# Dandelions



## EnnisLakeFarm (Jul 18, 2010)

I noticed my first dandelion this afternoon! Last year I didn't see any until the 8th of May.
I started noticing/keeping track last year when I first started thinking about getting some beehives. I am hoping to get two hives going next spring so I have been making note of when I see flowers in bloom. The willow trees down the road is full of some kind of blossom this week too. I didn't even know they had blossoms?!


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## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

Hey! I was just going to make a dandelion post. So I hope you don't mind that I chime in. 

We have a full bloom of dandelions going on in Wisconsin right now! My girlies are working them hard and I made a video about the day's activity. Here is a sample picture, find the link to the video below.










[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1kp_HFYkMs]Honey Bees do the Dandelion Dance! - YouTube[/ame]


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I have to think of were I can get my dandelions for my wine with out taking them away from the girls ,,, I want some place were there are no dogs ,cows , horse's ,, any farm animal/bird running around ,,, guess the bees come first


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## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

EnnisLakeFarm said:


> I started noticing/keeping track last year


That was one thing about beekeeping that no one told me about ahead of time: how interested I would become in when plants and trees bloomed and which were good sources of nectar and/or pollen.

Now I watch the silver maples and willow in late winter since those are early sources of pollen. I see groves of black locust trees blooming and I'm thinking "that would be a great site for some locust honey". I've learned to identify quite a few more plants and trees simply because when I see something blooming and don't know what it is, I look it up right away.

Right now I've got my eye on the tulip poplars since I live in the woods and that's my main honey crop...


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We Have thousands of square feet of perennial flower gardens, many flowering shrubs and 7 acres of woods. I was well aware of the flowers we have their blooming times a long with with the shrubs. It was the trees and wild plants that I became more aware of. One planted shrub I became aware of blooms one early spring day when I walked out of the grarage to the music from bee wings.
Koren box woods in bloom well before any thing else covered with bees. Since they we have planted more of them for the earest spring blooms. 

Our bee garden is a result of our trips to garden centers and garden tours. I carry a small not book that I write the names of plants down in that the bees are visiting and the time of year. We have lots ofearly blooming plants the bees like and a bunch for the fall. Milk weed is a mid summer favorite. I save the dried pods and scatter the seeds in the vacant fields near me. they are even growing in the small openings in the woods, a favorite of monark butterflys too.

 Al


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

i was amazed that the dandelions were something i was actually delighted to see in such abundance last year. amazing how a persons perspective can turn around


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