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And now we're going to be talking about keeping your garden buzzing
year-round with bee's. I'm joined by Chris and Bill Reid
from Reid's nursery and down in the Kyle Lockhart area it's great to have you
here.
Thank you. -It's good always nice to talk about
this topic, -Yes. because we all know how important bees are
but they really play a crucial role in the ecosystem don't they?
They absolutely do I mean
t here are many different pollinators of course but bees are one of the best
pollinators that we have
not just honey bees of course but also native bees and there's quite a few
that we have in this area and so we really need to be good to them,
they need our help, -They're good to us we should be good to them, -Absolutely.
Simple as that.
and our topic today really is creating year-round
habitat for them, why is that important Bill?
Well we have things that are fall boomers and spring boomers and
they need food year-round and basically we have a selection of plants here that
accomplish that.
Most of these are very cool natives some of them we've never talked about so
I'm excited to get started.
One that I'm just really enjoying right now is
right next to me and this is almond verbena and this is
incredibly fragrant and that almond fragrance it's like
a wonderful Austrian pastry or something. -Yes.
-Almond cookies. -Yeah it gets quite large over time it's gonna lose
its leaves of course but over time it can get up to fifteen by fifteen feet
so it's one that you really wanna give it room. -Fifteen by fifteen feet
-Overtime hard to believe. -People note that, -Almond fragrance wafting at you
-Oh yeah just gorgeous blooms mainly in the fall
and it's absolutely wonderful and the butterflies and the bees love it.
Well it's great for both species then and
these, -Full sun low-water, -Full sun low water okay
Almond verbena big aggressive plant that will do well.
Yeah if it's got the right spot it's perfect, -Okay now this
I recognize this mimosa like foliage
as the Huisache. -Yes and this is a course just a tiny little baby but this
will grow into a tree.
Yeah, twenty by twenty and of course it
it's got those beautiful golden flowers in spring -Right
that the bees love and it's
most wonderful fragrance I can't even describe it it's so lovely
and lovely leaves and very tough
obviously you know it's a native, -Right. and it's low water pretty much actually just put it
in and walk away I don't think you have to do a whole lot.
Well I like a lot of these plants in the mimosa family because of that kind of
graceful foliage that light airy
quality, -Yes, feathery. and these have the flowers are little gold balls
Yes it's so pretty, And really remarkable
plant so great tough plant for full sun -Yeah. drought hardy.
It's a good xeriscape tree it's something that you could put in your
landscape
and it's going to be beautiful and it provides food for the bees and it's
tough you just don't have to worry about it. -It's also a bloom, fixes its own nitrogen into the ground okay
So multiple benefits from this plant, the next one we're going to talk about
is and anise hyssop yes and the
were we're getting all the flavors over here. So we have we had almond
know how we have anise and for those who aren't familiar that's like a
licorice. -Yes,
it's fabulous, -Yes it is fabulous, -And it can get
it can get to be about you know a couple feet tall.
It'll reseed unless you clip of the flowers which I don't mind I think it's
a wonderful plant for that
it's fabulous and the bees absolutely love it it's one other favorites
and it gets these lovely purple flowers, spires of flowers and
it's for people who want to be good to pollinators that's a great one to put in.
Anise hyssop again is the plant, -And it makes a great tea also.
I could certainly see, -I bet you could see that you know that, -It'd make a delicious
tea now I can smell the fragrance here it's very aromatic
and I would assume it be very common, there's a little flower there,
-Yeah, -Kind of hidden away
Very very interesting little plant and it self cedars,
again good it's good to know the habits to these things, -Exactly yeah
if it's going to be a problem clip off the blooms but I think just put it in
the right spot you know it can take
it can take full sun or part shade so it is kind of flexible
it's really good about that. Well or producer Linda is very excited about
globe mallows she is a raving about this plant why she's so excited about this?
Well it's what; full sun low-water
beautiful velvety leaves, indestructible -Yeah
Indestructible and we have mentioned flowers yet
Yeah gorgeous apricot,orange cups
soft flowers, bees love it.
Blooms multiple seasons.
Pretty much off and on all year, -Takes a rest now and then but pretty much
all summer long its blooming.
So it's nice, -Okay globe mallow, I think we just created a stampede.
Okay I'm just picturing that beautiful silver foliage with apricot
colored flowers on it.
