I love this plant so much. Rocky mountain beeplant lives up to its name. The bees go crazy for it, and since it's an annual (meaning it lives a single year), it will continue to bloom, and bloom, and bloom...you get the picture. Each plant produces seemingly endless ranks of fancy pink/purple flowers. The fading flowers turn into bean-like pods whose seeds drop to the ground, ensuring a continuous colony of beeplants from year to year. The seeds are also easy to hand collect and sprinkle around other areas you want future beeplants. Note that in order to germinate, beeplant wants open ground and very little competition from other species.
Beeplants do well on pretty minimal water, where they will grow to about 18" tall. However, if you irrigate them, or plant them in rich soil, you might get a giant 4' beeplant with tremendous numbers of flowers (and happy bees). Consider yourself warned...
As I type this, there's a very excited yellow warbler foraging ants (who also like beeplant nectar) in the very robust stand of beeplant outside my window. Ah, now he's being chased by a territorial hummingbird who fancies the beeplant all his! Anyways, plant some and who knows what manner of fun critters this plant will attract.
Rocky mountain beeplant
- Cleome serrulata

