Went down to Mt Lawley today to help some friends with a honey harvest, they have about 8 hives on a balcony 3 story’s high.
They are harvesting weekly and have more honey than they need… We did 6 frames, great experience for me as I’ve not done this before. They had a wobbly 3 frame spinner and we got over 10 kgs and they gave me a couple for my troubles, 1 kg per sting. 
I find it amazing that here in the hills, half an hour away I’m having to feed… I moved a hive here about 10 meters a few days ago and used the branch at the entrance method which worked really well but wes surprised at how light it was, plenty of bees but shy on honey.
On the plus side the eucalypts are budding up and starting to flower finally. Hopefully we’re turning the corner up here.
Just an update on what my bees are collecting on in the flats… red gum of course but that seems to be tailing off now. They are liking the illawara flame trees.
I’m not seeing much pollen coming in but noticed some bees collecting bright orange pollen off this… not sure what’s it called.
And lots of nectar from this gum that i need @busso to identify…
Marri. Corymbia calophylla. Probably about 20 years old
Busso; better than wikipedia!
Thank you, but I always feel the more you know the more you know there is lots more to know. Stand under a Marri tree in full bloom and you can actually smell the nectar and hear the roar of the bees in there. The tree shown has a token flowering compared with what they can produce.
Drove to Perth today to visit a sick friend and was beginning to think bees are just as dangerous as talking on a mobile phone. How is that you ask?
I was driving along continually panning the trees for blossom. Bad boy I said and asked Wife to drive.
I saw lots of Red Flowering (Corymbia ficifolia was E.ficifolia) gums everywhere. There are some enormous Spotted Gums Corymbia maculata (was a Eucalyptus also till the boffins recategorized it) along Manning Road and a couple are just covered with blossom. The Marri just starting to bloom. From what I see down here don’t expect too much Marri blossom.
Spotted Gum.
I’ve planted about 30 of theses trees 10 years ago and are now well established but not yet flowered.
Beautiful tree and hardy too. Hopefully when they do the bees will have something to do.
I’ve trimmed them so they became single trunk tall trees.
Yep, the Marri had plenty of buds and probably only 10-20% covered.
I haven’t noticed any spotted gum in flower yet or lemon scented (which I would guess should flower the same time as spotted gum?).
Totally agree with the distracted driving! My family roll their eyes when I ask yet again to pull over and stop so I can check the blossom.
And you probably won’t as both these flower in Winter.
The trees I spotted in Manning Road were not Spotted Gums.
I did say they were Spotted Gum and I was wrong. When I looked them up I found they don’t flower anywhere near this time of year. Should have stopped and had a good look and not just guessed. Not a good road to stop on though LOL
The lemon scented here flowered at the beginning of spring with the swamp gums albeit feebly. The swamp gums are budding up again with the marri and jarrah.
My family is also a bit sick of me pointing out the blossom, I’ll turn them yet…
I can relate to that.
Great to have learned something about the local flora around Perth! Will try to take some picts and share it with you all
Just an update on flowering in Perth east metro. The Marri seems to be coming to an end (still some blossom but not compared to a couple of weeks ago) but there’s a street-tree paperbark starting to flower that the bees like, so hopefully that will keep the bees going. It’s interesting to see pretty much single source nectar happening in the metro area.
Hi All,
Long time lurker and reader but though it was about time that I said hi. Thanks to all for sharing your WA experiences it sure helps to hear local input and observations.
Just about to do my second harvest for the season off two of my hives including the very first flow super harvest 
Marri is still going strong in the highlands of Kelmscott.
Cheers
Hi @cviewbee I would be interested in what you reckon about marri honey.
Maybe you saw my comments here Marri Corymbia calophylla - #15 by skeggley
My observation is that the blossom lasts about 3 weeks. A single tree may have buds coming into blossom over a period of 5 weeks. Then individual trees start flowering at different times. To do with the diversity of the species.
So if you have access to lots and lots of Marri as we do here, the first trees to flower in late January have finished but there are trees just starting to blossom today.
I believe there is still another month of viable flower in the Busselton area.
I’m pretty sure the paperbark coming into flower is:
Melaleuca quinquenervia
I added the flow super on Friday and had an inspection today. The bees are all over the flow frames (I brushed melted beeswax onto both sides of each frame before adding the super)
Marri here (Bedfordale) is in flower now with plenty more trees yet to blossom.
At my inspection on Friday all of the brood box frames were covered with bees and there was little room for honey storage in the frames of the brood. A good healthy hive by all appearances.
I like the stick holder on the hive. Great place for it.
Went out to Toodyay yesterday, Marri in full flower most of the way, saw about 20 hives in a group under a tree in a very strong area of Marri.
I.gatch@msn.commailto:I.gatch@msn.com
Sent by Michiyo’s iPhone 
2017/02/22 10:47、busso <honeyflow@discoursemail.commailto:honeyflow@discoursemail.com> のメッセージ:
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February 22
I like the stick holder on the hive. Great place for it.