My top 10 pollinator-friendly flowers for bees and other insects - Gardening with Brendan - video Dailymotion

Derry Journal

Here are some of the annual, biennial and perennial flowering plants which I've found proved a magnet for bees, hoverflies and other insects when grown from seed in Ireland.

Transcript

00:30I'm just going to show you some of the flowers that the bees seem to be really fond of here.

00:48They're not that close to my killings.

00:50That's probably because they have so much choice.

00:52But I've heard these are good pondingers too.

00:54But there's the lupins.

00:55They're about five and a half foot now.

01:01And here is probably the number one.

01:04Well, definitely the number one.

01:06You can just see a bee lantern on there.

01:09The poppies, the oriental poppies.

01:13These come in all different shades of red, orange and pink.

01:18You can see a couple there.

01:21And they are so popular.

01:23The bees actually fight over them.

01:25Which I've never seen with any other plant.

01:28And then you can see there's a bee in there too.

01:31These catamaran bells are very, very popular.

01:34A good landing pad for the bees.

01:36And plenty of pollen and nectar in them.

01:41So, these are another very popular one.

01:45And the other one here.

01:46There's another bee on that.

01:48And that's a cornflower.

01:51Very, very popular.

01:52So, it's been a lot of traffic here.

01:58Buzzy bees all week.

02:01You can see some mulling about there.

02:04Now the weather settle down a bit.

02:05But these are, without a doubt, the most popular flowers that I grow in terms of attracting pollinators into the garden.

02:21Sweet William have had some traffic too.

02:24And there's other ones here, like Cosmos.

02:25And some of these have yet to open.

02:31And this is a, a tricolour daisy.

02:36Which is about to open.

02:39It's within the halfway stage.

02:42The Aquilegia as well.

02:43They're going over now.

02:44But they were a good source for the bees.

02:47And I know, probably the other flower.

02:50Which you can just see in the background here.

02:52It's not at its full height.

02:54Or it's not opened yet.

02:56I have quite a lot of these.

02:57We have about 50 young ones as well.

03:00These are hollyhocks.

03:02So, they'll get about 7 feet tall.

03:0567 feet tall.

03:06And they will produce these massive spires of flowers.

03:11And the bees go nuts for them as well.

03:14I've got a lot of new things planted on the back here.

03:17You can't really see.

03:18There's some sweet pea there climbing up.

03:21But, about the back.

03:24Doesn't get as much sun as out the front.

03:26So, it takes a bit longer.

03:27Usually around 3 days.

03:293 weeks to a month.

03:30Before.

03:31The front flowers.

03:33Start.

03:35Flowering.

03:35And then once these go over.

03:38Which they'll all in the next few weeks.

03:40I'm going to start under planting vegetables in there.

03:44Some broccoli.

03:45And some pussel sprouts.

03:48And amongst them.

03:48Just to make it functional then as well.

03:56A lot of things we have in here.

03:57Just while we're here.

03:59Some root beckia here.

04:01You can see here.

04:02The first of the California papis has opened.

04:04And this is a biannual root beckia.

04:12That I bought as a young plant.

04:14From a nursery.

04:17And there's other ones that I've grown from seed on here.

04:19These are annual root beckias.

04:23And then up here we have a perennial variety of root beckia.

04:27This is goldstrom.

04:29Big orange daisy-like flowers with a black cone centre.

04:33And that's something that the root beckias have in common with echinacea.

04:39They're actually related.

04:40So they all have this big cone in the middle.

04:46Some oregano in the ground here.

04:49And just looking around.

04:51Some snapdragons.

04:53Not many survived.

04:56Some miniature sunflowers in the ground.

04:58I've been spraying a lot of these with.

05:00You can see that some of the daylies that grew from seed are getting.

05:03Decimated by bugs.

05:05I'm not even sure what type.

05:07Could be earwigs.

05:09Because there's no slime trails.

05:10So I don't think it's some.

05:14Slugs.

05:15And I have been spraying them with garlic spray.

05:17Just this last couple of days.

05:18But I might have been too late to save them.

05:22What else is in there?

05:25There's loads of tiny wee plants here.

05:27Along the front.

05:28Just the last ones.

05:29They've been sown.

05:30And here.

05:32There's a wee hoverfly.

05:33That's just been hanging around here.

05:35For the last few days.

05:36So another.

05:37Waiting for these sunflowers to open.

05:39And I've seen them on there this morning too.

05:42So that's.

05:43Hoverflies are great.

05:44Because they're larvae.

05:46Actually.

05:47Control all their pests.

05:48Pests you don't want in the garden.

05:49So.

05:52That's a good one to have.

05:56Strawberries.

05:57And.

05:58Some.

05:59African marigolds.

06:00My head's on one now.

06:02And these are some I know Rebecca's too.

06:04There's plenty happening.

06:06And.

06:07One of the other great pollinators actually.

06:10And this one.

06:10I found wasps.

06:12All over.

06:13And this was a bit.

06:15Dry.

06:16So I watered this morning.

06:17I'm hoping it'll perk up.

06:19These are straw flowers.

06:20And you can see.

06:21These are bracts.

06:22These aren't actually the flower.

06:24But they look like a flower.

06:25And they're papery.

06:28Almost like.

06:31Sandpaper.

06:31But they have this metallic sheen to them.

06:33And these ones are all red.

06:34And there's a kind of pinky rose one.

06:37And.

06:38Have them in here with some baby's breath.

06:41Which has also been attracting a lot of pollinators.

06:44And then.

06:46Around here we have the sweet pea.

06:48Or sweet pea.

06:50And more baby's breath.

06:54And then there's all sorts of plants in here.

06:56These are Icelandic poppies.

06:58There's a.

06:59A yellow one.

07:02A champagne colored one.

07:04And a white one.

07:05These were just grown from seed.

07:07Thrown in a bucket.

07:08In February.

07:09They're quite hardy.

07:11All the poppies in fact.

07:12Are very hardy.

07:14Here are more poppies.

07:18This is some baby's breath and poppies.

07:21These are tegettes.

07:24These are marigolds.

07:26You know little French marigolds.

07:27But.

07:28These resemble them.

07:30But they're far far bigger.

07:31You can see from.

07:33Just some out here.

07:35I got these.

07:38Down in.

07:40I think it was.

07:41County Cabin.

07:42Last year.

07:43Or Leitrim.

07:43No it was County Leitrim.

07:45At the organic centre.

07:45I've never seen them before.

07:50They're like a tall branching plant.

07:52And if I put these in bigger pots again.

07:53I've already padded them up twice.

07:56They would reach.

07:57A really decent height.

07:59Maybe four feet.

08:00As you can see.

08:01They have these.

08:03Big marigold heads on them.

08:05And just for comparison.

08:06And there's a smaller marigold there.

08:34Whoa.

08:36Whoa.

08:37Whoa.

08:38Whoa.

08:39Whoa.

08:40Whoa.

08:41Whoa.

08:42Whoa.

08:43Whoa.

08:44Whoa.

08:45Whoa.

08:46Whoa.

08:47Whoa.

08:48Whoa.

08:49Whoa.

08:50Whoa.

08:51Whoa.

08:52Whoa.

08:53Whoa.

08:54Whoa.

08:55Whoa.

08:56Whoa.

08:57Whoa.

08:58Whoa.

08:59Whoa.

09:00Whoa.

09:01Whoa.

09:02Whoa.

09:03Whoa.

09:04Whoa.

09:05Whoa.

My top 10 pollinator-friendly flowers for bees and other insects - Gardening with Brendan

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