Planting wildflowers near the hives

I am considering planting Indian blankets near my hive as they are a known flower to produce honey flow in our area. However I read today that bees will not harvest nectar near the hive in order to keep the hive safe. I don’t want to waste my seeds nearby if they will not use them. Although I have lots of seeds and will plant further away as well, what is the nearest to the hive I can plant?

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If you have the opportunity to plant them to the side or behind the hive 15 to 20 feet away would be a high suggestion on my part. I’ve read keeping their flightpath clean and free of things is a good thing but I am not totally aware or understand all that yet.

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I wanted to keep my flight path clear too but when my hives swarmed and I got the swarms into two new hives some of the taller flowers ended up drapping over the front of the new hives as they grew. These bees that have a slightly bocked entrance seem to land lightly like a helecopter not like their sisters in the other hives that land like float planes. The backs and sides of all the hives are clear so doing checks is not a problem but the bees with the flowers leaning over the front seem to be doing well. They all love the broccoli that flowered and they are planted 15-20 feet to the side of the hives.

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Excellent, I have a large area that is15+ feet behind the hives, so will scatter a bunch of seeds there. Thanks so much for your speedy replies!

Hi Tonya, I’ve noticed my bees foraging very close to the hive. It’s situated at one edge of my perennial garden & a few feet before my (tiny) apple orchard begins, and just five feet behind my veggie garden, where I let the bok choi & some of the herbs bolt because they love those flowers. There’s clover all through the yard. They’re into all of it!

I think if you just keep it reasonably clear for their flight path & your visits it’s fine :honeybee::two_hearts:

My mums hive is located in the middle of her medium sized urban garden- with flowering plants all around in close proximity- and I think the bees forage right there.

It seems very odd to me to think that bees would ignore great nectar right in front of their hive? Do they think it must be too good to be true?

don’t know that they will ignore, I think it’s more of what has worked for other beekeepers every site every situation is different. I too find it difficult to understand why placement of some of these items is so important, what works works I would try it all out

Hmmm, well it sounds like it is worth trying at least a handful of the seeds closer to the hives. I have 4 sacks full of the seeds, so it wouldn’t be too much of a sacrifice if they don’t like them and I would still enjoy the beauty of them! Thanks for all the input!