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Trees That Bees Love

Making It Grow Minute
SC Public Radio

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. A group of us was talking recently about trees that buzz – that are so attractive to bees that you can hear them from under the canopy. Tilia americana, basswood or linden, is one of those trees and it also has a beautiful fragrance. This is not a tree that you can use in all places, however, it gets to eighty feet eventually and has a dense, shade producing crown extending thirty feet across.   It performs best on rich, moist soils with room to spread and can take shade from surrounding trees. The flowers are perfect, yellow and borne in a cluster called a cyme that hands from a stem below a bract – what looks like a leaf so it’s a distinctive feature. The honey, usually referred to as basswood honey, is prized for its flavor with spicy and minty undertones. 

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.