Bee orchid

How to recognise it

Habit

Perennial orchid of 20–50 cm with a leaf rosette at the base and a straight flowering stem with usually 2–7 flowers. Underground there are two small tubers.

Leaves

Oblong to lance-shaped, grey-green and unspotted. The rosette appears in autumn and stays green through winter; it is already withering at flowering time.

Flowers

Three large pink to white sepals, two small green petals and a rounded, velvety brown lip of about 1–1.5 cm with yellow to reddish-brown markings, like the abdomen of a bee.

Fruit

An elongated capsule with thousands of dust-like seeds, spread by the wind.

Roots

Two small tubers and a few roots, which live together with fungi in the soil.

Confusion with

The fly orchid has green sepals and a narrow, dark lip with a blue patch. The late spider orchid also has pink sepals but a broader lip with a tip pointing forwards; in the bee orchid this tip is folded back underneath.

Flowering: June–July · Pruning: August–September

Why grow it?

• One of the most spectacular wild flowers in the country: each flower looks like a bee sitting on a pink flower.
• A sign of healthy, nutrient-poor soil: where it appears, the management is good.
• A pioneer of new, open ground, so it can also appear in a garden with a poor, chalky lawn.
• Lives together with soil fungi: a lovely example of the hidden cooperation underground.
• The green leaf rosette stays all winter and shows in autumn where flowers will appear next year.

Bee orchid: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: limestone grassland, dune slacks, dykes, road verges, quarries, reclaimed land, disused industrial sites and short-mown lawns.
• Full sun to light shade, in open, low vegetation.
• Poor, free-draining, preferably chalky soil; on rich, fertilised soil it disappears under the grass.
• In the garden: a poor, chalky meadow or a lawn that you do not feed and mow little.

Goes well with

• Cowslip: Flowers in spring in the same poor, chalky grassland.
• Bird’s-foot trefoil: Yellow flowers in June and food plant of the common blue butterfly.
• Wild marjoram: Flowers after the orchid in the same sunny, poor grassland.
• Salad burnet: A fine, low plant of chalk grassland.
• Lady’s bedstraw: Fragrant yellow sprays in summer, on the same dry, poor soil.

Bee orchid: when and how to plant it?

1. Only buy bee orchids from a specialist nursery that raises them from seed; never take them from the wild.
2. Plant in September–October, when the new leaf rosette appears, in poor, chalky, free-draining soil.
3. Plant at the same depth as in the pot and do not break up the root ball: it holds the fungi the plant needs.
4. Water a little after planting and then not at all; never feed.
5. Better still: make your lawn poorer by not feeding it and always removing the clippings. The bee orchid may then appear by itself.
6. Never dig up plants from the wild: wild orchids are protected and plants that are dug up almost always die.

Care

Water

Not needed. Too much water rots the tubers.

Feeding

Never: fertiliser makes the grass stronger, and the grass crowds out the orchid.

Mowing

Only mow from late August, once the seed has been shed, and remove the cuttings. Do not mow short after that, because the leaf rosette appears in autumn.

Mowing around it

In a lawn you can simply mow around the plants and mark the spots with a small stick.

Patience

A plant does not flower every year and sometimes dies after flowering; new plants grow from seed, which takes several years.

Tip: If you want bee orchids, work towards poor soil: no fertiliser, late mowing and removing the cuttings. In sunny, chalky spots they sometimes appear by themselves.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: August–September.

When: No pruning. Mow the meadow or lawn from late August, after the seed has been shed.

How:

• Leave the faded stems until the capsules are brown and open, so the dust-like seed can blow away.
• Then mow the whole area and remove the cuttings to keep the soil poor.
• In autumn and winter do not mow shorter than 5–8 cm, to spare the leaf rosettes.
• Mark the spots with a small stick so you do not mow them by accident.

Caution: Do not mow over the plants in May–July: you would lose that year’s flowers and seed.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

In the wild it spreads by dust-like seed that only germinates with a suitable soil fungus. Let the capsules ripen; in a poor meadow new plants sometimes appear after a few years.

Laboratory

Nurseries sow orchids in a laboratory on a nutrient medium. This is not possible at home, and division or cuttings do not work for this species.

Bee orchid: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −20 °C.

• In September–October a green leaf rosette appears that lasts all winter.
• Hardy in our climate: the rosette tolerates frost.
• In summer, after seeding, everything above ground dies back and the plant rests as a tuber until autumn.

Diseases and pests

• Rank growth: On soil that is too rich the grass grows too tall and the orchid disappears. Mow every year and remove the cuttings.
• Mowing too early: Mowing in June or July loses the flowers and seed. Mow around the plants until late August.
• Slugs and rabbits: They sometimes eat the rosette or buds. In a garden you can protect plants with a small wire-mesh cage.
• Failed transplanting: Plants that are dug up lose their soil fungi and almost always die. Only buy nursery-raised plants.
• Picking: A picked flower makes no seed. Look and take photos, but do not pick.

Through the year

• January: The green leaf rosette stays all winter.
• April: The flowering stem starts to grow. Do not feed.
• May: Buds. Mark the spots so they are not mown.
• June: Flowering begins. Look and photograph, do not pick.
• July: Flowering and seed set. Mow around the plants.
• August: Capsules ripen and open. From late August mow and remove the cuttings.
• September: New leaf rosettes appear. Plant nursery-raised plants.
• October: Rosettes visible. No more short mowing.
• December: Rest; the rosette stays green.

Did you know?

• Related Ophrys species attract male bees or wasps that mistake the flower for a female and pollinate it that way. In our region the bee orchid usually pollinates itself: after a few days the pollen masses bend down onto the stigma by themselves.
• The seed is as fine as dust and has almost no food reserves: without the right soil fungus it does not germinate.
• Because the dust-like seed can blow a long way, it sometimes suddenly appears on roundabouts, industrial estates or lawns.