This video has provided the best 30minutes of bee and plant interest ever! Thank you. The calming voice and the sights and sounds are just what I needed and I have subscribed straight away. Now all I need is 8 acres and some seeds! Haha Blessibgs and peace from UK sir
There is a small patch in my street that the owner doesn't mow, it was full of nettles but we asked if we could sow cosmos, rudbeckia and echinacea. So now, that patch is full of flowers and nettles every year.
Great video. I have over 5 acres for weed or wild flowers, but I can't seem to grow anything. The only flower I had are the sun flowers, small wild sun flowers, and few cactus. I collect lots of dandelion seeds to throw into my land, only got 2 plants alive. Later they died. All around outside our neighbor hood area has plenty of wild flowers. Right now I was able to grow some honey suckle around my garden fence, some garlic chives and bee balms, some fruit trees like apple, pear, peach, and blackberries, but want to grow plants that produce flowers all year round for the honey bees.
Have you considered joining, or reaching out to a garden club in your area? There may be members who can help you determing what will grow best on your land and in your soil conditions. That's where I'd start.
Videos like this get me looking forward to spring and replanting my different areas that I have let go the last couple years. It also got me to thinking about the different plants I used to see around when I was younger. My grandmother had a row of sweet pea bushes growing in her yard that was always covered in bees and wasps in the late summer, I think I have just the spot to plant a few of those. Thanks for helping me get green thumb out of storage.
I listened to this video while I was driving, but I so wanted to see all of the flowers in your garden estate that I watched the video again once I got back home. Very beautifully done and so peaceful and relaxing to watch after a long stressful day at work! Thanks so much! 👍😉
I'm working on adding pollinator plants for all seasons. I started Anise Hyssop from seed and after it was planted over an old tree stump, its covered with bees in the morning. Growing Salvia, Asters, Mountain Mint, bee balm, sunflowers, fruit trees and clover in addition to vegetable plants. My apiary is around 20-25 hives and a dozen nuc boxes.
Truly an amazing place where you live. Don't ever leave, cherish what you have. And again beautiful footage you shared with us. The way you 'catch' nature in your lens is magic.
Here at Cleburne, we are restoring a very old naturalized micro-meadow for the pollinators. We encourage native plants and have really enjoyed the entire season’s growth and changes. Also, our yards here (more than one family lives here now) are being sown with white clover. We don’t have to mow anymore and the pollinators just love it. It is possible to live WITH nature and not against her!! 👍👍👍
Also in case you don’t mention it in this vid, I want to shout out for ironweed! It showed up in our natural meadow and the butterflies flock to it like crazy for the 2-3 weeks that it is peaking. Great stuff! My thistle is known as nodding or musk thistle and it looked absolutely ablaze with great spangled frits during the peak season and looked glorious against mullein, who I call Queen Mullein. I LOVE vids like this!!
Love clover! Smells so sweet in the spring! Does not grow tall. It USED TO BE included in grass seed because it puts nitrogen into the soil. But CHEM companies encourage you to add their chemicals instead, plus a poison to kill clover, other plants, and often insects.
This was lovely, a feast for our eyes as well as for your bees! I enjoy all of your videos, from Q & A’s to ‘field trips’ , all are beneficial to your viewers who want to learn about honey bees. Thank you for the effort and time you invest in your videos!
Fred, thank you! I like the video presentations like this. It is informative, helpful and visually pleasing and pleasant to watch and listen to. Gives one some things to think about for their particular situations and for further investigation and research.
My wife raises milkweed for monarchs, now for the bees also. She raises the monarch’s from egg to Chrysalis in clear plastic boxes. She’ll usually raise 100-200. Thanks for the videos
When I was a kid, we made pokeweed ink…might be fun to try with grandkids. I do recall it was a bit of a mess, and it worked better on canvas/fabric than paper. had read that the Declaration of Independence was written in pokeweed, but the Archives indicate it was iron gall ink. It is toxic! although Amerinds would use it for dye and paint for horses and persons, so I’m not sure what the effects are. I thoroughly enjoy your content, and love to see what’s possible in our landscape. I am quickly learning that natives seem to take 2-3 full years to establish (I am resurrecting old farm land), so patience can be important.
Good quality and informative video Fred. Here is one common honey flower what we use here in Finland. It's called Lacy Phacelia. The Finnish name is "Aitohunajakukka" and the translation is "true honey flower"
Very cool. Thank you. I am converting as much of my 25 acre homestead to white dutch clover as my husband will tolerate. I’m up to about 4 acres. We farm thousands, so he doesn’t mind much -except my milkweed patches make him gnash his teeth. Your video reminded me that now is a great time to go snag some dead goldenrod heads (and joe pye, rough blazing star, etc) to collect seed for my grove border - that’ll really get his goat next year. He’s ok with it, just adjusting rather slowly 😂
I clip off clusters of poke berries and dry them out. I put a cluster or two in my smoker along with my pine needles in the fall. If I have any leftover i'll use them in the spring. I think it has helped with varroa control.
