I can count over 150 flowering plants on Friends Hill. I could easily add to, and divide many of what we have and it still would never be in excess. Blessed with a green thumb, I’ve spent most of my life studying, planting, and harvesting native perennials and herbs and learned to use them in both remedies and culinary concoctions. Collecting and cherishing a good many plant books I’ve also built quite an extensive library on my favorite subjects. Since becoming a beekeeper, I’m often found mesmerized when the honey bees, perch on something that I planted. This assures me that those considerable years spent in fascination with nature, put me where I was meant to be.
There is an endless list of literature, videos, and resources that are available for those with the desire to help provide more pollinator habitat in your area. I will include a few below, that I have found useful.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois Extension offices have a lot of great information on their websites. I LOVE their Pollinator Plant Selector Tool!! It lists soil types and what blooms in which month. This is such a helpful tool for using. Check out the following link for some great information on regional pollinator habitat. Illinois Pollinators
The Xerces Society is one of our favorite resources for all things pollinators! They work hard for conservation, habitats, ecology and nature. You can find everything from plants and sustainability practices to a large variety of publications and learning materials. http://xerces.org/
Bee Informed Partnership is a great source for everything honey bee related. The following is a link to their site. http://www.beeinformed.org
Prairie Wildflowers of Illinois has a list of mid-western flowers and they make it easy to identify plants. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plant_index.htm
Kim Eierman wears many hats when it comes to plants in our environment. She is an Environmental Horticulturalist a Master Gardener, a Master Horticulturalist, a Writer a Teacher and I’m certain has many more titles than I know! The following is a website where you can find a ton of information about her and her services. http://www.ecobeneficial.com/
Thank you for your interest and for helping to feed the bees!