Imagine coming into your garden on a summer morning, say about 7:00 a.m. With coffee cup in hand, you stroll among your beds and rows, smiling at a new bud here, a plump green tomato there. You admire your garden’s parallel and perpendicular lines, but then your attention focuses on something definitely non-linear.
Phacelia tanacetifolia aka Bee's Friend, Fiddlehead, Scorpion Plant
As you admire it’s winsome shape, you hear a buzz approaching. There, comfortably making itself at home on this flower, is the fattest John Belushi bumble bee ever. Soon, bees of every size and wing are flooding into the garden, lured on by the Bee’s Friend. And of course, once in your garden, they linger of vegetable blossoms, roses, annuals and perennials. It’s the welcome background noise of summer.
I got turned on to Bee’s Friend from my favorite local organic seed grower, Uprising Seeds. Here’s their description:
“Ok. Yeah, yeah I know. Your Anise Hyssop attracts alot of bees. and your Borage too. But honestly, you ain’t seen nothing until you plant a swath of this in your garden. Put in a clump of it and if there is a bee within 2 miles of your garden it will come, and if there’s lots of bees living nearby….you will HEAR the the patch 50′ before you get there. It’s ridiculous really. We actually started to worry that the other crops wouldn’t get pollinated because the bees were spending all their time in the Phacelia. It’s a lovely plant to boot, with lacey fern like leaves and a fiddle head of buds that unfurl with a succession of delicate lavender blooms. Attracts aphid-hungry syrphid flys as well. High quality pollen and nectar. Flowers over a long period of time. Delightful. Wonderful. Love it. 4-6′ tall. 75-80 days.”
Also known as :Bienen-Freund" around the Dusseldorf area
This is a gorgeous, truly helpful plant–and You Can Grow That!
You Can Grow That! is a meme celebrating gardening, gardeners, and especially amazing specimens garden lovers adore on the fourth of every month. C.L. Fornari, whose inspiration this is, has a marvelous Facebook page with all the blogs and bloggers celebrating our joys. C.L. Fornari shares her passion for plants on her website, GardenLady.com, and blog, WholeLifeGardening.com.
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This is great- I admit I don’t know much about flowers, but I’ve never even heard of this before! Any plant that will attract bees will have a place in my veggie garden- thanks so much for the info.
Happy Gardening! GJ
GJ, Thanks for visiting the garden, and yes, having plenty of Bee’s Friend has definitely improved my pollination rate for tomatoes, squash, cukes and everbearing strawberries. Another good bee attractor is calendula–Nichols Seeds in Oregon has some very nice varieties. Happy Gardening to you, too!
Benita
Convinced … will have to try it. Thanks for the ‘buzz.’ (pun intended)
And you will get big buzzing, I promise!
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I am a novice trying to make my yard more attractive to wildlife and pollinators are a special concern of mine so I appreciate this..Michelle
Another good pollinator is calendula, Michelle, and of course, the birds love, love, love sunflowers. Thanks for stopping by! Benita