Bird’s Foot Trefoil

A member of the pea family, Bird’s Foot Trefoil is a classic component of wildflower seed mixes, providing both pollen and nectar during the summer months.

Wild Blackberry

Flowering from late spring to early summer, Wild Blackberry bushes provide a feast for honeybees. Well-pollinated, they later produce abundant blackberry crops to feed birds and other wildlife.

Daisies

From tiny lawn Daisies to the abundant Ox-Eyes flowering profusely by the roadside in early summer, daisies are a luscious resource for bees.

Dandelion

The chrome yellow burst of Dandelions is a joyous signal of spring. One of the most valuable plants for honeybees, dandelions give precious early-season pollen and nectar.

Dog Rose

This wild climbing rose offers simple, abundant flowers in summer followed by rose hips that feed birds, squirrels and many other creatures, and are a rich source of Vitamin C.

Rosebay Willowherb

A staple of waste ground and derelict buildings, this ‘fireweed’ (it’s well known for colonizing areas scorched by fire) is one of honeybees’ richest food sources in summer.

Viper’s Bugloss

Where many flowers have their nectar flow in the middle of the day, the nectar from Viper’s Bugloss’ dense blue spires offers a dependable feast throughout the day.

Summer-flowering.

White Clover

Once upon a time, Clover was grown as a cash crop and was a mainstay of English honey production. Nowadays, it is rarely grown commercially, but it thrives as a valuable wildflower, blooming throughout the summer.

Cranesbill

Honeybees will choose Cranesbill’s unassuming flowers time and again, preferring them to many more showy plants in bloom. Depending on the species, these wild forms will flower from late spring until early autumn.

Snowdrops, the buttercup-like winter aconite, crocuses, daffodils, and hyacinths all supply much-needed fresh pollen and nectar after the long winter months. These can be planted under trees or shrubs to produce a carpet of flowers in early spring, when large parts of the garden are still bare. The white deadnettle, which flowers from early spring well into winter and increasingly year-round, is a bee’s best friend, as are other year-round plants such as ivy and heathers.

Purple- and white-colored buddleia, Michaelmas daisies and sedum, which turns red come autumn, are all late-flowering plants which, as well as supplying the bees’ final sustenance before winter, will add a late flourish of color to your garden.

Flowers to consider from late spring through summer include tulips, forget-me-nots and dandelions, which are out just before the fruit blossoms appear. A bed containing the purple spikes of Salvia x superba and edged with the long-flowering common catmint is sure to be full of bees in midsummer. Other perennials you could usefully plant include fuchsia, cornflowers, yarrow, goldenrod, geranium, the bell-like campanula and the fast-growing lavatera with its pink, trumpet-shaped flowers.

If space allows, hazels, shrubby willows and honeysuckles are useful sources of nectar and pollen in early spring. In early summer, a wall or fence covered in red-berried cotoneaster will be a favorite. Among taller plants, hollyhocks, sunflowers, foxgloves and the daisy-like rudbeckia all attract bees.

In a wilder setting, clovers, rosebay willowherb and brambles are among the midsummer pollen producers. For autumn pollen, try heathers, thistles, ivy, balsam and autumn-flowering crocuses.

Many culinary herbs are a good source of nectar, so in addition to creating an herb garden for your kitchen, you can simultaneously create a bee garden. The mint family, which includes sage, thyme, marjoram and basil, is a must, along with rosemary and lavender. Herbs grow well in pots, so if you have just a backyard, a roof terrace with no space for flower beds or even just a windowsill, you can still attract bees with a collection of pots planted with a variety of herbs.

You could also add a miniature fruit bush — these too are now available in pots.

Raspberry, blackberry and gooseberry bushes will provide not only juicy, soft fruits for you to eat but also delicious nectar for bees. In the case of raspberries, bees are known to collect the sweet juice from the ripe and overripe fruit because, unlike other fruits, bees can puncture raspberries’ delicate skin. Apples, for example, are of no interest to a bee because the skin is too tough, but the delicate white blossom on the apple trees in spring is a welcome source of food early in the season.

Suggested Flowers for a Bee Garden

Annuals
  • baby blue-eyes (Nemophila spp.)
  • blanket flower (Gaillardia spp.)
  • blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia violacea)
  • California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
  • candytuft (Iberis amara)
  • China aster (Callistephus chinensis)
  • clarkia (Clarkia elegans)
  • common baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata)
  • cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
  • flax (Linum spp.)
  • gilia (Gilia spp.)
  • godetia (Clarkia amoena)
  • lavatera (Lavatera spp.)
  • love in the mist (Nigella spp.)
  • mallow (Malva spp.)
  • malope (Malope trifida)
  • meadowfoam or poached egg plant (Limnanthes spp.)
  • Mexican aster (Cosmos bipinnatus)
  • mignonette (Reseda spp.)
  • Nasturtium (Tropaeolum spp.)
  • phacelia (Phacelia spp.)
  • pheasant’s eye (Adonis spp.)
  • sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritime)
  • tickseed (Coreopsis spp.)
Perennials
  • Alpine rock-cress (Arabis alpina)
  • alyssum (Alyssum spp.)
  • aubrieta (Aubrieta spp.)
  • Canterbury bells (Campanula medium)
  • Carpathian harebell (Campanula carpatica)
  • catmint (Nepeta spp.)
  • checkerbloom (Sidalcea spp.)
  • coneflower (Rudbeckia spp.)
  • cranesbill (Geranium pratense)
  • fernleaf yarrow (Achillea filipendulina)
  • fleabane (Erigeron spp.)
  • forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.)
  • French honeysuckle (Hedysarum coronarium)
  • fuchsia (Fuchsia spp.)
  • goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
  • herb hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
  • hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
  • horehound (Marrubium vulgare)
  • hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum spp.)
  • knapweed (Centaurea spp.)
  • large blue alkanet (Anchusa azurea)
  • lavatera (Lavatera spp.)
  • lavenders (Lavandula spp.)
  • loosestrife (Lythrum spp.)
  • marjoram (Origanum majorana)
  • sage (Salvia spp., especially S. x superba)
  • scabious (Scabiosa spp.)
  • sneezeweed (Helenium spp.)
  • thoroughwort (Eupatorium spp.)
  • thrift (Armeria maritima)
  • thyme (Thymus spp.)
  • veronica (Veronica spp.)
  • willowherb (Epilobium spp.)
  • woundwort (Stachys spp.)
  • Bulbs
  • autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale)
  • common hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)
  • crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis)
  • quamash (Camassia spp.)
  • snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)
  • snowflake (Leucojum spp.)
  • tulip (Tulipa spp.)
  • winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)