Oregon Pollinator Seed Mix
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix
Fast-Flowering Summer Forage for Honey Bees & Other Pollinators
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix combines buckwheat, lacy phacelia, Black Oil sunflower and Autumn Beauty sunflower to create a diverse warm-season planting designed to provide summer flowers and supplemental nectar and pollen resources.
Designed for: Oregon beekeepers, apiary forage plantings, pollinator habitat, farms, field borders and other suitable areas where additional summer floral resources are desired.
Summer Pollinator Forage
A Focused Mix for Summer Flowers
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix is built around warm-season flowering plants rather than grasses or non-flowering filler. Buckwheat and lacy phacelia provide rapid-growing flowering components while two different sunflower types add large blooms, pollen resources and additional floral diversity.
Black Oil sunflower provides a practical, field-scale sunflower component, while branching Autumn Beauty sunflower produces multiple flowers per plant and helps diversify the stand throughout the summer flowering period.
What's in the Mix
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix Components
Four flowering components combine rapid establishment, different bloom structures and warm-season pollinator forage in one Oregon-focused seed mix.
Buckwheat
A rapidly establishing summer annual valued for fast flowering and abundant clusters of small blossoms. Buckwheat can provide an important floral resource when moisture and growing conditions are favorable.
Lacy Phacelia
A highly attractive flowering broadleaf with distinctive purple blooms that provide nectar and pollen resources for honey bees and other beneficial insects.
Black Oil Sunflower
A pollen-producing sunflower well suited to larger plantings. It adds highly visible flowers, vertical structure and another summer forage resource for pollinating insects.
Autumn Beauty Sunflower
A branching, pollen-producing sunflower that develops multiple colorful blooms per plant. Its branching growth habit adds flowering diversity and helps broaden the sunflower component of the mix.
Why Plant It
Built Around Summer Pollinator Forage
The mixture is intended to supplement existing agricultural and natural forage with another flowering resource during Oregon's warm season.
Rapid Flower Production
Buckwheat and phacelia can move from establishment toward flowering relatively quickly under suitable summer conditions.
Nectar Resources
Multiple flowering species provide potential nectar resources when the stand receives adequate moisture and is allowed to reach bloom.
Pollen Resources
Phacelia, buckwheat and pollen-producing sunflowers contribute several potential pollen sources within the same planting.
Diverse Flower Structures
Small buckwheat blooms, coiled phacelia flowers and large sunflower heads create distinctly different floral structures.
Supplemental Apiary Forage
Suitable acreage near managed colonies can create an additional flowering resource during summer forage periods.
Broader Pollinator Habitat
Multiple flower types can also provide temporary habitat and forage for bumble bees, solitary bees and other beneficial insects.
Warm-Season Forage Strategy
Multiple Flower Types in One Summer Planting
Each component fills a different role within the stand. Fast-flowering broadleaves provide an early floral component, while two pollen-producing sunflower types add larger flowers and additional summer diversity.
Bloom timing is influenced by planting date, temperature, soil moisture and regional conditions. The mix must be allowed to flower for its intended pollinator-forage benefits to develop.
Establishment
Planting Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix
Plant after meaningful frost risk has passed and soil has warmed. Planting dates should be adjusted for location, soil moisture and summer irrigation availability.
Seeding Rate
General starting rate: 35 lb per acre drilled. For broadcast planting, approximately 40 lb per acre may be used with good seed-to-soil contact.
Western Oregon
A general planting window is May through June. Earlier planting should wait until frost danger has passed, while later planting requires dependable summer moisture.
Central & Eastern Oregon
Target establishment after significant frost risk has passed, often around June. Reliable moisture or irrigation becomes especially important in drier regions.
Oregon Growing Regions
Where Summer Bee Forage Mix Can Fit
Willamette Valley
Strong potential for May and June establishment where adequate soil moisture or irrigation is available through flowering.
Oregon Coast
Suitable for warm-season flowering once soils have warmed and frost risk has declined.
Southern Oregon
A longer warm season provides a broad potential planting window, but dependable moisture is important during summer establishment.
Central & Eastern Oregon
Can fit irrigated or reliably moist sites where the frost-free season provides enough time for establishment and flowering.
Extend the Forage Window
Consider Staggered Plantings
For larger apiary forage projects, planting separate sections at different dates can help create successive flowering periods instead of having the entire acreage peak at once. Planting intervals should remain within a suitable frost-free window and dependable moisture should be available for each planting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Questions
What species are in Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix?
Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix contains Buckwheat, Lacy Phacelia, Black Oil Sunflower and Autumn Beauty Sunflower.
Why does the mix contain two sunflower types?
Black Oil sunflower provides a practical pollen-producing sunflower for larger plantings, while Autumn Beauty has a branching growth habit that produces multiple flowers per plant. Combining the two adds additional flower and growth-habit diversity.
Will Autumn Beauty sunflower grow in Oregon?
Yes. Autumn Beauty is a warm-season sunflower suitable for Oregon summer growing conditions. Plant after frost risk has passed and allow enough warm-season growing time for the plants to reach flowering.
When should Summer Bee Forage Mix be planted in Oregon?
In western Oregon, a general target is May through June. In Central and Eastern Oregon, planting should generally occur after frost risk has declined, often around June. Local weather and available moisture should determine final timing.
How much Summer Bee Forage Mix should I plant per acre?
A general starting recommendation is 35 pounds per acre when drilled and approximately 40 pounds per acre when broadcast with good seed-to-soil contact.
How quickly can the mix begin flowering?
Under favorable summer conditions, some components may begin meaningful flowering roughly six to eight weeks after planting. The sunflower components may develop on a somewhat different schedule. Temperature, moisture and planting date will affect actual bloom timing.
Does this mix require irrigation?
Irrigation is not required at every Oregon location, but adequate soil moisture is essential for establishment, continued growth and flowering. Irrigation becomes increasingly important in dry regions and with later summer plantings.
Is this a permanent pollinator planting?
No. Oregon Summer Bee Forage Mix is primarily an annual warm-season flowering planting. Longer-term pollinator habitat should also include perennial flowering plants and appropriate nesting habitat.
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