i love mowing over my creeping thyme. only thing here that will outcompete the creeping charlie and you can harvest it for seasoning. bees do go on its tiny flowers.
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I have lots of herbs already, 4-5 different kind of thyme varieties also. Yesterday I pulled out 2 plants, they were a mess, I need room for my peonies.
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Can we come up with a list of sorts or kind of rough idea of a few things what would be great to have on the basis of Early and Late ?
I am letting Mid be my fruit trees and cane fruits along with white clover.
Early- Crimson Clover, Forsythia, Willows
Late- Asters and Goldenrods
I did not know this but only the bumblebee queens live during the winter? So it seems that now that they are fattening up on late forage so that they can make more babies in the spring.
I was going to get mason bees and orchard bees started as i only have a few here and there…but it seems my main bees are bumblebees…and a few stray honeybees that im not sure where they live yet.
Since bumblebees seem to be my main pollinator here i want to be sure to give them habitat and forage for their continued growth and population.
I guess they live in holes in the ground…so thats on them.
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if you can, leave brush piles around your property. they like to nest in them. bumbles are my primary pollinator as well. we dont have wild honeybees this far north. ive bought mason and leafcutter bee cocoons in the past to try and bring the population up in my area. i have home made breeding houses put up around the yard. most of them seem to have stayed around.
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Here are some…
. Blooming time of Plants for pollinators /beneficial insects
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https://extension.unh.edu/sites/default/files/migrated_unmanaged_files/Resource005973_Rep8387.pdf
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https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/native-pollinator-plant-lists
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Willamette valley Oregon. We do the same thing. No poisons and no mowers.
We are planting natives, still need more fall bloomers. We have seen a massive increase in birds and insects. The turkeys are eating the ticks , so those are gone!
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We only mow our yard when we cant see our dog when he goes out to do his business 
If you are on a farm you can easily set up a pollinator plot, buckwheat is cheap and easy to grow, it attracts so many pollinators and predatory flies and wasps and can be mowed down as the seeds mature and you might get another crop to carry into the fall. Good luck with the tigers though, buckwheat gets just high enough to hide them easily
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i planted the steep ditch near the road with 4 packs of red sorba Japanese buckwheat from rareseeds.com in the spring of 21’, its now spread to a 30ft section of that ditch. i just let it reseed itself. it has beautiful red flowers and stems. i highly recommend growing it and in a pinch can be harvested for its grain.
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@steveb4
I did not realize that this is a perennial type of buckwheat , as it says in the baker creek description.
Is it winter hardy in Main ,ie comes back from the same root ?
Or, sprouts from dropped seed ?
Is the grain similar to normal buckwheat ?
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reseeds itself. grain is the same as regular buckwheat. it was developed by a Japanese breeder from some buckwheat he discovered in the Himalayas. its the grain used to make soba noodles there and the flour is naturally high in antioxidants. the fields attract people to them when in bloom. google it. its pretty cool!
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sorry. my bad. its Takane ruby buckwheat.
Takane info from a beekeeper- looks like great late season forage.
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maybe it is perennial. i just assumed it was the seeds that it came back from. our snow insulates well so i guess its possible.
This plant/tree fascinates me but nowhere have I seen a zone for it. “Southeastern U.S.” is pretty broad and encompasses a lot of zones. Anyone?
@pamiejune
Bonap , is my go to source for their range maps .
Here is aralia spinosa , ie . Devils walking stick
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Its probably best to get your Devils Walking stick going now before its too late.
And be on the lookout for its evil twin… The Japanese Angelica Tree
This species is also thought to be capable of hybridizing with the native Aralia spinosa, which could threaten the genetic diversity and survivability of one of our more unique native trees.
The only way to tell them apart is a very close inspection of the flowers. Other than that they look identical.
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@krismoriah
You mentioned you started some from cuttings .
Was that stem cuttings or root cuttings , how did you go about it ?
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I got root cuttings… but i totally did it wrong and it still worked. I stuck them in the winter in a basement type setting along with all of my other cuttings. I stuck them like they were scions 
I honestly totally forgot by the time that i received them that they were roots…
During the winter they had set roots in the cool damp soil (above 40F)… and in spring they put up growth… as did all of my cuttings.
I bought my cuttings from here- (super nice guy with alot of good native stuff).
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I ordered the buckwheat seeds (Ruby and Red)… thanks for that recommendation.
I like things that the bees and pollinators enjoy, then the birds enjoy…and also i can enjoy eating if i want. I just need to figure out if i need to keep them behind a fence…
Confusing Google searches:
Is Ruby/Red buckwheat deer resistant- Yes. (according to rareseeds)
Is Buckwheat forage for deer- Yes its grown in food plots. (according to deer hunters).
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ive never seen deer or moose forage on it here but grouse, bear and waterfowl love its fresh greens and seeds.
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