THE gardens at Hillsborough are in full bloom and buzzing with the sound of bees.
As well as the native solitary bees and leaf cutter bees, we now have our own honey bees, 'Apis mellifera'. The hives are located at the far end of Coronation Meadow so they are not disturbed but yet are close enough to enable the workers to forage over the whole estate.
There are three hives, each one containing one queen and up to 50,000 worker bees.
As they visit the flowers at Hillsborough, they collect nectar and pollen which they use as food for themselves and the young in their hives. By moving from flower to flower they act as vital pollinators for many of our garden flowers, wildflowers, fruit, and vegetables.
It is a win-win situation. Of course, they also produce honey in the hives, and we are looking forward to our first Hillsborough Honey Fair taking place this weekend where visitors can sample lots of local honey.
While the bees live on our land, they belong to local beekeeper Gwen Earnshaw who looks after them, and during the Honey Fair she will be sharing her insight on bee keeping and giving visitors a glimpse of the inside of a working hive.
Bees have an important role to play in maintaining our planet, pollinating crops we eat such as broccoli, strawberries and tomatoes and the trees and shrubs that provide habitats for wildlife.
Quite simply, we can't survive without them, so as gardeners we do our best to ensure we provide the habitats and all the pollen and nectar they need.
At Hillsborough Castle, we grow a wide range of single flowers that enable the bees to have easy access to the nectar and pollen such as Rosa 'Narrow Water' in the long borders.
Bees see the colour purple most clearly, so we have lots of purple flowers such as chives and rosemary, and the catmint is always buzzing.
Bumble bees, 'Bombus hortorum', are particularly fond of tubular flowers so you will find many foxgloves, penstemon and honeysuckles throughout the gardens and woodland areas.
It is also important to have flowers all year round so you will always find something in flower even in the depths of winter, whether it is ivy on the walls or early daffodils and crocuses or winter flowering rhododendrons.
Bees are particularly sensitive to sprays and chemicals, so we don't use any in the walled garden and would recommend you don't in your own gardens either.
Here are my top five bee-friendly flowers for each season:
::Spring - bluebell, crabapple, primrose, rhododendron and rosemary
::Early summer - compfrey, delphinium, foxglove, hardy geraniums and campanula
:: Late summer - asters, cardoons, dahlia, scabious, globe thistle
::Autumn - rudbeckia, verbena bonariensis, sedum, solidago, actaea
::Winter - ivy, crocus, snowdrop, hellebore, mahonia
To find out more about gardening for bees and selecting the best plants to keep your garden buzzing, join one of the garden walks and get ideas to make your own garden bee-friendly during the Hillsborough Honey Fair.
::This weekend's two-day Hillsborough Honey Fair will welcome over 30 local producers and food vendors to the grounds of Hillsborough Castle, where guided walks, demonstrations, family activities and foraging will be on the menu. The event is in association with Food NI and supported by the Northern Ireland Regional Food Programme and Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. Booking is available now via HRP.org.uk.
