Sounds like our purple loosestrife situation (NE Massachusetts). A shame. PL used to grow densely along the rivers and roads, and was so reliable in late summer. Colonies could gather a nice surplus and pack away some stores. You could always notice the green tinge to the nectar in the cells when they were working it. It added volume to the crop, and served the bees well, even if it was a bland honey.

Then they started the control programs and the release of beetles. The reason was, the cat-tails and bird nest habitat were being choked out, and so on.

As a result, we have practically zip for decent forage after mid July, and a big gap until the scant goldenrods and asters..In the meantime, for weeks the bees just sit there, barely flying at all. Nucs started in late June or July must be fed right through or they just don't build up. 

The beetle populations don't seem to crash enough to let the loosestrife come back a bit, though I've been waiting and hoping that might happen. Further north and west I hear it is still a prominent enough plant to yield. 

So-called Japanese bamboo ("Japanese knotweed") blooms in many of the same areas, at about that time of year, but in MA, after 10 years, I still have yet to notice any accumulation in the hives during that time of year, and the colonies instead are losing weight. In central NY it would show up as supers full or almost full of reddish-brown honey, but it doesn't seem to yield here, despite being widespread.

The spotted knapweed, like the loosestrive, is quite a colorful attractive wildflower. It's an nteresting article. Thanks for posting the link!




 




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