Signs of spring: the first bumble bee of the season
- Shea Flower Farm
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
I saw the first bee of the season yesterday. He was flying a zig zag path desperately looking for something to eat, but there is still not much blooming yet. Not even the forsythia are blooming yet. There are a few hellebores, crocus, and pulmonaria and some very early narcissus popped open for the first time yesterday.
Not only is it tough for bees to find food very early in the season, it's tough for them to find food late in the season as well. Dahlias have a long bloom period from mid summer through to the first frost when not a lot of other flowers are blooming. We haven't even had our last spring frost yet, we don't want to think about that first fall frost!
It's time to begin planning your summer garden. We have a few varieties of open faced dahlias that bees absolutely love. In the summer, when I go out in the early morning to harvest flowers, I find the bees still sleeping snuggled into the blooms. It's so magical to see all those bees snoozing on top of the flowers.
If you love bees, these are our top four favorite dahlias for bees and bee viewing. Create your own bee bed-and breakfast buffet.
#1 Lucky Number
Lucky Number is the most prolific and floriferous dahlia we grow and the bees absolutely love it. Long stemmed rosy pink flowers with yellow centers are held high above the plants on beautiful dark burgundy stems making easy harvesting for cut flowers and superb bee viewing. The five inch wide flowers have an amazing yellow streaking that helps guide bees into the center of bloom where the nectar and pollen is located. These are very vigorous plants that perform well and produce great big tubers which are easy to divide and store over winter.
#2 Firepot
If you love bright, complex blended color, you'll love this dahlia. It's a mix of orange, yellow and coral pink with purple centers as it's opening. Once the four inch bloom has opened, the bees are all over it. Firepot is another very prolific bloomer that just keeps pumping out the flowers, especially if you cut them for bouquets. Vase life is not terribly long, but it doesn't really matter because the plant has more fresh blooms ready for you. It's a mid-height dahlia and doesn't need staking. It's a great garden plant.
#3 Fascination
Fascination is a fantastic peony-form semi-double dahlia in a luminous shade of rose and magenta pink with really dark bronze-purple, almost black foliage. My neighbor calls it the goth dahlia. They are very striking. I love the centers which are a metallic-looking bronze until they reveal their pollen. Fascination is another superb mid-height dahlia that doesn't need staking. Fascination won an RHS Award of Garden Merit recognizing it as a reliable top performing plant that is great for home gardens.
#2 Edge of Joy Sport
Bees can't see the color red, but somehow they seem to have no trouble finding these flowers. It must have something to do with those golden centers that the bees adore. This dahlia came from the cultivar known as Edge of Joy, but in my yard it has become a deep burgundy red randomly flecked with white streaking instead of the whiter looking form of Edge of Joy. I like the dark coloring better. It's a small compact plant at 2 to 3 feet high with nice 3 to 4 inch wide blooms. No staking needed. The more flowers you cut, the more blooms the plant produces.
Our online dahlia tuber shop is open and we are shipping dahlia tubers now. Visit our dahlia tuber shop page and take a look at all the gorgeous dahlias we offer to create your own bee buffet. The bees will thank you.
