7 bee-friendly plants for your garden
Many bee types are vital for our planet's food supply through pollination. Honeybees alone pollinate 80 percent of all flowering plants, including more than 130 types of fruits and vegetables.
Help bees thrive by planting plants that bloom with high amounts of nectar and pollen. Plant a pollinator garden with plants of all shapes and sizes that bloom at different times of the growing season for pollen and nectar.
Here are seven of our favorite bee-friendly plants:
1. Purple Coneflower
2. Little Henry® Sweetspire
Little Henry Sweetspire blooms tiny, fragrant white flowers that bees love. These flowers blanket the shrub in spring. It also looks crisp and green in the summer and garnet-red and orange in the fall.
3. 'Pink Delight' Butterfly Bush
Both a bee and butterfly favorite, the Pink Delight Butterfly Bush is a well branching, compact shrub. It blooms sweet, fragrant, bright pink flowers in the summer. Removing spent flowers can encourage continued blooms until frost.
4. Endless Summer® Pop Star® Hydrangea
Add a powerful pop of color that bees can't resist! Pop Star Hydrangea is a deciduous shrub that reblooms from late spring through fall. Its large serrated dark green leaves turn red-burgundy in fall.
The color of the small clusters of lacecap flowers depends on the soil pH. Acidic soils produce deep blue, while alkaline or neutral soils produce pink.
5. Uptick™ Gold & Bronze Tickseed
Gold & Bronze Tickseed is a tidy perennial native that bees enjoy. The narrow deep green foliage is topped with daisy-like yellow flowers with bronze red centers all summer. It prefers full sun and moist, well-drained soil.
6. New Vintage™ Red Yarrow
New Vintage Red Yarrow is an herbaceous perennial that stays abuzz with bees and other pollinators. It blooms small ruby red flowers in large flat clusters on sturdy stems above the foliage from summer into early fall. The flowers fade to attractive shades of pink or cream. This is also an excellent cut flower that retains color when dried.
7. Monrovia® Nitty Gritty™ White Rose
A fuss-free rose, the Monrovia® Nitty Gritty™ White Rose looks gorgeous and requires little maintenance. Bees love the nectar in its abundant white blooms. These groundcover roses grow up to 3' tall and 4' wide.
Attract bees and other pollinators
If you see bees coming to and from flowers carrying full tiny pollen pockets on their legs, you'll know your plants were the right choice.
Learn more about How to Create a Pollinator Garden. You can also shop for plants that attract bees here.