The Natural Gardener
The soft buzz of a bee and bright, sunny blooms… No, not a balmy summer’s day but a crisp, cold winter one. We don’t often think of flowers, let alone bees, in winter, but they’re part and parcel of our coldest season, albeit a little less conspicuous than normal. Winter flowerers have carved out their own reproductive niche by putting on a show when they needn’t compete as much and can still lure in their fair share of pollinators. Put it this way, they’re not doing it for fun – they’re trying to attract something.
Some solitary bees overwinter, emerging when the weather improves, while many queens are around and about, ready to start up a new colony when the time is right. Bumblebees can be seen in winter, casting about for flower food if they can find it. And find it they must in order to restore their energy and carry on.
Needless to say, this is where we come in, and the more winter flowers we pack into our plots the better. Really do try and cram some in, as our waning bees depend on it. It’s tempting to let things lie in the garden now, retreat indoors and cast aside the soggy borders until spring sunshine returns again. But liven it up with a few flower gems now and it’ll make all the difference.
As if to prove a point, the Mahonia media I chose at the garden centre had a couple of bees already luxuriating in its sunny yellow flower sprays. A beautiful and accommodating plant, it’ll bloom now and into winter, while its cousin
M. aquifolium will take over the baton until spring. It may be too late to plant crocus and aconites, but once flowering pots of them arrive in garden centres, be sure to buy a few as bees love them.
Next up it’s winter heathers, with Erica carnea clothing the ground in pink and white from January until April. Winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, is another key character in demure white and glorious scent, much like
Sarcococca confusa, or sweet box. Christmas hellebores delight from December, while primroses and catkin trees breeze in just when bees need them in February.
Loveliest of all, perhaps, is the winter clematis. Useful evergreens, Clematis cirrhosa varieties dangle with graceful white or speckled blooms from Christmas until February – ‘Freckles’, ‘Wisley Cream’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ are the cream of the crop.