Hello happy gardeners. Spring has sprung and the bees are out and about even more than usual! So, to keep our beautiful bees busy, make sure your garden is full of flowers for them to gather as much pollen as they can. There is an abundance of flowering plants which bees just love. Here are just a few.
Leptospermum Ballerina: This stunning plant is classed as a small tree, which has small-sized foliage and produces an abundance of mottled pink, purple and white dainty flowers. Not only is this a good looker, but it is an Australian native, so what's not to love. These plants can be used as a feature plant or you can even hedge them. These plants also love the sun or the shade and can grow up to a height of 1-2m and a width of 1-2m.
Leptospermum Burgundy Queen: Another stunner and another native! The only difference here is this Leptospermum gets a bit bigger. The Burgundy Queen reaches a height of 4m and a width of 3m. This beautiful plant has narrow red foliage and produces multiple rich burgundy coloured double flowers. These plants are very tolerant to many conditions and can be used as a feature. These are best pruned after flowering as this promotes dense growth, which then allows the plant to become a great screening plant.
Lavender: Here are just a few that look great this season and the bees love them all! Lavender Blue Scent (English Lavender), La Diva Papillon White, La Diva Papillon Purple and La Dive Papillon Rose. If you plant them all, you will have an array of colours in your garden, including blue, purple, white and pink. The average height that these beauties grow to is 50cm. These all have a beautiful fragrance and are all a great addition to any garden. Great for borders or pots.
Eutaxia Obovate (Egg and Bacon Plant): This is without a doubt one of our favourites! This handsome dense small shrub grows to a height and width of 1m. This beauty has a spectacular display of two-toned yellow and orange flowers with a nice little pea shape and are also lightly fragranced. This plant loves a sunny spot in your garden and once established is very drought tolerant. Great for Bribie Island because they can handle coastal conditions. This gorgeous plant makes a great hedge or small screening plant due to its dense growth. And to top it off, it is another Australian native. What a winner!
Pandorea: If you are after a vigorous climber, this is the way to go. This beautiful plant can be used as a ground cover or a climber, which will easily climb and cover a fence, trellis, or anything you wish to cover. These beauties love the full sun and can also be grown in the shade. These stunners produce trumpet-like flowers and come in a range of colours, including white, pink, purple and red. They can grow to a height and width of 3-5m. This is an evergreen plant and is also another native.
Euphorbia White Sparkle: These stunning plants can act as a great border or can make a great feature in a pot as they grow into a perfect ball shape. These plants are dense and have equal amounts of flowers to foliage. These are an evergreen plant which grow to a height and width of 60cm and get covered in delicate tiny white flowers, hence the name 'White Sparkle'. These plants do not disappoint and make a great addition to any garden, as they are very tolerant to almost any climate conditions and flower all year!
Callistemon: So many! Where do we start? For starters... they are also all natives, Okay, here are our favourite three - Little Silver, Hannah Ray and Pink Champagne. All of these beauties are not only Australian natives, but flower almost all year round! Little Silver, a small compact plant, grows to a height of 90cm and a width of 75cm. Popular for their compact size, these plants make a great border or small hedge and get covered in bright red bottle brush lowers. Hannah Ray - Another one that has an abundance of flowers, which are also a lovely red. This is a tree that grows to a height of 4m and a width of 3m. This stunner is an evergreen, is suited to most climates and has a weeping growing habit, which just looks absolutely gorgeous. And last but not least is the Callistemon Pink Champagne. This wonder is classed as a small shrub, which can be pruned to shape and produces masses of pale pink bottle brush flowers. The Pink Champagne grows to a height of 3m and a width of 2m.
Well that's a wrap! Remember all of these plants mentioned are very bee attracting and provide an abundance of colour to any garden. Let's keep our bees happy!
Until next time, happy gardening from Paul and Adelle.
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