A Trio of Early Spring Bee Flowers with White Blossoms

 This weekend I was lucky to be able to visit the HCP : Horticulture Centre of the Pacific on Vancouver Island. We had a lovely brunch at the Nourish café and then I took a quick stroll through the gardens. I discovered a couple of sweet early bee plants: a winter-blooming honeysuckle that attracts bees and hummingbirds called Lonicera standishii. It is originally from China and the corolla is short enough to provide nectar to early-emerging bees. (Be advised it can be invasive in some conditions.)

This fragrant Clematis armandii aka Old Man's Beard or Armand clematis was blooming profusely. I was very glad to see was a also lot of Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) blooming along the roadsides, an important native source of nectar for orchard mason bees. These three plants would make enchanting additions to a white bee garden.

Under the Laburnums

We really should start a tradition of picnics under the laburnums when they are thrumming with bumble bees.

 The bumble bees and honey bees also love these alliums which look like fireworks.

And for the calming version of the alliums, head over to the white garden.

 I like this white version of the perennial cornflower, especially with a side order of honeybees.

 Masterwort is a good bee plant for dreary late spring days.

 This shows the inspired interplanting, integrating the shades of pale green and the burgundy, with a good use of texture.

 There were bumble bees in the red white and blue comfrey.

 The pollen from this false indigo is lighter in color than the lupin pollen. ˙Her suitcases are overflowing!

 This honeybee fits so nicely in the rosemary flowers. Her abdomen in distended with a nectar load.

 

It's bloomin' squid!

 There weren't any bees in this columbine patch, but there were some mining bees hanging around the green mulch nearby.

 You can really see why this is called milk thistle.

Another good choice for your white bee garden. The milk thistles I've grown have always been purple.

Here are my seedlings waited to be potted up.