New England Asters

New England Asters are a favorite source of fall pollen for honeybees.

New England Asters

There are several flower families that provide honeybees their food and asters are one of them. Some of my favorite fall blooming plants belong to this family group: White Boneset, White Heath Asters and one of my all-time top favorites, New England Asters.

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, "Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, commonly called New England aster, is a Missouri native perennial which occurs in moist prairies, meadows, thickets, low valleys and stream banks (Steyermark) throughout the State. It is a stout, leafy plant typically growing 3-6' tall with a robust, upright habit.

New England Asters feature a profuse bloom of daisy-like asters (to 1.5" diameter) with purple rays and yellow centers from late summer to early fall. Rough, hairy, lance-shaped leaves (to 4" long) clasp stiff, hairy stems. Flowers are attractive to butterflies" and I will add bees, too.

How to Grow New England Asters

Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in full sun, prefers moist, rich soils. Good air circulation helps reduce incidence of foliar diseases. Pinching back stems several times before mid-July will help control plant height, promote bushiness and perhaps obviate the need for staking. Pinching back will also delay flowering.

Most New England Asters are sold early fall when they are in bloom. I buy the plants after bloom, remove the spent flower heads and make sure they are well watered and mulched when I plant them. Any dead branches get left on to help protect the new growth that will start at the plant base. I also give them some water for a couple of months to make sure their roots get established.

A closeup of a New England Aster flower shows the generous source of pollen.

New England Asters also add color to fall cut flower arrangements. I don't cut many, though, I prefer to leave the flowers for the bees.

Charlotte

Bee in Double Rose of Sharon Bush

A honeybee visits a double Rose of Sharon at my bee buddy David's house.

Bee in Double Rose of Sharon Bush

When I first started beekeeping, I thought there would be some discipline to what plants bees would visit.

Not that there isn't. Bees do prefer high pollen-producing plants, such as dandelions, clover, sunflowers, buckwheat and blue salvia.

There are a number of books that explain how bees chose their flowers and what flowers they might prefer. Bees visit 2 million flowers and fly 55, 000 miles to produce one pound of honey. One bee colony can produce 60 to 100 pounds of honey per year. An average worker bee makes only about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its six-week lifetime.

Considering that bees make honey for winter food, flower visitation is important to the bees success in getting honey stored before winter.

I had just finished reading one such book, which basically said bees need to have clear access to pollen. Double-bloomed plants, although very pretty, are not supposed to be good bee plants.

My bee buddy David and I were discussing the book when I spotted one of his honeybees visiting a nearby double Rose of Sharon bush. We watched for several minutes as the bee moved around the inside of the plant. When it left, its little leg pouches were stuffed with a cream-colored pollen.

Add Double Rose of Sharon Bush to a honeybee's favorite plant list!

Charlotte

Seeds for Bees

I often get asked what people can plant in their gardens to help bees. Here are my first three recommendations:

North American Wildflower mix

Bachelor Buttons

Sunflowers

These three seed packets are my top recommendations for planting for bees.

Wildflower Mix

The wildflower mix will be the hardest to manage because some plants will sprout later or maybe take a year to establish themselves.

When planting a wildflower mix, plant in an area you can set aside and observe since the flowers may show up at different times of the year. That is one of the ways you can help pollinators, making sure they have something offering them pollen continuously through the growing season.

Bachelor Buttons

To that end, bachelor buttons provide a nice pollen source through summer and into fall. Once established, bachelor buttons will self-seed and spread so give them room.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, if planted early enough, will provide pollen from summer through fall, which includes the dreaded Missouri August dearth. When temperatures reach more than 90F for a week or more, plants stop producing pollen leaving bee colonies at their highest population numbers bereft of a food source.

There are other seeds you can plant to help bees, these happen to be the ones I recommend to someone just starting out.

Have you tried to grow these? How did you do?

Charlotte