{"id":3042,"date":"2020-09-29T19:08:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T18:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3042"},"modified":"2021-04-06T17:05:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:05:46","slug":"bee-friendly-planters-forage-from-spring-to-september-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3042","title":{"rendered":"Bee-friendly makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">City office, managed by Savills &#8211; providing forage from spring to autumn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3050\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3050\" class=\"wp-image-3050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/achilea.jpg 1219w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-1024x498.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3051\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3051\" class=\"wp-image-3051\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-1024x498.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-768x373.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-1536x746.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle-624x303.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/wideangle.jpg 1881w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3052\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3052\" class=\"wp-image-3052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls-624x351.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/crabapplestpauls.jpg 1517w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the joys of summer 2020 has been tending to the bee-friendly planters we installed last year on One Carter Lane, an office building managed by Savills,  which is stone&#8217;s throw from St Paul&#8217;s. The idea was to create year-round bee forage in the deep, narrow planters that had previously been filled with non-flowering evergreen shrubs. We emptied the planters, filled them with new top soil and lecca and planted crocus bulbs, wallflowers and rosemary for the spring; a crab apple for early summer blossom; nepetas, calamint, Geranium rozanne and achilleas for mid summer: and salvia, sedum, echinacea and hebes for late summer. The conditions were dry and exposed and very sunny, so we had t chose the right bee-friendly flowers for the location and the seasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"415\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/echinaceasunseekersandnepetagrandiflora.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3053\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3053\" class=\"wp-image-3053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/echinaceasunseekersandnepetagrandiflora.jpg 415w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/echinaceasunseekersandnepetagrandiflora-146x300.jpg 146w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprosemarywallflowers.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3054\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3054\" class=\"wp-image-3054\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprosemarywallflowers.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprosemarywallflowers-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprosemarywallflowers-624x832.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fullplantersleft.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3055\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fullplantersleft.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3055\" class=\"wp-image-3055\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fullplantersleft.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fullplantersleft-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fullplantersleft-624x832.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And the bees have come. There are hives on the roof, so some honeybees have been on the geraniums, nepeta and the blossom, but we&#8217;ve also had wild bees visiting, including the solitary hairy-footed flower bee (below), the buff-tailed bumblebee and the common carder bee (bottom photo). Most of the bees I&#8217;ve failed to photograph, but I did capture a couple here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HFFBnepeta-1-624x351.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Hairy-footed flower bee flying to the Nepeta with her long tongue (proboscis) extended <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:24% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-768x1365.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-864x1536.jpeg 864w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-1152x2048.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-624x1109.jpeg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/carderbee1-1-scaled.jpeg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Here&#8217;s a common carder bee also feeding on the Nepeta  in mid summer. Her long tongue allows her to get right to the base of the flower to sup up it&#8217;s sugary drink.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The planters are still providing a colourful display of flowers right through September &#8211; and late  pollen and nectar for the bees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3057\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3057\" class=\"wp-image-3057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/abundance.jpg 1137w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3058\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3058\" class=\"wp-image-3058\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/closeuprozanneanthemistinctoria.jpg 1137w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sedumrozanne.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3059\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sedumrozanne.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3059\" class=\"wp-image-3059\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sedumrozanne.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sedumrozanne-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sedumrozanne-624x832.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>City office, managed by Savills &#8211; providing forage from spring to autumn One of the joys of summer 2020 has been tending to the bee-friendly planters we installed last year on One Carter Lane, an office building managed by Savills, which is stone&#8217;s throw from St Paul&#8217;s. The idea was to create year-round bee forage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3042"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3164,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions\/3164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}