Since I started keeping bees in 2015, I have tried to track the flowers that appear in our yard. We have a couple acres here in Virginia, and quite a few trees and other landscaping. Not to mention our very “pollinator friendly lawn” full what other people less bee-inclined might refer to as weeds (perish the thought). As I mentioned in my post on growing degree days, the bulbs come up rather early this year. The past week we saw our first flowers appear so I thought it would be a good time to share a little project I’ve been working on.

One of my winter projects was to put my date into a Google Sheet and include historical weather date so I could calculate the growing degree days (GDD) values for my blooms. I am probably not the best at recording the first bloom, sometimes getting it late or failing to identify the flower at the right time. Still, I am pleased that I have all the notes and now have them in a single file, although I admit that the 2019 and 2020 data is a little sparse.

You can view the Bees with eeb Blooms file in Google Sheets. I am still looking for a better source of historical temperatures near our property, as many of the temperatures are from Manassas Airport which is 15 miles away from us. I started recording 2023 flowers and have recording the following so far:

• February 13 – Crocus
• February 13 – Creeping Speedwell
• February 13 – Witch Hazel
• February 15 – Daffodil
• February 17 – Grape Hyacinth
• February 17 – Candytuft

You can see the full details in the file. I will try to keep collecting dates and update the file throughout the year.

May you prosper and find honey.