@@FrederickDunn I saw this oldtimer talking about it a few years ago. I'm 70 myself so I guess this includes me too. I'm just experimenting with them. I think it has helped. I only have 3 hives and they are really healthy.I'm not recommending this to anyone', I'll continue to observe and let you know how they are doing. Take care and I love your podasts.
Thank you so much once again for being so generous with your knowledge, time and experience. I have 23 acres in mid-Missouri and as I walk it, I feel bad that I am so ignorant of the plants that are all over the place. And as to insects? Just the common names. It makes me realize I need to study more the wonderful resources that the MO conservation department provides. I am considering joining the native pollinator programs. Just finding the time to get it organizes. You are inspiring me. thanks again.
Thanks, yes, I thought it's in the mint family. This variety isn't very appealing to my honey bees, but bumbles are on it whenever it blooms. Thanksf for sharing.
Great Video! I love your property/gardens. It must take days to dead head the gardens!!! Joking! I have 11 of the plants shown growing on my property including the maximillion sunflower, Joe pye weed, golden rod and Thistle. BUT my property is only 45' x 150'. City living! My bees tend to take off and head to the lake (Erie) to forage the wild growth. There is also a park loaded with Linden trees which is the main spring flow. Now we are heavy on Knot weed. This year I had a form of knot weed show up in the yard along with an evening primrose and a bunch of odd ball weeds. Trying to figure it out... then I realized when I brought in 6 yards of soil/manure blend from a farm to fill the raised veg beds I bought a seed bank! On Poke Weed... I do have it only it hangs over the fence from my neighbors yard. When I see it it reminds me of my childhood. INK BERRY FIGHTS!! We used to grab the berry clusters, chase each other around and splat! Mom wasn't so happy but we had a blast.
Very relaxing Fred, love seeing your bees out and about. Seems every country in the world has goldenrod at least in China, Montana, Switzerland and Florida. Hard to get seeds for planting. Again thank you Fred like a grown up Mr. Rodgers to me thank you
Poke weed berries used to be a huge source for dyes for native Americans. I have never seen bees do anything with it however. Meadow knapweed can be very invasive. I have a gigantic field of it and was just able to make a super worth of knapweed honey. I do not enjoy it but am going to pass it around to some people and see how they feel about it.
New subscriber your channel. Looking into starting a apiary next spring so have been binge watching your videos. Found you because I am considering a Flow hive and maybe one or two Langstroth hives in my back yard. I live in the south western part of Pennsylvania so know all of these native plants. I remember as a kid being covered with purple stains from the battles we had throwing the Poke weed berries at each other. Thanks for all your very informative videos!
poke is native to my area. you can cook the leaves and are great with scrambled eggs. they do grown in the wild. the berries are poison if you eat them, however there a some birds that eat them.
It's pretty cool to see Joe Pieweed and Goldenrod growing wild at your farm. Out west, specifically the PacNW I have to purchase those plants from the nearby nurseries.
@@FrederickDunn I sure did! I am trying/just getting started doing the same thing here on my 8AC property. Doing with animals in mind though too. Planted tons of white and red clovers last Fall. The white clover didn’t do much yet but is still blooming a little. The red clover, has been going gang busters all Summer so far. The honey bees can’t use it BUT the many bumble and solitary bees have been using it as well as every butterfly species known to man on the East Coast. There are dozens going out there at all times. Even keep seeing monarchs making more monarchs. Lol My wood line on the edges have things like sourwood trees and blueberries. Same for Tulip poplars as well. Looking to transform the 2AC front yard into a meadow…. And working in things like you were taking about into the pasture edges.
Your thistle is actually burdock. The root is used in herbal medicine. I let pokeweed bloom, but pull it before the berries get ripe, because they are very messy. Loved your video.
Thank you for the new ideas for planting around my apiary. I already have many of the wild flowers, but no sunflowers or other flowers to provide nectar during dearth.
pokeweed - phytolacca americana is a taprooted perennial, birds love the berries. Burdock is interesting in that its generally a biennial and will die after flowering. These are both a bit thuggish, can block sunlight and hinder more desirable species from germinating. Cutting both back before setting seed will control the spread, burdock will usually die if you do this in the 2nd year right before it sets seed whereas the poke will have to be dug out. Both of these could also be cut back earlier in the summer and still have time to flower, if you simply want to control their height.
Here in the south, the locals eat the leaves at a young stage of Poke. We even have the Poke Sallet Festival here in TN. . They boil it and change the water 3x. I tried 5x and my guts REALLY didn't like it. They fry bacon and then fry the Poke in the bacon grease and then add scrambled eggs. Hubby was raised on it.
