It is September! The kids are back in school and you can feel a shift in the seasons. The edges of the tree leaves are starting to turn red, orange and yellow. Pretty soon we will be pulling out the sweaters and jackets.
The bees and pollinators know this shift too and have been preparing for the coming colder weather. They have been preparing for much longer than we realize.
My honey bees need ample honey stores to get them through the winter. They either slow down or stop producing brood (baby bees) when the temperature is consistently around 35 degrees for 3 or 4 nights. This tells them that it is too cold to produce more brood than they can keep warm.
In August and September, the plants that are blooming are very important to the Honey Bees and other pollinators. Anything that you can grow, even if in a container, can help our pollinators get ready for winter. They must gather as much nectar as possible so that they have enough food when the weather gets cold.
Here are some of the plants that help these pollinators get through the winter.
The bees and pollinators know this shift too and have been preparing for the coming colder weather. They have been preparing for much longer than we realize.
My honey bees need ample honey stores to get them through the winter. They either slow down or stop producing brood (baby bees) when the temperature is consistently around 35 degrees for 3 or 4 nights. This tells them that it is too cold to produce more brood than they can keep warm.
In August and September, the plants that are blooming are very important to the Honey Bees and other pollinators. Anything that you can grow, even if in a container, can help our pollinators get ready for winter. They must gather as much nectar as possible so that they have enough food when the weather gets cold.
Here are some of the plants that help these pollinators get through the winter.
Colorful Zinnia
Zinnia is a wonderful annual that can be planted from seed or plants purchased from a garden center. Once you plant Zinnia, you may not have to plant them again, because they are wonderful re-seeders.
Aster
There are many varieties of Asters. This wonderful plant is a perennial and comes back every year. It will also drop seeds to spread more quickly or a gardener can collect them and plant them in another area of their garden.
Fireworks Goldenrod
There are also many varieties of Goldenrod. This wonderful perennial can bloom from August all the way through September. Above you see a smaller version called Fireworks. Many times you see the large towering species of Goldenrod along the road sides. Fireworks is a little smaller version and can easily be grown in smaller gardens or even in a container.
Swamp Sunflower
There are many varieties of Sunflowers that are blooming in September. The above variety is called Swamp Sunflower and it is a feast for the bees in September. This sunflower can take up a large area of the garden bed, so if you have a smaller space. you might want to keep it in a container. The name is rather misleading. These do not have to a wet "swampy" area to grow big and tall!
Large area of Swamp Sunflower
Cosmos
Cosmos is another wonderful annual that pollinators love! They come in two different colors. Shades of pink and shades of yellow/orange. These lovely plants will flower and flower if the old flowers are pinched or cut off and when the flower is left on the plant, it will reseed for more plants next year.
So if you plant any of these plants in a large container or plant a large bed of them, the pollinators in your yard will be ready for the winter to come and will reward you with their beauty next year.
So if you plant any of these plants in a large container or plant a large bed of them, the pollinators in your yard will be ready for the winter to come and will reward you with their beauty next year.
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