Blackberry in Bloom

The bloom of the blackberry is milestone on the beekeeper’s calendar. Shirley Murphy told me her Tennessee River bees were bringing in large amounts of light gray colored pollen. When I took today’s picture, I knew the source of the pollen: blackberry. I had noticed my Arkansas Delta bees bringing in large amounts of the light gray colored pollen along with bright yellow pollen. After several days of cool, rainy weather, the sun broke out of the clouds briefly; and the bees burst from their hives and converged on blackberry thickets in great numbers. Blackberries are an important source of pollen for honey bees feeding a large population of brood.

The blackberry is a vine in the important family of bee plants, the roses. Members of the rose family supply great amounts of nectar and pollen to honey bees and native pollinators. Other roses include the flowering rose plants and a number of vines: greenbrier, raspberries, and strawberries. A number of roses are shrubs and trees, including hawthorns, apples, almonds, apricots, peaches, cherries, plums, pears, and crabapples. Today’s photo shows honey bees pollinating blackberry flowers. As the bees scrub through the flowers, they transfer grains of pollen from the exposed anthers to the sticky stigmas, allowing the plants to produce fruit and seed. Since blackberries bloom over a rather long period of time, there are buds, flowers, and unripened fruit showing in the picture. Later, there will be dark, ripe fruit as well. Cultivated blackberries are a favorite for pies, jams, and jellies. Wild blackberries provide food for songbirds and wildlife. Seeds are dispersed by birds, and 10-foot-tall blackberry thickets grow rapidly in full sun. In colonial times, the tough vines of blackberry plants were stripped of their thorns, and then they were used to bind bundles of straw to build skeps and roofing thatch. Skeps are dome-shaped bee hives that look like inverted straw baskets. Honey bees were brought from Europe to North America aboard sailing ships in skeps.

--Richard

Blackberries in Bloom

A state-wide meeting of beekeepers found a number of seasoned beekeepers sitting quietly. A beekeeper, new to the craft, commented, “My bees filled a super the first week of May with clear honey. What was the source of the nectar?” In unison six people answered, “Blackberry!” Blackberry is a native vine in the rose family, one of the important families of bee plants. The roses, which also include flowering roses, almonds, cherries, apples, plums, pears, crabapples, and hawthorns, are heavy producers of nectar and pollen. Blackberry secretes an abundance of nectar at the base of the flowers that is highly attractive to honey bees. From this nectar the bees produce a highly valued honey that is clear to amber in color. Blackberries occur along forest clearings and margins. Where there is adequate sunlight, large stands of the vines can be found. However, the availability of blackberry honey from wild plants is not always consistent from year to year. Stands of the plant often decline as forest trees shade the blackberry vines. Blackberries are also cultivated for their delicious fruit which is used to make preserves and fill pies. Commercially cultivated plantings of blackberries usually require honey bee hives to be brought into the fields for pollination, as native pollinators are often not available in adequate numbers.

If you click on today’s photo, you can see a honey bee foraging for nectar in a blackberry blossom. As the bee moves about the flower, she inadvertently brushes the exposed flower parts with her hairy body. Pollen granules from the flower’s anthers adhere to the hairs on the bee, and she carries them to the sticky stigma of another blackberry flower. Only with this insect pollination will there be fruit produced. The fruit and seed of the blackberry provide enjoyable food for humans as well as important food for wildlife and songbirds. The health of the environment can be measured in part by the abundance of wildlife, songbirds, and pollinators.

--Richard

Blackberry in Bloom

The blackberry is in bloom. All along the margins of woodlots and field borders the white blossoms of the thorny canes of blackberries can be seen. Often there are enough blackberries present in areas not under agricultural use to make for a significant nectar source for the honey bee. This makes the blackberry bloom a notable milestone in the beekeeping year. A warm and sunny day will find many honey bees gathering pollen and nectar from blackberries.

The blackberry plant is a member of one of the families of bee plants that provide a significant amount of forage for honey bees, the roses. Other members of this important family of bee plants include the spring flowering trees: the almond, plum, pear, apple, and crabapple. The hawthorns are roses as well as the other brambles, like raspberries. The blackberry attracts the honey bee with its nectar. The honey bee unknowingly pollinates the blackberry as it collects pollen or nectar. Only with this pollination does the blackberry produce fruit. The blackberry fruit and seeds provide food for birds and wildlife. Thank you, honey bees, because the blackberry makes one of our best cobblers. Pollination by bees accounts for one third of our human diet, and it seems like that is the tastiest one third.
--Richard