I just found your website and lovey content. I am in the city and starting 1 hive (and 1 hive only). I wonder how many flowers do I need to plant in my small yard considering I want to also have some veggies and herbs and aesthetic is kind of important too. Phenomenon photography by the way! Very interesting.
I think that if you have a small plot of land, you should concentrate on your desired vegetables. The bees will find forage that suits them. It's not worth substituting high nectar producing plants for those that you would consume. Every little bit helps the bees.
If you have enough land, and if you want to plant for a honey flow, try the several varieties of basswood trees and Lemon Queen sunflowers. White Sweet clover (Mellitus) might or might not work in the Northeast. If you do plant it, it might be helpful to have gravelly limestone chips added to the soil.
Poke berry can be eaten when it first comes up 6 to 8inches tall called poke salad in the South cook like any other green(turnip, mustard etc). I have seen Grey fox eat the berries once their ripe.
Poke weed grows down south a lot, it was used in early spring as clean out food because of it's laxative and fiber content, it's usually prepared like turnip greens and hand picked when the leaves are still young and tender, there's a country song where it's name is called "Poke salad Annie". birds eat the berries and poop purple splatters on your car if it's left outside under a tree.
Like many southern delicacies most were concocted, by the impoverished and poor with many mouths to feed, they learned passed the herbal and medicinal properties of most plants as well, such as Joe Pye weed, it's name for an Indian medicine man that used the weed to make concoction that halted a typhoid fever outbreak in colonial Massachusetts.
My wife aunt would have me gather her young poke weed leaves. She said it helped her arthritis. Off plants that where less than 2 foot. Curious as to how you keep the saplings out of your perennial. It seems around here the maples and sweet gums grow faster than anything else. Beautiful landscape you have. Could get lost in that for hours.
@@FrederickDunn I've only had this problem in grass fields that didn't get mowed. In two years they can be mowed. It just seems they grow more than anything. Lol
Nice video. some where in this one or another one you mentioned where you get your seeds from.... I have watched another hour looking for it and thus I am here asking... where do you buy your bulk seeds... thanks.
Thanks for sharing. I've heard that about Knapweed. Queen Anne's lace, also known as wild carrot, is not considered invasive throughout the United States. However, it is listed as invasive in some states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. This seemingly delicate plant can crowd out native wildflowers and disrupt ecosystems by outcompeting them for resources like sunlight and water. Burdock, on the other hand, is not generally considered invasive in the United States. There are two main species of burdock that are found in North America: greater burdock (Arctium lappa) and common burdock (Arctium minus). Both are native to Eurasia but have been introduced to North America and are now widespread. While burdock can be a nuisance in some areas, it is not considered to be a serious invasive threat.
Oh gosh I thoight it was canadian thistle! I have them infesting my garden. Bees love their flowers, they smell pretty good. Too bad its invasive so i have to pluck it out.
In the piedmont of NC, my place would be overrun with trees in 5 years if I didn't do some sort of management (mowing). trees can be invasive too. Also, non-migratory Canada geese eat up all the clover on my property. So, I'm looking toward arboreal sources of nectar, particularly basswood (linden). I've read that one mature basswood tree can produce 100gallons of nectar. basswood is also native to this area. with 100g from a single tree, what are we planting annual flowers for? I'd like to learn about other nectar producing trees. A procession of arboreal nectar throughout the season would be ideal; what trees would I need to have that? I'm also learning about plants with extra-floral nectaries. Not all plants produce nectar through flowers. There's not a lot of information about extra-floral nectaries in regards to honeybee forage.
I've planted three linden trees. Though they may produce abundant nectar as mature trees, getting them to that age is the key. They are often not predictable, but particularly for those with smaller plots, trees will be far more productive than just ground cover.
your cat nip has far less flowers then the kind i have....mine has hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny flowers on each plant. i wish i knew what specific kind it is, but its the most popular plant in my garden by far..... for all kinds of pollinators, including the honey bees, they love it.
Great walk around Fred! You should do a collaboration with Adam Herrington at “Learn your land” he is also in your state . I follow you both and think that you would bee beneficial to yourselves and your fans. Self heal and poke weeds self heal for cuts and scrapes and poke sallet good but lots of boiling before stir frying.
I'm a very casual planter, I just toss seeds mostly. BUT, when it comes to the sunflowers and cosmos, I till and broadcast the seed, then roll it in with a heavy roller. That's it.
Fred, same family of plants, agreed. But, I would never call a lion a tiger or a house cat and vise versa. LOL! Burdock, as you know, is worked hard by the honey bees. I clip the seed pods from the ones near the yard, so they don't end up in my dogs fur. The dried pods work well in the smoker. Enjoy your videos... keep them coming. Oh, bought on of your coffee cups.
