THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Fine news for beekeepers today – a total ban on bee-harming pesticides has been announced!
To celebrate, here is a list of plants we recommend as being brilliant for the bees:
- Helenium
- Sedum
- Echium vulgare
- Marjoram or Oregano
- Eupatorium (common name? Joe Pye-Weed. But don’t let that put you off!)
- Borage
- Nepeta
- Veronicastrum
- Teucrium
Bonus plants for shady spots? Try hellebore, lamium and pulmonaria.
Looking for a shrub to plant near your apiary? Phillyrea ought to do it. Although it is difficult to get hold of because it is so hard to propagate…but keep looking for it and buy it up if you can!
Somebody asked me about tulips – are these good for bees?
The bees certainly work hard to get the pollen. I guess the common sense approach is to make sure the tulips are as open and easy to access as possible.
The BBKA offer this top ten list of plants for bees.
My favourite nursery for bee friendly plants is Rosybee Nursery. You should all check out her plants and her brilliant research!
Her recommendations for bee friendly plants for summer baskets are:
- Trailing lobelia
- Lavender
- Echium
- Salvia
- Campanula
- Scabious
I would probably add Cleome and Fuchsia. But any other suggestions, please send them through!
Finally, are Dahlias good for bees? Again, I imagine single flowers are the best. But would love people to let me know what they see this summer….
Thank you and lets hope for a long, warm season for the bees!
And for more about my speciality, take a look at my Topiary.
Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones
I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …
The Henderson, Topiary Art Interview on Instagram
In a suit… eek! View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Henderson (@thehenderson_hk)
Topiary, The Art Garden at The Henderson
The Art Garden at The Henderson in Hong-Kong has now opened to the public. I joined the project last March, to work with Gillespies Landscape Architects on the topiary that had been designed for the Art Garden, which gives a calm, green space below the extraordinary Henderson skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden has been designed with butterflies in mind, so lots of nectar plants, and has other art projects and installations within its footprint. The history of the site is interesting too – it was originally the first cricket ground in Hong-Kong! So still a green space….! …