Wild Asters, African Blue Basil and Honey Bees

I noticed Wild Asters while on the river. They were climbing Asters, I believe. When I got home,  I saw several patches of them growing along the canal near our place.

I started riding my bike to see what the bees were working and spotted another type of Wild Aster. They are on a stalk instead of branching out. Some are over 6’ tall. I guess those are the ones competing for space and sun.

My neighbor has two big stands of them and told me I could take all I wanted. I now have about 12 bunches planted around the edge of the woods and near the tree stump (above). I am hoping that they will reseed and I’ll have a lot more of them next year.

Here’s a few bees working the Asters. It did not take long for the bees to find them. I had some working on them as I planted.

This is where I put a few. I have one behind the bee hives, 2 in front of the tree stump and 1 behind it. The bees have been working the Bottle Brush, the African Blue Basil and the Asters.

When I walk under the Bottle Brush bushes in the front yard they are just humming with bees.

The white box below the Asters on the R is one of the hives. The other is behind the Cana Lillies to the L, almost behind the stump.

As you can see, the woods are pretty thick and there are lots of Palm trees. The 3 you can see are Cabbage Palms, but there are also Sable Palms a little farther in.

A closer look at the African Blue Basil. They work these from daylight to dark. I have 2 more that are bigger than this and 4 more that are a bit smaller.

There are at least 3 Honey Bees in this picture below.

This video shows you how busy they are. The plants in full sun get worked the hardest but there are bees on all of them.

I hope the Basil winters well. I’ll increase my number of plants next year if it does.

I really like the Wild Asters, but I don’t know how long they bloom. Late blooming plants are nice because it gives the Honey Bees something when everything else is gone.

The African Blue Basil blooms all summer.