Poke weed is a highly medicinal plant, like any medicine toxic if you get too much. Poke can be eaten if prepared properly. The entire plant from root to berries has medicinal properties but must be prepared by someone who knows what they are doing.
No preparation, I broadcast seeds in spring just ahead of rainstorms wherever I want clover, particularly any sparsely covered areas. I also did all of the pond edges with clover the same way, and it germinated remarkably well.
African Blue Basil is a sterile hybrid (must be started from cuttings) of two other basil plants and one of the two best pollinator attackers on the planet. All kinds of pollinators. Not just honey bees.
I have blackberry plants but for some reason they are not attracted to bees. On the other hand they go wild with my sage plant, they love those little purple flowers. What variety of raspberry are those?
Zinnias didn't make the list published by the Xerces Society. Not in the top 100 plants for pollinators. So, I wouldn't plant them intentionally for bees.
I let all ‘weeds’ grow in my garden. We have drought at the moment, but my garden is still alive despite very little watering (waste water saved from washing fruits and vegetables).
This video has provided the best 30minutes of bee and plant interest ever! Thank you.
The calming voice and the sights and sounds are just what I needed and I have subscribed straight away. Now all I need is 8 acres and some seeds! Haha
Blessibgs and peace from UK sir
Thank you so much :)
There is a small patch in my street that the owner doesn't mow, it was full of nettles but we asked if we could sow cosmos, rudbeckia and echinacea. So now, that patch is full of flowers and nettles every year.
That's great news, if that spread continues it will really help pollinators.
Imagining a bee goofing off, that really brings a smile to my face
Gosh thank you so much. Loved it.
I don't have anything more to add than the others who posted comments, just DITTO and THANK YOU
Thanks!
The visual clarity of this film is great. I fully enjoy watching it.
Thank you.
Great video. I have over 5 acres for weed or wild flowers, but I can't seem to grow anything. The only flower I had are the sun flowers, small wild sun flowers, and few cactus. I collect lots of dandelion seeds to throw into my land, only got 2 plants alive. Later they died. All around outside our neighbor hood area has plenty of wild flowers. Right now I was able to grow some honey suckle around my garden fence, some garlic chives and bee balms, some fruit trees like apple, pear, peach, and blackberries, but want to grow plants that produce flowers all year round for the honey bees.
Have you considered joining, or reaching out to a garden club in your area? There may be members who can help you determing what will grow best on your land and in your soil conditions. That's where I'd start.
Thanks for bringing me here Larry! from at Larry Satchwell
As an avid gardener, i jusy loved this video. Thank you so much.
You are so welcome! and thanks for sharing about the square stem on mint. :)
Awesome compilation of footage and so much info Fred. Great work! P.s. those red raspberries looked so yumm:))
Thanks so much!
@@FrederickDunn very welcome!
Wow! I can’t wait for my yard to have this kind of established beauty!!
Videos like this get me looking forward to spring and replanting my different areas that I have let go the last couple years. It also got me to thinking about the different plants I used to see around when I was younger. My grandmother had a row of sweet pea bushes growing in her yard that was always covered in bees and wasps in the late summer, I think I have just the spot to plant a few of those. Thanks for helping me get green thumb out of storage.
Great info, footage, and side commentary. Very well done and thank you for the insights!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I listened to this video while I was driving, but I so wanted to see all of the flowers in your garden estate that I watched the video again once I got back home. Very beautifully done and so peaceful and relaxing to watch after a long stressful day at work! Thanks so much! 👍😉
Thanks Rob! I didn't add this one to my Podcast as it's heavily visual. Friday I'll be back to the standard Q&A for those listening while driving :)
I'm working on adding pollinator plants for all seasons. I started Anise Hyssop from seed and after it was planted over an old tree stump, its covered with bees in the morning. Growing Salvia, Asters, Mountain Mint, bee balm, sunflowers, fruit trees and clover in addition to vegetable plants. My apiary is around 20-25 hives and a dozen nuc boxes.
Thanks for sharing those fantastic results!
Truly an amazing place where you live. Don't ever leave, cherish what you have.
And again beautiful footage you shared with us. The way you 'catch' nature in your lens is magic.
Thank you, Wendy, I am always content to bee here :)
With the drought here in Texas, this year has been disappointing. It was so pleasant to see the bees and the beautiful flowers. Thank you Fred.
Sorry to hear that, I hope things change for the better soon.
Here at Cleburne, we are restoring a very old naturalized micro-meadow for the pollinators. We encourage native plants and have really enjoyed the entire season’s growth and changes. Also, our yards here (more than one family lives here now) are being sown with white clover. We don’t have to mow anymore and the pollinators just love it. It is possible to live WITH nature and not against her!! 👍👍👍
I am a huge fan of no-mow lawns. I like what you're doing!
