Here is a photo of a Mexican Buckeye blooming this spring in the west Austin yard of the latest Official, Certified, Bee-Friendly Garden in Texas. Check out all those blooms! Now, really, isn't this just about the prettiest tree you could plant and have beautiful spring blooms.
According to Jeri Porter, bee gardener extraordinaire,
“the Mexican Buckeye came out very late after the cold weather but never has bloomed more than this year and the bees love it. My yard consists mainly of Texas natives, which are fairly well established. Examples of plants are Autumn Sage, Mexican sage, Lantana, Mealy BlueSage, Copper Canyon daisy, blackfoot daisy, Flame Acanthus, Mexican honeysuckle, Jerusalem artichoke (obviously NOT native but the bees like it), shrubby boneset, Gregg's bluemist, turk's cap, many herbs (Mexican oregano, tarragon, rosemary, Provence lavender); shrubs/small trees (Western Soapberry, Mountain Laurel, roughleaf dogwood,black walnut, American buckeye, American beautyberry, wafer ash, Eve's necklace); lots of Live Oaks and elms; grasses-- I have Inland sea oats, Mexican feather grass. Most of my back yard grass was lost last year to the drought so I am now in the process of replacing the St. Augustine with a mixture of curly mesquite and blue gramma.”
I don’t kid when I say Jeri is an extraordinary plant person. Whenever I have needed help identifying a plant, Jeri is right there with a good identification. Her garden is a great place for native bees!
Thanks for being part of the 2010 Official, Certified, Bee-Friendly Garden Challenge.
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