My experience this year seems to support Lloyd's comments.  I'm in central
Vermont, and have six hives and a couple of nucs on farm land heavy with
white clover, loose strife, joe pye weed, and thistle.  The hives from that
group which didn't give me supersedure problems are doing well (not great,
but well).

I also keep a hive in my back yard, which is a bottomland area that has
produced well over the past few (dry) years (around 100lbs/hive from 1st
year, closer to 200 lbs from 2nd year hives).  It has a good mix of
wildflowers, brambles, some sweet clover, and heavy with goldenrod & aster.
This year, this hive is just not producing . We've had so much rain during
critical periods that it seems to be sort of "idling".  A friend who keeps
around 20 hives in a similar arrangement has reported nearly identical
observations (he lives about 3 miles away).

It would seem that the key difference between these hive locations is the
white clover, which blooms steadily over a very long period.  This long
bloom would be of real advantage when the weather is uncooperative, creating
a much wider window of opportunity than shorter bloom wild nectar sources.

Lets hope for some hot, dry weather for the goldenrod flow...

Todd.

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