What is best to feed Honey Bees? Most of us are aware that they are in trouble for reasons still under?

We raised bees for a few years. Sugar water in special feeders attached to the hives work until the bees have enough natural food. (our friends are big time beekeepers and they feed their bees honey in the early spring as they are mainly gathering pollen from fruit trees to feed the brood (babies), not food for themselves. )

They always need a water source. If you live in a dry area, provide a pan with a stick floating in the water (life raft) for the bees.

Other than that they need a long season of blooms for the pollen and nectar. Not all plants supply both. The flowers don't have to be big and showy, but should provide plenty of food. You can help by sowing buckwheat or clover in unused areas of the garden.

Have you noticed bees tend towards blue and purple flowers? If a person is afraid of bees, best not have a lot of these colored flowers near patios and walkways.

I am in Montana and everything is late this year even the bees I have see a few but again with alot of flowers blooming late it will be interesting I have a perennial bed all the way around my yard and I find a few of the favorites of the bees are Monardia or bee balm it is not quite ready to bloom but probably in the next week or two will be the real test for the bees-Rasberry wine is the color and it is really funny to watch the bees and the hummingbirds fight over this plant I also have many different kinds of Asters which is a flower that tends to bloom late in the summer until there is a hard frost when you have nice summer and fall evenings and it is unbelievable how many bees that are on these plants it is a site to see. But again with everything running late it will be interesting to see the bees and if there are fewer that last year.

Hi --

Haagen Dazs, the ice cream maker, is very reliant on "bee dependent" crops, and has established a fun, informative website that covers all the bee issues, including a section in the "hive" menu titled "How to Help":

http://tinyurl.com/5kjhf6

There is a downloadable lesson plan, plus information on planting bee-friendly plants:

http://tinyurl.com/56rtmp

The plants suggested are: lavender glory bushes, jasmine, rosemary, coreopsis, violets, thyme, wisteria, bluebells, trumpet vine, sunflowers, cosmos, cone flowers. The list is a partial list taken from an USDA Agricultural Research document titled, "Plants Attractive to Native Bees", and is really extensive.

http://tinyurl.com/5w4m2h

I read through the list and was surprised at the number of everday herbs that were included. So I'm thinking...maybe you could purchase a special herb pot, commonly called a strawberry pot, and plant a variety of bee-friendly herbs? The benefit of the container is that you can place it anywhere you want.

Here's the Haagen Dazs home page for Help the Honey Bees:

http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/

I'm trying to help, too. If we lose our bees, it will be catastrophic to our food supply.

EDIT: I'm not affiliated with Haagen Dazs in any way. I just happened to come across the website while researching the plight of the bees and colony collapse. I thought I'd share it here.

They love sage, any kind, clover,(it puts nitrogen back in the soil,good ground cover) and sunflowers and mexican bird of paradise (both are drought tolerant) yucca also and the hummers love it too! Butterfly bush, pumpkin vines and Squash also a potted Lemon or Lime tree, strawberries as well, there are many more, these are easy on the water though.

I have a trumpet vine that bees just adore. It is highly drought resistant and pretty easy to care for (it does spread pretty quickly and needs something to grow on, like a fence or a tree. But beware, it will eventually kill your tree.)

Try the yahoo groups plantmessenger or seedmessenger to meet plenty of like minded people who will share or trade seeds with you at little to no cost except postage. If I see you I will send you a start :)

The plants I see the most "honey" bees on is (1) my lavender plants & (2) my coneflowers. Oh! And they really like my oregano that has gone to flower too! And yes, those blooms are all either light purple, pink or light pink.......

Plants not only help the bees, they help clean the air too!

I have a 4 acre yard and haven't had one this year. That's why I keep repeating don't use insecticides if possible.

I hear that bee's like yellow flowers, so I plan planting more,

Here is an article that I thought was interesting.

http://beespotter.mste.uiuc.edu/topics/beegarden/

I have Queen Anne's Lace growing in my yard. it attracts an amazing array of insects including bees. Butterfly Bush is another attractive plant. I don't want to see the Honey Bees disappear. We need their input in the ecosystem.

when you can plant something more, look at catnip, Chaste tree, and salvia..... our resident population of little winged bee-critters adore those three most of all ..... hyssop is another one that will keep them happy.... mine go for the hummer feeders, too, but I have guards on mine....

Other than having a lot of flowers, They seem to like soda.