Interesting. I agree, my oregano is teeming with bees when in bloom. It is full of motion and buzzing. But it's interesting - mine us a white flower. The video shows pink. Also, I thought oregano and marjoram were different plants. I started some more oregano seeds last week. Don't know how fast they will grow. The thyme is growing fairly fast so far.
White Clover In the US, I think most lawns have been treated with herbicides and many have sod lawns that are grown in herbicide treated fields, cut and rolled up and sold to lay like carpets. As a result, clover in the yards is absent. I have a bit of a hell strip - a no mans land zone next to an easement road that others treat with herbicide to keep the weeds and grass down. I think I will buy Dutch clover and Buffalo grass to sow there and see if they don't treat it even if they mow it. Dutch clover stays about four inches tall so would be ok. I could add other things but they need to be virtually non-maintenance and very low growing, Maybe English Daisies or California Poppies...
That's great In the video can see just the outside of the flowers which look pink but the inside is pale. In the video it's wild marjoram which is also called oregano.
Someone who lives close to us has asked permission from the council if she could turn a bit of grass into a wild flower bed and they said yes, late autumn last year she showed some seeds and they're coming up, I can see corn flowers and I think love in a mist but they might not be and some poppies.
This year I'm planting the border with Flanders poppies, Bachelors Buttons, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Oregano, Thyme, Chives, Cosmos, Marigolds, Zinnias, Coreopsis, Four O'Clocks, purple clover. Probably in groups so I can hoe easily, so not really wilding, but sort of similar. Same area as the Rosemary and Oregano. The bees should be happy!
That sounds great Daniel, don't have to go wild completely to attract wildlife, as long as the flowers are single flowers the bees and butterflies can get in. Hubby won't let me dig all the grass/lawn up so I'm just widening the borders. I'm growing cosmos, calendula, Snapdragons, verbena bonarencess, knautia it's like a scabious but a perennial, lavender, Japanese anemones, verbascum but I'm not sure if it's going to come up, roses, hellebores and spring bulbs. I'm trying out some corn marigolds, corn chamomile and some Californian poppies,they're hardy annuals so have to sow them direct, not sure if the slugs and snails will get them but the other poppies come up.
@Logan, I think the slugs wont bother California poppies. Here the slugs grow bigger than my thumb, but California poppies do fine. My slugs love onions, garlic, beans, lettuce, cabbage, etc. When I catch slugs, I feed them to the duck and the hens. I don't know corn marigolds or corn chamomile. Will look them up. Another great shrub for bees is Ceanothus. Wow, those are always buried in bees when in bloom. When I was shopping for trees to add to my property, I looked up what bees like and added four Lindens. Tilia cordata. Those grew like champs, and when in bloom, the bees are all over them. We also have a large horse chestnut that bumblebees and honeybees love. I used to have a bossy neighbor who gave me a hard time about dandelions but he is gone now so I let them bloom. I also grow big patches of Chinese chives for dumplings, and also let some onions bloom for seeds. Bees love those too. The challenge is filling in when those aren't blooming. Also I wish I knew where those honeybees are kept - I'm feeding them so much, I'd like some honey
Thank you Daniel for the information about the Californian poppies. It's good what you are doing for wildlife. I have a small garden and no room for trees but try to grow a lot of flowers for them. We have a lot of dandelions in our lawn that we leave to flower and clover that we leave to flower.
