It is not easy for bees to find enough food these days. Monocultures and herbicides have kept blooming wildflowers to a minimum. The beneficial insects are grateful for every piece of garden that is turned into a bee pasture. The blue diamond belongs in the middle!
Bees love blue rue!
Why the blue diamond?
All flowering plants that serve as a source of food for the bees together form the so-called bee pasture. For good reason, this also includes all varieties of blue diamond. They are not purely cultivated plants, even if we plant them as such.
The blue rue is originally a wild steppe plant from Asia. Blue rue is hardy and therefore also perennial with us.
Hardy wildflowers not only bloom beautifully, they also provide plenty of pollen and nectar. This makes them the biggest bee magnets of all types of flowers.
tips
You can increase the number of blue diamonds in the garden for free by propagating more specimens from cuttings.
your time as a provider
Blue rue, also called Siberian lavender or silver bush, blooms for about four months. The first long ears of corn appear from July, after which it continues cheerfully until the end of October. This is the period when she generously supplies the bees with her nectar.
It is already a great help for the bees if you only grow this flowering plant in the garden. However, if you want to do something for the bees all year round, you should combine the blue diamond with other plants. These should bloom outside the flowering period of the blue rue in order to cover as long a period as possible. Ideal are among others:
- asters
- heather
- squill
- Christmas rose
- bluebell
- lavender
- snowdrop
- sweet clover
- hollyhocks
- snow heath
tips
So-called weeds such as daisies, goutweed, dandelion, yarrow and thistles are also part of the bee pasture. They will take care of themselves if part of the garden is left to nature.
What to look out for
When we serve such delicious food to the bees, nothing should spoil the enjoyment. Since every blue rue attracts bees with its wonderful scent, it is automatically a bee pasture. Therefore, the use of pesticides and insecticides should always be avoided when cultivating them.