Spring is coming up sooner than we know, and its about time for people to start planning their gardens! With news about climate and the state of bee populations, I know a lot of people are wanting to make pollinator gardens to help bees in their area, but may not know what to do asides from ‘plant flowers.’
So I set out to look at a bunch of websites, and use those sources, alongside my own experience as a gardener, to recommend a nice list of plants to include for a bee-friendly garden!*
Amongst all the websites I looked at, these are the ones that popped up! Bolded plants are ones that appeared a lot during this research–across at least 3 different sites, but sometimes as often as across 7!
Asteraceae (a family of plants containing asters, ageratum, calendula, coneflowers, coreopsis, cornflowers, cosmos, daisies, dandelions, echinops, goldenrod, joe-pye weeds, liatris, rabbit brush, rudbeckia, sunflowers, thistles, yarrow, zinnias, etc.)
Butterfly Bush (sometimes referred to by its genus, Buddleia)
Fabaceae (a family of plants containing alfalfa, clover, lupine, peas, peanuts, wisteria, etc.)
Lamiaceae (a family of plants containing agastache, basil, bee balm (sometimes referred to as its genus, Monarda), coleus, hyssop, lavender, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage (sometimes referred to a its genus, Salvia), thyme, etc.)
Thrift/Sea Thrift/Sea Pink
I, as a gardener in Florida, have personal experience growing plants for pollinator gardens, and have noticed bees frequenting sunflowers, lavender, Mexican heather, bee balm, coneflowers, lantana, marigolds, milkweed, and zinnias a lot. This isn’t necessarily to dunk on other plants on the list–a lot of them I’ve never even seen in person, let alone had a chance to grow in a garden! See which ones would thrive in your area and give them a shot!
Another post is in the works regarding general planting advice, since this post is getting a bit long. Afterwards, there’ll be another post about things you can do for bees that don’t simply include planting flowers!
I hope this list is helpful to you! By all means, feel free to hop into my inbox and ask for further advice, or seek out resources on the internet as well! Happy gardening!
Sources: x x x x x x x x x x
* Bee friendly, but I didn’t specify a particular species, so it may be a bit honeybee-leaning. If there’s enough interest, I’ll start making posts for native bees specifically.
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