Texas Blue Bonnets

[catfishbill]

hey everyone,will bee's use Texas blue bonnet flowers?friend at work has a bunch of wild seeds.asked if i would like them for the bees.any bad info about them?stuff i looked at shows them to be another wild flower.thanks
bill

[BjornBee]

Taken from "American Honey Plants" by Frank C Pellett....

There are many species of lupines which are common, especially in the plains region and west to the Pacific coast. Some are of no value to the bees, or yield pollen only. Richter list Lupinus affinis as a source of nectar in California.

The blue lupine of bluebonnet lupinus subcarnosus   is widely distributed over southern and western Texas, fairly covering large areas when in bloom. The blooming period comes in March or April. Some claim it yields only pollen. Scoll lists it as a source of honey.

In Colorado, beemen regard some lupines as good honey plants also.

Von Mueller in his "Select Extra-Tropical Plants" lists lupines among the most important sources of nectar and states that some, if not all, lupines can be counted among honey plants.

[bailey]

myfather in law has them in his yard every year and his bees work them like crazy!  worth planting in my opinon!

bailey

[KONASDAD]

they ignore them in my yard as clover is blooming.