Pollenfarb

I've been sitting watching the bees to-ing and fro-ing today which can be very instructive when you have this conveniently pocket sized "Pollen Colour Guide" close to hand (click on it to make it readable). Right now their baskets are bright yellow (possibly the privet), bright orange (hopefully the lime trees which are in full flower right now) and pale sage (which is certainly the bramble in bloom everywhere). For the last three weeks of May the bees were busy in the 10 foot tall bush which I have now happily identified as Leptospermum scoparium otherwise known as Manuka or Tea Tree. While all (unheated ) honey is antimicrobial, manuka honey has been shown to be especially effective at killing a wide range of bacteria including the 'superbug' MRSA. So convincing is the research that even the mainstream medical profession is using it (once again) for wound dressing. Anyway, I've taken a dozen cuttings and will attempt to propagate a little hedge of tea tree for our bees.