Also in case you don’t mention it in this vid, I want to shout out for ironweed! It showed up in our natural meadow and the butterflies flock to it like crazy for the 2-3 weeks that it is peaking. Great stuff! My thistle is known as nodding or musk thistle and it looked absolutely ablaze with great spangled frits during the peak season and looked glorious against mullein, who I call Queen Mullein. I LOVE vids like this!!
Sounds like you're living in a great part of the world :) Thanks for sharing!
@@FrederickDunn Ozarks of Missouri. 6b
Love clover! Smells so sweet in the spring! Does not grow tall. It USED TO BE included in grass seed because it puts nitrogen into the soil. But CHEM companies encourage you to add their chemicals instead, plus a poison to kill clover, other plants, and often insects.
What a wonderful narration. Beautiful and inspirational. I’m learning so much and this warms my heart. ❤
Wow, thank you!
This is the second time I've watched this great video! Thanks for posting. I have big plans for this coming spring and fall!
Glad it was helpful!
This was lovely, a feast for our eyes as well as for your bees! I enjoy all of your videos, from Q & A’s to ‘field trips’ , all are beneficial to your viewers who want to learn about honey bees. Thank you for the effort and time you invest in your videos!
Glad you enjoyed it! And thank you for the feedback.
Fred, thank you! I like the video presentations like this. It is informative, helpful and visually pleasing and pleasant to watch and listen to. Gives one some things to think about for their particular situations and for further investigation and research.
Thank you for that valuable feedback :)
thanks for the valuable information.
Thanks for watching and taking a moment to comment :)
Thanks for your presentation
Thank you for watching :)
love this video, my neighbor is letting me plant 30 acres of flowers on his hunting plot for my bees and as a food plot to attract more deer
Wow, what a great opportunity!
Excellent job Fred loved it
Thanks, Gary :)
Anything that looks like a sun seems to be a good bet for the pollinators ❤
You're right about Nepeta - mostly bumblebees. Gerrie ,Seattle.
Many thanks for making this video.
Glad it was helpful!
My wife raises milkweed for monarchs, now for the bees also. She raises the monarch’s from egg to Chrysalis in clear plastic boxes. She’ll usually raise 100-200. Thanks for the videos
Another great and educational video Fred!!! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! Always great to see your comments Rodney!
I have learned a lot from your Q & A and will still follow your posts.
I learned much this time. I’ll have to watch with pen and paper.
gorgeous yard mr dunn n family
23:56 Another good story and identifier for Queen Anne's lace to tell it apart from similar plants is that Queen Anne never shaved her legs. :)
When I was a kid, we made pokeweed ink…might be fun to try with grandkids. I do recall it was a bit of a mess, and it worked better on canvas/fabric than paper. had read that the Declaration of Independence was written in pokeweed, but the Archives indicate it was iron gall ink. It is toxic! although Amerinds would use it for dye and paint for horses and persons, so I’m not sure what the effects are.
I thoroughly enjoy your content, and love to see what’s possible in our landscape. I am quickly learning that natives seem to take 2-3 full years to establish (I am resurrecting old farm land), so patience can be important.
Good quality and informative video Fred. Here is one common honey flower what we use here in Finland. It's called Lacy Phacelia. The Finnish name is "Aitohunajakukka" and the translation is "true honey flower"
Very cool. Thank you. I am converting as much of my 25 acre homestead to white dutch clover as my husband will tolerate. I’m up to about 4 acres. We farm thousands, so he doesn’t mind much -except my milkweed patches make him gnash his teeth. Your video reminded me that now is a great time to go snag some dead goldenrod heads (and joe pye, rough blazing star, etc) to collect seed for my grove border - that’ll really get his goat next year. He’s ok with it, just adjusting rather slowly 😂
Don't forget some Anise Hyssop :) it yields nectar from June through October :)
I clip off clusters of poke berries and dry them out. I put a cluster or two in my smoker along with my pine needles in the fall. If I have any leftover i'll use them in the spring. I think it has helped with varroa control.
I'm curious about what made you think that could/would impact varroa? Thanks for sharing.
@@FrederickDunn I saw this oldtimer talking about it a few years ago. I'm 70 myself so I guess this includes me too. I'm just experimenting with them. I think it has helped. I only have 3 hives and they are really healthy.I'm not recommending this to anyone', I'll continue to observe and let you know how they are doing. Take care and I love your podasts.
I l❤️Ve your videoes Dear Frederick 🥰🥰🥰🥰
Love the wildflowers. Nice video. Thanks
Thank you too
God bless you, beautiful man!!
Beautiful land, I love all the colors of the flowers. Thanks Fred
Thank you!
