Great shot Linda.

Mary in case you don't know it all of the plant names are clickable links to the entry in the ATP database.

I posted pictures of some of our bees out at their feeders in the beekeeping forum thread Pictures of bees. So far it looks like all of our remaining hives will make it in good shape. We got our weakest hive early in January.

Was the Arizona Ash in your article? I was just reacting to Linda's picture with all the bees on it.

No it wasn't I was just using you to remind everyone of the links and to let everyone know they link to the database here. Previously they linked to the entries in the Plants For Honey Bees database on Cubits. Sorry to put you in the spotlight Mary.

That's cool, I was just like "OMG, I *missed* that?!?!?!! How embarrassing!"

I have some kind of ash sapling -- aka hop tree, I thinking it's wafer ash, but don't feel like digging out my spreadsheet to verify, in my front yard. And today I have daffodils and some hyacinths blooming too, besides the hen-bit and some little white-flowered weed that everyone around here tries to eradicate.

A couple weeks ago it was raining and warm almost every day. I went out during the rain and sprinkled clover seed in a lot of my bare or weedy areas. I have little baby clovers out there now (they're so cute!).

I have daffodils and hyacinths both up but none blooming yet. The bees really liked the blue hyacinths last spring then went for the pink ones but didn't seem to care about the white ones.

I added about 100 bulbs of hyacinths, as well as about 100 crocus and almost 100 tulips for them this spring. All are planted close to the hives so they don't have to go far for some of their spring food supply.

Fall of 2009 and fall of 2010 I planted about 200 bulbs of daffy/crocus/hyacinth. Last fall I didn't have any spare cash at all, so my back got a break. LOL

I love the random articles that continuously pop up on the home page. Even though I've read them in the past, it's always fun to re-read and refresh my memory.

Mindy: I'd never thought much about bees until seeing your articles on beekeeping and reading about these interesting insects. Bees are so important in nature and your articles help people understand and appreciate them! Great writing!

It's mid January and my Weeping Bottlebrush tree (Callistemon viminalis) is popping into full bloom ... the bees are loving it! I've been trying to get a decent photo of all the bees flying around but they bury themselves in the blooms so it's difficult to photograph them. I think a couple of bees are visible in these photo's.

**heads to plant db to read up on weeping bottlebrush **

Thank you Lin I'm happy you are enjoying the beekeeping articles so much.
Yep I see bee in those photos. Great job. Lovely plant too probably doesn't grow here in zone 6 so I'm off to check the db too to see if I'm right about that.

I'm still working on more articles just not got any ready to publish yet.

Mindy03 said:Thank you Lin I'm happy you are enjoying the beekeeping articles so much.
Yep I see bee in those photos. Great job. Lovely plant too probably doesn't grow here in zone 6 so I'm off to check the db too to see if I'm right about that.

I'm still working on more articles just not got any ready to publish yet.

if it says "cold hardy to zone 9," does that mean 9 is the lowest zone number it's happy in?

Mary, Yes ... it's a tree for zones 9-11 and it's listed as a Category II exotic invasive here in Florida! I've only been in this house a year and this one is planted right next to our back deck. I've found seedlings sprouting from containers on my deck from seeds dropping everywhere. But, I'm also always finding hundreds of seedlings from my neighbors Chinese Elm tree sprouting in containers, cracks of the wood deck and in flower beds! There are so many plants take over and become invasive here in the Sunshine state. I do love the weeping bottle brush tree though, it attracts butterflies, bees and hummingbirds!

It's a beautiful tree, and would look lovely in my yard, but I'm 7a and I stay away from potentially invasive plants. Florida (and S GA) can grow a lot of stuff I can't, but I consider it a fair trade for the milder summers up here.