What's In The Honey Nut Cheerios Bee Seed Mix?

A while back a mix of 'wildflowers' for bees was given out in mass quantities by Honey Nut Cheerios. Unfortunately most species on the list were non-native in most of the places they were sent to, and some were invasive species. See http://www.cassisaari.com/bringbackthebees-another-misguided-conservation-effort/ , written by @bouteloua . There was also another similar packet i was given that was supposedly from President Obama. That one had a slightly different mix - what came up when we planted it was a lupine, a bee balm, and a few other things.

But anyone who has ever done restoration work also knows you often get things in a seed mix that aren't what is on the label. We'd ordered one of these packets before seeing the problems associated with it, so i tossed it in a big container where I could monitor what came up and yank any invasives. Not scientific, but interesting anyhow.

I've been tracking what came up using the iNat tag 'bringbackthebees' based on the cheerios hashtag. See here: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=bringbackthebees&verifiable=any . If anyone else has planted these seeds, can you do the same? (you can obscure the location if it's at your house. Be sure to mark as not naturalized too, since you planted the seeds). So far the mix seems to include at least one or two things not on the list, but it's also possibly my IDs are wrong (if so please correct them!) . For instance, what is that trifolium doing there (or is the ID wrong?). That Phlox sure isn't blue.

(note: Erigeron annuus, which is on that list, grows everywhere in our yard and seeds have gotten into the container from nearby areas, so i have no idea if it was in the seed mix or not. Also, this container has other weeds in it. This is not a scientific study, just an estimate).

Publicado el agosto 19, 2017 04:27 TARDE por charlie charlie

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