Pollen Time

Bees found some sap lines leaking in the sugar bush they seam to really like the sweet sap.

Just plain willows, along the banks of many vt streams and rivers, not just the pussy willows, has to be one of the most important early pollen sources.

I can learn the "pollen /nectar" schedule over and over and I never remember. Drives me crazy. Just took this from a vermont.gov site (http://agriculture.vermont.gov/food_safety_consumer_protection/apiary/bee_overview)....

The first plants start to bloom in early spring, with soft maples, pussy willow, alders and poplars providing pollen, an essential protein, for the bees just starting to expand their populations after a long winter. Later in the spring, dandelions begin to bloom, which under the right conditions can provide honey bee colonies their first surplus nectar of the season. Shortly thereafter, as the weather warms, fruit trees, including apples and cherries come in to bloom, providing both pollen and nectar for building bee populations. The major nectar producing plants start to bloom in late May and often last into August. These would include white dutch clover, black locust, sweet clovers, basswood, milkweed, alfalfa, vetch and trefoil. It is from these plants that the majority of the harvestable honey in Vermont is produced. Late season plants of importance are goldenrod, aster and knotweed.

The buds on our pussy willows are swelled. A few days of sun and they will pop. I went to look after this post and discovered that many of them are half opened with much white showing.