000 (Aug 9, 2009)

I recommend diversity. Find a local wildflower meadow mix. You might end up with forage available over a longer period.


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## chipperbraves (Dec 23, 2011)

I appreciate the responses. It appears that sweet clover is a good choice and I like ccar2000's suggestion about a local wildflower mix, I never thought about that. What is a tala tree and when does it bloom?


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## TWall (May 19, 2010)

Regular sweet clover is a biennial, meaning it grows one season and then flowers the next. There should be some seed that does not germinate the first year and will the second. Once it starts blooming it will reseed itself. Mixing it with some hubam clover, annual flowering sweet clover, will extend your nectar flow since typically flowers after sweet clover.

A wildflower mix may be nice but, not all wildflowers are nectar sources.

There is also Bee bee trees which are supposed to be a good nectar source too!

Tom


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

If where you are thinking of planting already has grains and other grasses, I would suggest Hairy Vetch. It will climb the stalks of grass and blooms very well and bees love it.

I have a couple acres of pasture grass/grains, and this is what I'm going to plant. It will not be crowded out by the grasses, which can happen with other low growing legumes. Keep in mind i say this because I had pasture grasses and grains that were close to 5 feet tall this year and it crowded out the other things i've planted for the bees. This year it's going to be hairy vetch sowed after the first fall rain.


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## chipperbraves (Dec 23, 2011)

I have just bought several pounds of white prairie clover, some milkweed seeds, black locust tree seeds as well as sourwood tree seeds. If I plant the clover this fall, would it bloom any the next spring or would I have to wait another year before a bloom? With the sourwood and black locust, I plan on growing them in 5 gallon buckets, is this a good idea? By growing this way, how long would I have to wait until they reached a plantable height? Thanks for the information.


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## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

Expensive but purchasing a small plant would give much quicker trees;
http://www.greenwoodnursery.com/page.cfm/19518
I did not price shop, just searched for "Sourwood plant". There may be better options.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

A mix of buckwheat, sweet clover, dutch clover, borage, anise hyssop. Don't go monocrop, give em variety!


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## nwgabeeman (Apr 18, 2009)

I have White Dutch clover that usually blooms the same time as the Tulip Poplar and the bees will work the Poplar first.
I have found that they work what they prefer so if you have multiple sources they might not work all of them.


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## TokerM (Jul 31, 2012)

Starting with seeds on locust, it would be 5-7 years if you're lucky before blooms. Even then, most locusts bloom once every 5 years or so (sometimes less, sometimes more.) I'm not sure on the sourwood.

I think the bee bee tree blooms in about 3-5, and generally consistent blooms yearly (not sure, I don't have any.)

I've heard Coventry is a fast nectar producer. Flowers refill nectar in about 15 min, might want to see if you can get that. The bees in my neighborhood are all over the purple thistles around me, but are ignoring the mint and yellow clover.

There's another plant family to consider, the mints... Spearmint, lemon balm, bee balm.


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

Phacilia has worked good for me, it blooms 6 to 8 weeks, they say it can produce, 1500 lbs of honey and 800 lbs of pollen per acre. I also mixed it with borage that blooms all summer..


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## G Barnett (May 13, 2012)

I can not find a good source for bulk Pachilia seeds, other than Romania. Anyone have a source for 20-50 pounds of seed, that doesn't cost 500 to 1000 dollars?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

G Barnett said:


> I can not find a good source for bulk _Pachilia _seeds ...


Assuming you actually mean Phacelia, here is a Fredericksburg, TX vendor that offers it for $10 per pound:

http://shop.wildseedfarms.com/Purple-Tansy_Lacy-Phacelia/productinfo/3334/


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## G Barnett (May 13, 2012)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Assuming you actually mean Phacelia, here is a Fredericksburg, TX vendor that offers it for $10 per pound:
> 
> http://shop.wildseedfarms.com/Purple-Tansy_Lacy-Phacelia/productinfo/3334/


You are correct! 
That whole spelling and nomenclature thing is pretty important when communicating. 
Thank for the info neighbor!


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## G Barnett (May 13, 2012)

Found the Lacy Phacelia on this site 1lb for 24.95

http://www.vermontwildflowerfarm.com/lacy-phacelia.html

After this season I am thinking of getting out of vegetable gardening and just growing flowers for resale. An acre or two of this would be nice!


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