Sweet Time for Planting: National Honey Month

September is National Honey Month, and it flows (ahem, “follows”) that it is also a time to think about honeybees. With early autumn being a fine time to add plantings that will settle in before the cold weather arrives, we can be sure our gardens are ready to provide food and refuge to bees next spring. 

Plants such as Buddleia, Coreopsis, Hydrangea, and Potentilla are prime for planting now. With the remaining warmth of early autumn days and faithful watering, these plants will be in a good position to start right up as “bee magnets” next spring.

Now, the bee action I see in my gardens reaches its height before September. Others might find bees most active in June or July, and many take notice of bees at the time spring arrives. But for me, August is the month of heightened bee activity, as the bees turn each Panicle Hydrangea in my yard into a train station, bustling both inbound and outbound as they go about their work. Buddleia gets lots of visitors in August, as well, especially when a late flush of blooms draws them in.

But in September, the quest for pollen dies down. Like those of us who become consumed with cozy “nesting” thoughts when autumn is on our doorstep, bees use September to shore up their hives. All the while, many beekeepers treat September as the key honey-harvesting month.

Although there is heightened interest in protecting the bees, the talk of pollinator plants often makes me think of drawing in colorful butterflies. Buddleia, perhaps because it is so commonly called Butterfly Bush, surely makes me think of those graceful winged beauties. But I must say that for every butterfly I see on my Buddleia, or on my Potentilla, Hydrangea, or Coreopsis, I must see 100 bees. This might be wrong: I am not great with numbers. But honestly, bees really should rise to the top of the conversation about pollinator plants, for they are prime pollinators. As if that were not enough, they make honey.

I just read that one bee makes only a fraction of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. Think of the effort and the need for plants such as Hydrangea, Coreopsis, and other bee-favored shrubs and perennials to arrive at a full jar of the sweet stuff. Digging in some attractive pollinator plants is a vital help to the “worker bees”… such a perfect moniker. Keeping those shrubs and plants in bloom for as long as possible helps the pollinators, as well. For example, Buddleia looks best and re-blooms more reliably when its spent blooms are snipped as soon as they turn grayish, provided the gardener is careful not to inadvertently snip nearby buds. (The buds on Buddleia often appear in close-knit threesomes, so when one has gone by, there are often two neighboring buds just beginning to take shape.)

Now, talk of bees when I was a child prompted thoughts of bumblebees’ gold and black striped costumes, and even thoughts of getting stung. But my present thoughts drift to pollinator plants and what I can add to my garden to attract bees. I am no beekeeper, and honey is not even my go-to sweetener, but I want the bees around. I want honey. I want a good fruiting season for my apple trees, thanks in largest part to pollination. I want lush gardens.

Countless plants can be thought of as “pollinator plants”, so I sometimes wonder why we even use that term. It is not extremely delimiting. But plants are more or less attractive to bees, and it helps to be purposeful in adding some of the most attractive ones. I mentioned that Coreopsis and Potentilla are not tip-top picks for bees. They do not rank up top with Hydrangea or Buddleia. But their bright blooms and easy-to-access stores of pollen make them good picks nonetheless. And perhaps because of their color—I think of each of these shrubs with yellow blooms, although there are varieties with different coloration—I think of golden-yellow bees and golden honey. It all seems to go together. 

I would add these plants to my garden in a heartbeat, knowing they would draw in the buzzing garden workers. And I would add them in Honey Month to take advantage of early autumn warmth and the chance to get roots set and a head start on spring. They would take their places along with gem-toned Buddleia. And they would accompany my “train stations” for bees… the Panicle Hydrangea shrubs I have in several places in my yard. My front-yard Hydrangea still has many bee visitors on the “platform”. While many of the blooms on that shrub have turned rosy by now, the bees seem most interested in the few remaining blooms that are newly opened, bright white and seeing the sun for the first time. A Hydrangea in my side yard, with a few more of these new blooms, is accommodating the bees quite well, I am sure.

September is National Honey Month. Let’s use that as a gentle nudge to add one or more plants to attract and support the winged workers, bees in particular.