Bees enjoying the flowers we planted

This year at my small allotment patch I planted a selection of perennial flowers. I've not done this previously because I worried it would be a waste of the very small space I have. I thought that I needed to use every space inch to plant edible crops. I realised though that if I didn't plant flowers too I wouldn't encouraging as much wildlife and insects to the plot as I otherwise could if I planted a variety of colourful flowers. 

 

So I grew what I could from seed the year before and I purchased a few plants ready grown. I planted them up on the plot. They did really well and are thriving amongst the edible crops. I opted for perennials in the hope that they will return year on year now without the need for me to spend and more money or worry about growing any more from seed. 

I grew, from seed, a variety of sunflowers this year and they have all done really well. The bees loved them and now that they are dying back I'm going to dry the heads and harvest the seeds to use as bird food in the winter. I'll put the dried seeds out in bird feeders so that the birds have it there if and when they need it. 

Click here to see a short clip of the bees in action enjoying the flowers

Copyright to each of these photos is owned by Kerri-Ann Betty. Please do not use them without prior permission. 

If you love bees and want to learn more about them I highly recommend taking a look at this list of books about bees. CLICK HERE to be taken to the Bookshop.Org list that showcases a great range of books about bees.