I took a lunch time stroll around the market to see which winter flowers were enticing the bees. Surprisingly, the biggest attraction was the bright red, fluffy flowers of the Metrosideros ‘Little Dugald’. Interested to know why they were in flower when typically, they flower in spring and summer, I went down a rabbit hole reading about how climate change is affecting the flowering times of many plants. Although you won’t likely see any solitary Australian native bee species out and about in the winter months, you can still stalk the good-old European honeybees (Apismellifera) and the cutesy sugarbag bees (Tetragonulacarbonaria) that buzz about in the midday sun.
If you’re not familiar with sugarbag bees, you might mistake them for little flies (like the work colleague of mine who used to swat at them. tsk. tsk.). Sugarbag bees are among the small number of Australian native bees that are social and live in colonies. They are a great species for hobby beekeepers as they are stingless and are great fun to watch hovering around in the garden with their legwarmers on.
The shrub whose flowering confused me belongs to the genus Metrosideros – a group of shrubs which are evergreen, low maintenance, reasonably drought tolerant and versatile garden plants. ‘Little Ewan’, one of the smaller varieties (1m x 1m), and ‘Little Dugald’ (2m x 1m) both have lush green foliage, while ‘Fiji Fire’ (height to 3m) with its flushes of red growth and ‘Firecracker’ (height to 4m) with its fiery variegated leaves add show-stopping pops of colour to gardens. Metrosideros thomasii (height to 5m) known as the NZ Christmas Bush, with its silvery grey foliage is a great addition to coastal and seaside gardens. Metrosideros varieties can be used as screening plants, clipped as hedges, used as feature shrubs or planted to attract birds and insects in wildlife gardens.
Shop in store at Nursery Traders for Metrosideros varieties and other winter bee-attracting plants today.