Rob,
This can be a start of some plants to catalog.
Someone dropped off this bush the other day, is has a lemon type of smell and about a day after it was dropped off the bees were having their way with it. I was told it was a Mimosa but it does not seem to fit anything I can find in the mimosa family. Maybe someone else can ID it or for sure Karen Neil.
Not sure what format you want or how to organize them, so start a different thread or move the post as you wish.
I've seen them called leather leaf mahonia. There is a nice one next door to me and several in my neighborhood. They are very early bloomers and my bees go to them.
Nice site Zulu, great pictures.
The invasive part may be when the birds eat the berries and then deposit them else where, so new plants may be widely dispersed and not necessarily next to the host plant.
Karen Neil of the Guilford County Ag Extension Office presented a list of plants at the January meeting that bees can forage listed by season in North Carolina.
The web site below provides a list by perennials, annuals, herbs, trees and shrubs and vines. www.protectpollinators.org
Not sure I got all the spellings correct so feel free to point out corrections.
Greensboro, NC is in zone 7.
Spring Plants
Rosebud
Blackberry
Black Cherry (not eatable)
Witch Hazel
Sassafras
Ansonia
Red Maple
Spiderwort
Mustard
Baptisia - Deer Resistant
Black Locust
Hairy Vetch
Crimson Clover
Summer Plants
St. Johns Wort
Passion Flower
Sunflower
Downey Skullcap
Rattlesnake Master
Sourwood
American Basswood
Joe Pye Weed
Sweet pepper bush
Boneset
Gay Feather
Bee Balm
Mountain Mint
Catnip
Cone Flower
Oregano
Agastache
Butterfly Weed
Swamp Milkweed
Culver Root
Basil
Thyme
Buck Wheat
Fall Plants
Asters
Golden Rod – Different from Ragweed
Vernunia
Iron Weed
Sneeze Weed
Tithonia
Helant
Sedum
Gaillaronia
Monarda
The day before yesterday, I saw two leatherleaf mahonia starting to bloom at the arboretum. The ones in the park near me have buds that are starting to swell, but are nowhere near opening with yellow blooms.
I saw a Sasanqua Camellia in full bloom in the vicinity of my hives on Saturday (Jan. 5th). Although the blossoms looked rather waterlogged, the flowers must've been dry enough because the girls were bringing in pollen. This is some crazy weather for winter!
Things appear late to me this year. I don't think the mahonias I saw at the arboretum are the usual type. David's still have green buds, the largest of which, are close to opening. Bees were exploring around them today. His flowering quince has large buds and a few blooms that appear to have been damaged by the hard freezes. As far as I can tell, no red maple in my area is beyond the bud stage. Never the less, my better hives are busy bringing in pollen today.
David's quince has been fully blooming for about 2 days now and enough of his mahonia is blooming to attract several bees at once. The quince looks like a pollen producer, and the mahonia, a nectar producer. I have never seen pollen on the legs of bees working mahonia blooms. Bees were working an ornamental cherry (?) tree at the arboretum this afternoon. I saw pollen on the back legs of the bees working this tree. The blooms looked a little past their prime.
I saw flowering cherries blooming in High Point today, and Bradford Pear and Yellow Bells in Sophia.
My crocus have been bloomed since Friday, Feb. 15.
Wild blackberry is blooming. Most of the holly type plants I see have a large number of good sized new berries on them, so they are about done. They definitely got good pollination from something.
The red maple down the street is blooming now. I also saw some pretty scraggly forsythia and an ornamental cherry type tree in bloom. David's flowering quince has more blooms open as well. It looks like spring is trying to make its way here. Has anyone ever seen honey bees working forsythia? I haven't.
