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  • From: "Moyer, Richard" <ramoyer@king.edu>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Early Bloomers--Bee Feeders
  • Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:45:49 -0500

Barbara,
From Zone 6 East Tenn
Eleagnus pungens will bloom from October into winter, depending on where
grown, with fruit that can ripen from Christmas into March, again depending
on location.
We've noticed that Mahonia (Oregon grape) is already blooming a bit. This is
a stretch as a raw edible, but a few do make jelly in the Pac NW, where this
is native.
Our Cornus mas (Cornelian cherries) bloom mid-Feb to mid-March, and are
appreciated by a number of pollinators
Agreed with Robert that P. tomentosa (Nanking Cherry) also is an early spring
bloomer, but this one usually has the fruit frozen out.
Eleagnus multiflora (cherry eleagnus) blooms in spring with fruit in May to
early June.

Natives:
Amelanchiers (Juneberries) are among the first native blooming trees/shrubs
with edible fruit. We enjoy 'Regent' a bush form, also 'Jennybelle' and
unnamed A. canadensis from Lawyer's nursery which are tree forms.
The Ribes also do well as early-mid spring bloomers, if you can get them. R.
odoratum 'Crandall' is a tough native with exquisite scent that blooms with
or soon after forsythia. Aka clove currant, this one if very resistant to
rust and mildew.
Strawberries bloom about 30 days before ripe fruit, and with a single layer
of row cover, we sometimes have Earliglow berries in late April.

Surely there are more, but these are ones that are reliable winter to
midspring bloomers for us, and also give us spring/early summer fruit.
Richard Moyer





Message: 3
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 09:27:49 -0500
From: BRosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>
Subject: [NAFEX] Oemleria cerasiformis "Indian Plum" - Bee feeders?
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <41F262E5.6050806@erols.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I am looking for good early bee feeding plants to give my pollinators
something to eat, so they'll hang around and pollinate my orchard.

I see that the Indian Plum or Oso Berry is early, but will it survive in
Virginia without a lot of coddling? I would rather plant edible earlies
than Pieris, Willows, and Witch Hazels to do the trick.

Any suggestions for perennials/shrubs/trees that will feed my Blue
Orchard and Hornfaced bees (Osmia)?

Barbara Rosholdt
Zone 6c-7a
and getting a bunch of snow today!




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