Thank you so much once again for being so generous with your knowledge, time and experience. I have 23 acres in mid-Missouri and as I walk it, I feel bad that I am so ignorant of the plants that are all over the place. And as to insects? Just the common names. It makes me realize I need to study more the wonderful resources that the MO conservation department provides. I am considering joining the native pollinator programs. Just finding the time to get it organizes. You are inspiring me. thanks again.
I'm so glad that you found inspiration in this video. I hope your 23 acres becomes a pollinator sanctuary :)
What a location , stunning , thanks for sharing that was interesting 👍🏻
Pennsylvania.
Fantastic presentation Fred, I love the variety of plants/pollinators around your property. Awesome footage thanks from 🇦🇺. 👍🐝🍯
Exactly what I've been looking into.
Also Fred, Catnip is a Mint and the honey bees love it. Thanks for the video.
Thanks, yes, I thought it's in the mint family. This variety isn't very appealing to my honey bees, but bumbles are on it whenever it blooms. Thanksf for sharing.
nice video very very thanks
You're very welcome, thanks for watching :)
Love your garden tour. Very. Informative
Great Video! I love your property/gardens. It must take days to dead head the gardens!!! Joking! I have 11 of the plants shown growing on my property including the maximillion sunflower, Joe pye weed, golden rod and Thistle. BUT my property is only 45' x 150'. City living! My bees tend to take off and head to the lake (Erie) to forage the wild growth. There is also a park loaded with Linden trees which is the main spring flow. Now we are heavy on Knot weed. This year I had a form of knot weed show up in the yard along with an evening primrose and a bunch of odd ball weeds. Trying to figure it out... then I realized when I brought in 6 yards of soil/manure blend from a farm to fill the raised veg beds I bought a seed bank!
On Poke Weed... I do have it only it hangs over the fence from my neighbors yard. When I see it it reminds me of my childhood. INK BERRY FIGHTS!! We used to grab the berry clusters, chase each other around and splat! Mom wasn't so happy but we had a blast.
Fun memories, thanks for sharing!
Very relaxing Fred, love seeing your bees out and about. Seems every country in the world has goldenrod at least in China, Montana, Switzerland and Florida. Hard to get seeds for planting. Again thank you Fred like a grown up Mr. Rodgers to me thank you
Thank you so much, and I'm glad you are enjoying this style of presentation.
Poke weed berries used to be a huge source for dyes for native Americans. I have never seen bees do anything with it however.
Meadow knapweed can be very invasive. I have a gigantic field of it and was just able to make a super worth of knapweed honey. I do not enjoy it but am going to pass it around to some people and see how they feel about it.
We would make sling shots and use poke berries for ammo. This was paint ball au naturale!
This is my favorite video. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video. I love seeing all the different plants and their pollinators.
Thank you!
thanks for sharing. Beautiful property!
Thanks for watching!
Great video. Been looking for something like this and here it was! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching.
New subscriber your channel. Looking into starting a apiary next spring so have been binge watching your videos. Found you because I am considering a Flow hive and maybe one or two Langstroth hives in my back yard. I live in the south western part of Pennsylvania so know all of these native plants. I remember as a kid being covered with purple stains from the battles we had throwing the Poke weed berries at each other. Thanks for all your very informative videos!
Hi David, thank you for subscribing and welcome to my channel! I'm glad to be a part of your beekeeping education :)
poke is native to my area. you can cook the leaves and are great with scrambled eggs. they do grown in the wild. the berries are poison if you eat them, however there a some birds that eat them.
Nice property, congratulations !
Thanks!
Wonderful information.
Glad it was helpful!
That thistle was burdock. Growing up in England the only soda available was dandelion and burdock.
It's pretty cool to see Joe Pieweed and Goldenrod growing wild at your farm. Out west, specifically the PacNW I have to purchase those plants from the nearby nurseries.
Wow, I can't imagine buying them. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for the tour. Very informative.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is an AMAZING video to share with us. Thank You!!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@FrederickDunn
I sure did!
I am trying/just getting started doing the same thing here on my 8AC property.
Doing with animals in mind though too.
Planted tons of white and red clovers last Fall. The white clover didn’t do much yet but is still blooming a little. The red clover, has been going gang busters all Summer so far. The honey bees can’t use it BUT the many bumble and solitary bees have been using it as well as every butterfly species known to man on the East Coast. There are dozens going out there at all times. Even keep seeing monarchs making more monarchs. Lol
My wood line on the edges have things like sourwood trees and blueberries. Same for Tulip poplars as well.
Looking to transform the 2AC front yard into a meadow…. And working in things like you were taking about into the pasture edges.
I keep honeybees in the UK - but loved your walkabout.
Your thistle is actually burdock. The root is used in herbal medicine. I let pokeweed bloom, but pull it before the berries get ripe, because they are very messy. Loved your video.
