The problem for bees is that their favourite food plants are often considered to be 'weeds'. They don't go for highly bred double-flowered dahlias, no matter how good they look in our borders.
Most gardeners are now aware of the diminishing number of bees. Bumble, honey and solitary bees are all in decline. On the whole, blame can be apportioned to loss of habitat: hedgerows are now scarce, while use of herbicides has depleted food, such as clover. Many pesticides just kill them.
Our gardens are fast becoming refuges for bees - especially some species of bumblebee, which are happy to nest in wild corners, bird boxes and under sheds. Many also come into our gardens to feed. Sadly some species of bumblebee rely on chalk grassland, hay meadows and other disappearing habitats that our gardens cannot provide for them.
The problem for bees is that their favourite food plants are often considered to be 'weeds'. They don't go for highly bred double-flowered dahlias, no matter how good they look in our borders. Bees like clover, dead nettle, bird's foot trefoil and thistles. I like most 'weeds' and am looking forward to my new lawn being colonised by trefoil and dandelions. I'm growing teasel, red clover, comfrey and lavender in a pot and it's going to look great in July. It will be also alive with the buzzing of bees (I hope my whole garden will be).
I'd love everyone to grow such plants in their gardens, but I realise this isn't realistic. Wild flowers (especially native and local strains) often provide the best sources of pollen and nectar for bees, but some ornamental plants are just as good. The key is to avoid plants which have been intensively bred (which contain little nectar) and plants with double flowers (the bees just can't get to the goods).
Here's a list of some of my favourite plants for bees:
1. Allium
2. Aquilegia
3. Birds-foot trefoil
4. Borage
5. Campanula
6. Cardoon
7. Catmint
8. Chives
9. Clover
10. Comfrey
11. Cornflower
12. Cranesbill geranium
13. Foxglove
14. Heather
15. Honeysuckle
16. Lavender
17. Poppy
18. Pussy willow
19. Raspberry
20. Red Campion
21. Rosemary
22. Scabious
23. Sea Holly
24. Sunflower
25. Teasel
26. Thistles
27. Viper's bugloss
28. Wisteria
I'm growing 21 of the above plants in my garden. Different bees have different plant requirements, so it's best to grow the widest range of plants possible for them, over a long period. Some bumblebees - like the garden bumblebee, Bombus hortorum - have really long tongues, so feed from plants with long corollas, like foxgloves and red campion. Smaller-tongued bees are generally less fussy. Buff-tailed bumblebees, B. terrestris have learned to rob nectar from plants with long corrollas, by piercing them and taking nectar from the side of the flowers. I was actually quite upset last year to see a buff-tailed bumblebee do this to my campion flowers. They were mauled beyond recognition.
Which plants get bees going in your garden?
See more comments...