Yes so striking, and it's just nice
Yeah, nice and tough, -Okay well that's the kind of plant we want to garden with in central Texas. -Exactly.
Right next to it is a plant that deserves to be on everybody's
favorite list, that's the Gulf penstemon.
Right, -And this is an early spring bloomer and
what we love about it is it just looks good all year,
it's not like ones that'll bloom and kind of fades this was just
the foliage is pretty and then the beautiful flowers and again it's a great
pollinator plant, -We see seeds right away
and does colonize that and it's one of the first bloomers in the spring.
Early spring, which is really nice.
Yeah I considered a harbinger spring and it also is
shade, part shade -Exactly. you know it can take that situation -It's flexible
so it's nice to have some options and it's also one that
like you mentioned we want to have things that are blooming off and on all year
the one just the spring bloomers, the bees need it all year so it's really
important to have something that
you know you can enjoy all year and it's also something the bees love so
we really love it it's a great one. Next to it is the kidney wood and this
is an
big shrub or a little tree that
is endemic to our region. You find it all throughout the hill country and
I imagine parts east
as well. -Exactly and it's a very good tree again low-water
full sun or part shade, very much a favorite of
pollinators like the native bees and in a way for me when I've seen it on side of the road
I'll think it's, i'll think it's almond verbena cause' I'll see
the shrubby leaves and the beautiful flowers but it's actually
kidney wood.
And again if you have the right spot, it's one of those you put it in and walk away.
When it blooms in the late summer everyone comes in and asks us, "what is that
out there, what is that plant?"
So it's great, -The fragrance is amazing.
I love the kidney wood you know and
thinking of plants and that a lot of people garden with here
on one that you didn't bring but we have images of is
is rosemary and I can only imagine how good rosemary honey would be.
I bet that's really good,tasty -And that's a great
pollinator, -Very much a favorite of the bees yeah and
of course rosemary's you know as you know low water, full sun
great to cook with, one of those great plants that we just love and
and that's why you see a lot of it because it is such a great one.
Well you know and this is just a hint to beekeepers out there I think you should
experiment with just
you know getting that honey from the rosemary. -That's a good point
I think that would be awesome.
Yeah, I bet that would be good, -Okay we have a couple more plants
to talk about. Flame acanthus is great plant,
great plant color, I love orange flowers and and this is a butterfly
favorite, didn't know it was a bee favorite.
Yes it's definitely a bee favorite. -We have collection of
bumble bees that come around ours at home every morning
unfailingly and they work the flowers and they disappear for the rest of the day
but they're there every day, -Take their little, -Nice morning ritual
for you and the bees, -Fun to watch, -And bumblebees are
you know they need they need help too just like the little native bees
they all need help. We need give them the food
because they've lost a lot habitats and we need to help them with that. -And the
flame acanthus, I just have to say
tough as nails, a full sun
Full sun, -Or it can take some shade -It will grow along the edge
of some bigger plants -Right so it's flexible -and
gets pretty rangy -Yeah but it doesn't mind haircut right?
Right, but it's easy to control I think, -Yeah exactly in you know
pretty much put it in a walk away again -I like those kind of plants, -Yeah I
do too, -Right next to it is white mistflower, which everybody knows is a butterfly
pollinator, -Right.
But great for the bees as well -Absolutely and you know
what we really like about it is that it's a great fall bloomer,
because again you can't have everything booming in the spring. You have to have
you know things that bloom in the fall, -And the one we have at home is quite large and when its booming
everything in the world is on top of it, it's alive
Isn't that amazing? -Beautiful and smells like honey
Right right, -It's fabulous -I went hiking
at butterfly migration time this year and it was out in the middle hill country. One lone
white mistflower covered, -I bet, -Covered with
Easy to take photos then, -Yeah the butterflies are mobbing the bees are all there.
Got lots of images with both butterflies and bees -Absolutely.
Well it's a great pleasure to visit with you we applaud your interest in this
particular topic and
and thanks for helping spread the word about all these cool plants. -Great we're
happy to do that.
And of course you have a great website too. -We have a great website it's
just reidsnursery.com and I also like to mention that we have some
very beneficial seminars during the year.
Well great, again our guests have been Bill and Chris Reid from Reid's nursery
the great to have you with us. Folks can find you between Kyle
and Lockhart here in Central Texas we really appreciate you being back on the program
Well thank you, -Thank you Tom.
Alright and coming up next is our friend Daphne.