My hives are in my garden as it should keep the deer, elk and bear out unless the electricity goes out. plants that deer don't like don't seem to bother elk and bear. if deer are your only issue lavender and rosemary are not bothered by them and the bees love it. i have a current bush, i think black current which has pink blooms. grows like a weed, blooms early before the fruit trees. bees love it. have noticed some hybrid showy flowers have been ignored by bees. slight inconvenience with the hives in front of the strawberries. just don't bend over and pick when the bees are out unless you are trying to keep up with the Kardashians. please pass along what you find your bees really like.
Yesterday I was taking down my Christmas decorations and I noticed my California lilac dark star was already blooming, my bees love this plant. The best thing I can say about planting your garden is have things blooming at different time of the year, I mean all 12 months of the year. The more the bees can find to forge on the happier they will be. If you limit what they can find they become very angry if you get near their food source.
Rick
My hives are less than a hundred feet away from my garden, and we’re happy to see each other working right along side each other! They’ve never bothered me; I enjoy seeing them up close.
My garden is about 500 feet from my hives. Remember they can fly up to 5 miles I believe. You don’t want them in your garden, you would have to constantly walk thru their fly zone. I keep a lot of pots on my deck, for the most part they left them alone last year in favor of other blossoms. Do what feels right for your yard, they have their master plan
So I have not done any real gardening in a long time. Any advice on how to layout my garden compared to where my hive will be? I already have some seeds for sunflowers, snapdragons (already have some in my yard) and chives (tired of going to the store to buy them). Should I get some standing planters as well?