These are in the refuse pile of a community garden. Some kind of mustard or salad green? Bees were active on the flowers, so I wanted to know exactly what they are...and put them in my bee garden! I have named them Mystery 1 and Mystery 2...leaves and flowers in spite of similar colour are very different in form.
Just hoping someone can ID the specific plants so I can buy seed. I have planted the West Coast Seeds "Go Go Mix", which includes white mustard. Although intended for sprouting it will make nice bee forage when it all flowers.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cvabk0SWw...1600/Rapistrum+even+more+massive+shitpots.jpg Careful what you wish for! http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RARU http://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=14105 http://www.weedscience.org/Details/case.aspx?ResistID=5550
I know this stuff springs up in ditches etc. but where I have my beeyard, there is limited bee forage, in spite of being in the middle of agricultural land. We know that bees do best when they have access to a wide range of pollens and nectars, but all the hedgerows are gone....farmers maximizing field areas and worried about keeping the fields clear. So apart from blackberries (thank goodness for blackberries), the best source of food for the bees is (incredibly) the mature gardens in a nearby subdivision. I wish everyone with a bit of land would plant a strip along even one of their fields or green spaces with year round bee forage options. It would help a lot!
Sarah Raven would appreciate your attitude. Maybe you already saw her 3-part series called Bees, Butterflies, and Blooms. It was addressed to the UK, but the concern is the same in North America. http://www.sarahraven.com/beesbutterfliesblooms I'm quite sure you could find her series on the net somewhere. It would also be a good series for high school students to see.