Hi Sandra, yes, and Burdock is a thistle :) www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/burdock
Thank you for the new ideas for planting around my apiary. I already have many of the wild flowers, but no sunflowers or other flowers to provide nectar during dearth.
You are so welcome!
Nice bee garden.
Thank you.
pokeweed - phytolacca americana is a taprooted perennial, birds love the berries. Burdock is interesting in that its generally a biennial and will die after flowering. These are both a bit thuggish, can block sunlight and hinder more desirable species from germinating. Cutting both back before setting seed will control the spread, burdock will usually die if you do this in the 2nd year right before it sets seed whereas the poke will have to be dug out. Both of these could also be cut back earlier in the summer and still have time to flower, if you simply want to control their height.
Here in the south, the locals eat the leaves at a young stage of Poke. We even have the Poke Sallet Festival here in TN. . They boil it and change the water 3x. I tried 5x and my guts REALLY didn't like it. They fry bacon and then fry the Poke in the bacon grease and then add scrambled eggs. Hubby was raised on it.
Wow, that's very interesting! Thanks for sharing your history with that plant.
I just found your website and lovey content. I am in the city and starting 1 hive (and 1 hive only). I wonder how many flowers do I need to plant in my small yard considering I want to also have some veggies and herbs and aesthetic is kind of important too.
Phenomenon photography by the way! Very interesting.
I think that if you have a small plot of land, you should concentrate on your desired vegetables. The bees will find forage that suits them. It's not worth substituting high nectar producing plants for those that you would consume. Every little bit helps the bees.
@@FrederickDunn Makes sense! Thanks!
we have poke weed,its like 10 feet redush stalks,people double boil the leaves to eat,seems to be perennial, you should talk about the trees too
If you have enough land, and if you want to plant for a honey flow, try the several varieties of basswood trees and Lemon Queen sunflowers.
White Sweet clover (Mellitus) might or might not work in the Northeast. If you do plant it, it might be helpful to have gravelly limestone chips added to the soil.
Thanks Dave, I have Linden Trees, they take many years before they really produce.
Poke berry can be eaten when it first comes up 6 to 8inches tall called poke salad in the South cook like any other green(turnip, mustard etc). I have seen Grey fox eat the berries once their ripe.
Have to cook correctly must cook in 3 changes of fresh water to remove toxins. Berries are medicinal seeds are toxic, so don't chew up the seeds
Also, berries can be used for ink or dye
Poke weed grows down south a lot, it was used in early spring as clean out food because of it's laxative and fiber content, it's usually prepared like turnip greens and hand picked when the leaves are still young and tender, there's a country song where it's name is called "Poke salad Annie". birds eat the berries and poop purple splatters on your car if it's left outside under a tree.
Thanks for that additional information! VERY interesting for sure.
HaHa. I always thought Elvis was singing Poke Sally Annie
Tony Joe White orginally recorded Poke Salad Annie
Like many southern delicacies most were concocted, by the impoverished and poor with many mouths to feed, they learned passed the herbal and medicinal properties of most plants as well, such as Joe Pye weed, it's name for an Indian medicine man that used the weed to make concoction that halted a typhoid fever outbreak in colonial Massachusetts.
My mother's father- "Paw Paw" used to pick Poke leaves and cook it to make "poke salad"
I am amazed by how many people have chimed in with their memories of poke-weed greens! Thanks for sharing.
My wife aunt would have me gather her young poke weed leaves. She said it helped her arthritis. Off plants that where less than 2 foot. Curious as to how you keep the saplings out of your perennial. It seems around here the maples and sweet gums grow faster than anything else. Beautiful landscape you have. Could get lost in that for hours.
That's interesting, I haven't had any issues with trees showing up in my perennial patches, but if they did I'd likely just pull them up.
@@FrederickDunn I've only had this problem in grass fields that didn't get mowed. In two years they can be mowed. It just seems they grow more than anything. Lol
Can't be mowed not can.
You can always tell plants in the mint family. They have square stems. Easy to feel the difference.
Nice video. some where in this one or another one you mentioned where you get your seeds from.... I have watched another hour looking for it and thus I am here asking... where do you buy your bulk seeds... thanks.
Most of my seed comes from Eden Brothers, or Ernst.
@@FrederickDunn thank you so much.
Just a heads up knapweed, Queen Anne’s and thistles (depending on species) are all non-native invasive species.
Thanks for sharing. I've heard that about Knapweed.
Queen Anne's lace, also known as wild carrot, is not considered invasive throughout the United States. However, it is listed as invasive in some states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
This seemingly delicate plant can crowd out native wildflowers and disrupt ecosystems by outcompeting them for resources like sunlight and water.
