Book on Nector sources.

[Lechwe]

I know this has been discussed before but a search did not turn up what I was looking for.

I would like to find a book that will give pictures of the different flowers that produce nector the bees like. As well as giving escriptions of where they can be found, when and under what conditions they produce.

I am mainly interested in teh Mid West since that is where I am from but a more generic one would be fine too.

Any ideas???

Thanks

[Finman]

I

I suppose that there is no such a book.  My fried wrote a book "flowers for butterfly". They searched books and if they foud a notice "good for butterfly" they took a picture from nature and that is a book.  But books is nonsence.  I have nursed most of those plants during 40 year and books is not value for truth.

In Finland nature is colder than 1000-2000 km southern. Same flower does not give nectar in different circumtancies.

You do a favour yourself, if you go to nature and look where bees visit and what kind of pollen they gather. Then you look what happens in front of hive. If bees carry heavy loads and they have sign of pollen, you will learn much more better tahn from the book.

[Bee Boy]

I don't think there is a book like that either( if there was I would've bought one already!) But like Finnman says observe your bees and you'll soon learn alot about what nectar/pollen sources that they visit. Thats what I do and I've found a few bees plants that I've never seen listed anywhere else!

[Anonymous]

I've found no such book either, however "The Hive and the Honey Bee" has a sectin in it that lists nectar sources by the different regions in the country. By making a list of the sources in your area you can then do a search on the internet for "North American wildfowers" and find good pictures of a lot of them.

[lobstafari]

This might sound like a very novice bee question, or a really dumb plant question, but my bees collect pollen from pine and maple trees, but would those same sources produce nectar? I always assumed the nectar came from flowers.  I think I might be missing something.

[leominsterbeeman]

I don't know of pine producing nectar.  But in the spring Red Maple will have some nectar to give up.  When the tree is in that red bud stage, early spring( April) before the leaves pop is when the bee work the maple.