If there is a better plant for bees at this time of year I have yet to see it. I took a rather
wobbly video of the 8 metres of lavender hedge outside our kitchen this afternoon, which partly shows the concentration of bees on it. There must have been several hundred there. I could see some of my honeybees, four different species of bumblebee - Garden (
Bombus hortorum), White-tailed (
B. lucorum), Carder (
B. pascuorum) and Red-tailed (
B. lapidarius) - and two types of cuckoo bee, the Gypsy cuckoo bee (
B. bohemicus) and the Field cuckoo bee (
B. campestris). There were probably lots more I didn't spot, in addition to various hoverflies.
It's a particularly great garden plant though because it works so well for us humans; it's a good hardy hedging plant, looks good, smells good, and has all sorts of medicinal and cosmetic uses. What's not to like?
If there is a better plant for bees at this time of year I have yet to see it. I took a rather wobbly video of the 8 metres of lavender hedge outside our kitchen this afternoon, which partly shows the concentration of bees on it. There must have been several hundred there. I could see some of my honeybees, four different species of bumblebee - Garden (Bombus hortorum), White-tailed (B. lucorum), Carder (B. pascuorum) and Red-tailed (B. lapidarius) - and two types of cuckoo bee, the Gypsy cuckoo bee (B. bohemicus) and the Field cuckoo bee (B. campestris). There were probably lots more I didn't spot, in addition to various hoverflies.
It's a particularly great garden plant though because it works so well for us humans; it's a good hardy hedging plant, looks good, smells good, and has all sorts of medicinal and cosmetic uses. What's not to like?