This plant is called Melilotus officinalis (Synonyms: M. alba, M. arvensis, M. leucantus, M. lutea, and Medicago officinalis). Melilotus is from the Greek word “meli”, meaning honey and “lotos”, meaning a leguminous plant. Common names include sweetclover, white sweetclover, and yellow sweetclover.

During our most recent bee inspection, we had some beautiful frames of pollen in many different colors – such as red, orange, yellow, light green, etc. In March, there usually isn’t much blooming yet, so I started looking around the property to see what we had in bloom and did some research.

To bee or not to bee keep. Why did we become beekeepers?

If bees had to winterize themselves, how would they do it?