Burdock, on the other hand, is not generally considered invasive in the United States. There are two main species of burdock that are found in North America: greater burdock (Arctium lappa) and common burdock (Arctium minus). Both are native to Eurasia but have been introduced to North America and are now widespread. While burdock can be a nuisance in some areas, it is not considered to be a serious invasive threat.
Oh gosh I thoight it was canadian thistle! I have them infesting my garden. Bees love their flowers, they smell pretty good. Too bad its invasive so i have to pluck it out.
In the piedmont of NC, my place would be overrun with trees in 5 years if I didn't do some sort of management (mowing). trees can be invasive too. Also, non-migratory Canada geese eat up all the clover on my property. So, I'm looking toward arboreal sources of nectar, particularly basswood (linden). I've read that one mature basswood tree can produce 100gallons of nectar. basswood is also native to this area. with 100g from a single tree, what are we planting annual flowers for? I'd like to learn about other nectar producing trees. A procession of arboreal nectar throughout the season would be ideal; what trees would I need to have that? I'm also learning about plants with extra-floral nectaries. Not all plants produce nectar through flowers. There's not a lot of information about extra-floral nectaries in regards to honeybee forage.
I've planted three linden trees. Though they may produce abundant nectar as mature trees, getting them to that age is the key. They are often not predictable, but particularly for those with smaller plots, trees will be far more productive than just ground cover.
your cat nip has far less flowers then the kind i have....mine has hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny flowers on each plant. i wish i knew what specific kind it is, but its the most popular plant in my garden by far..... for all kinds of pollinators, including the honey bees, they love it.
@@aircobraman1375 yeah.... why wouldnt you be able to?
Great walk around Fred!
You should do a collaboration with Adam Herrington at “Learn your land” he is also in your state . I follow you both and think that you would bee beneficial to yourselves and your fans. Self heal and poke weeds self heal for cuts and scrapes and poke sallet good but lots of boiling before stir frying.
Thanks Timothy, I'll have to look into Adam.
This is awesome Fred! Can you describe how you do your planting?
I'm a very casual planter, I just toss seeds mostly. BUT, when it comes to the sunflowers and cosmos, I till and broadcast the seed, then roll it in with a heavy roller. That's it.
What is a Melissa bee? At 32:32 you called the plant thistle, it's actually Burdock. Burdock is were the idea of Velcro came.
Hi Bill, thanks for that, yes, it's a Burdock thistle. www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/burdock
Fred, same family of plants, agreed. But, I would never call a lion a tiger or a house cat and vise versa. LOL! Burdock, as you know, is worked hard by the honey bees. I clip the seed pods from the ones near the yard, so they don't end up in my dogs fur. The dried pods work well in the smoker. Enjoy your videos... keep them coming. Oh, bought on of your coffee cups.
Do you till and scatter plant your cosmos or place and cover?
In spring, I mow, light till, broadcast the seed and roll them with a 700 lb roller. That's it.
I remember on one of your videos you mentioned where you buy seeds for your meadows and garden. Can't find that video. Where do you get them again?
Eden Brothers.
Poke weed is a highly medicinal plant, like any medicine toxic if you get too much. Poke can be eaten if prepared properly. The entire plant from root to berries has medicinal properties but must be prepared by someone who knows what they are doing.
What effect does it have?
Good morning Fred. Did you plant the clover growing on your place? If so, how did you prepare the soil for seeding?
No preparation, I broadcast seeds in spring just ahead of rainstorms wherever I want clover, particularly any sparsely covered areas. I also did all of the pond edges with clover the same way, and it germinated remarkably well.
African Blue Basil is a sterile hybrid (must be started from cuttings) of two other basil plants and one of the two best pollinator attackers on the planet. All kinds of pollinators. Not just honey bees.
Mint honey, according to wiki, tends to crystalize quickly. Catnip honey probably does too
I think catnip is in the mint family also. I'm glad Wiki answered your question.
For what you called thistles, compare to burdock (Arctium spp.).
Hi Zachary, Burdock is a thistle, there is a link in the video description if you'd like to know more about that.
Fred, how do you keep deer away from chomping all of those goodies?
By having more than they can eat. That soy field has been constantly browsed by the deer, I'm sure that's frustrating for the farmer.
I have blackberry plants but for some reason they are not attracted to bees. On the other hand they go wild with my sage plant, they love those little purple flowers. What variety of raspberry are those?
I don't remember what line of red raspberries those are since I began that patch in 1999.
Any feedback on zinnia's? Are they good for honey bees?
Zinnias didn't make the list published by the Xerces Society. Not in the top 100 plants for pollinators. So, I wouldn't plant them intentionally for bees.
@@FrederickDunn Good to know! Thanks.
I let all ‘weeds’ grow in my garden. We have drought at the moment, but my garden is still alive despite very little watering (waste water saved from washing fruits and vegetables).