Bee kind – plant for Camden’s most populous residents!

Minty writes: The Friends of Camden Meadow volunteer group have partnered with Bath City Farm to introduce honeybees.

The introduction of bees in the area will be a boon toCamden gardens nearby, and provides all of us with an opportunity to support nature’s workers with our own planting this year. Many of our seasonal favourites are also beloved by bees, and now is the perfect time to create a honeybee haven in our gardens, courtyards and balconies.

According to BBC Gardener’s World, there are certain key characteristics which can help us choose the perfect plants to help our pollinators thrive. Bees are able to see the colour purple more clearly than other hues, so plants like lavender, alliums and catmint are great additions to the garden. Single flowers are crucial, as the quantity of petals on double flowers can be tricky for bees to navigate, so single-flowered varieties of roses and dahlias are more ‘bee-friendly’ than their more ornate siblings.

Perhaps the most crucial advice for bee-friendly planting is to think all year round – most bees are active between March and September, but a few are active in winter, so it’s good to have a few winter flowering plants like honeysuckle or clematis. If you need more planting inspiration to help nurture our newest residents, we’ve compiled a shortlist of our favourite plants – it may be too late to plant some of these this year, but if we make our bees feel welcome, they should be with us for years to come.

John writes: Tulio opened up the right hand hive this morning to find a lively colony and yes, the queen, which is identifiable by its red spot planted on her last summer. Anyone for Camden Meadow?!