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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lynne Millies <sukamarley AT embarqmail.com>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: orange county beekeepers listserve <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Elderberries
  • Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 20:07:28 -0400

My honey bees adore Elderberries.  They are all over it when it is blooming.  Maybe they are just getting the pollen, but they are quite attracted to it.  

Lynne

On Aug 7, 2012, at 6:53 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Maggie,

In "Honey Plants of North America" (1926) John Lovell says, "The flowers... contain neither nectar nor nectaries.... The bees gather the pollen, which is moderately abundant. It blooms in July, and grows in moist soil from New Brunswick to Texas."

In "American Honey Plants" (1920) Frank Pellett also reports that elderberry bears pollen but no nectar, and he says it blooms in late May and June.

So it sounds like elderberry may be a perfectly nice plant but not a major humdinger from a beekeeping perspective. I'd be curious to hear if anybody knows differently.

Randall Austin



On 8/7/2012 11:28 AM, Maggie Frantz wrote:
1344353307.86959.YahooMailClassic AT web120703.mail.ne1.yahoo.com" type="cite">
R elderberries something I'd want to plant for bees?  There's a workshop in Pboro thru the Abundance Foundation this Sat.  Thanks in advance for replies.

Maggie Frantz


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