Bees love a wide variety of nectar and pollen producing flowers. Yesterday, we listed many plants that bees are fond of pollinating and included a video with 18 more. You can check that post here.
But there can never BEE too many bee-friendly flowers in a garden, and some people prefer some flowers to others, so today we list another 10 types of pollinator flowers, with spring around the corner.
As always, we recommend that before you buy seeds or small plants, try to ensure that they are organic, and not GMO or treated with pesticides.
This unrelated 5:43-minute video by GrowVeg gives us a look at a wide range of bee-friendly flowers:
Blanket Flower -- Perennials
These cheery daisy-like flowers bloom continuously from spring to frost. They endure even the hottest days of summer and are excellent in mass plantings.
Catmint — Perennials
If you’re looking for a sturdy bee-friendly plant that withstands poor soil, heat, and drought, go for catmint. Its purple flowers and fragrant foliage bloom for weeks all summer long in beds or borders.
Cosmos — Annuals
Cosmos are bright, daisy-like blooms, that love all soils and even do well in a little shade. Their finely textured foliage makes them a lovely addition to mixed borders.
Garlic Chives — Perennials
Bees love this mild flavored herb. Garlic chives flower in late summer and bloom for weeks. People enjoy this herb, too. You can snip off leaves to add a mild garlic flavor to your best recipes.
Larkspur — Perennials
This quintessential cottage garden flower blooms in pink, deep purple, and blue from spring to early summer. It provides early season nectar to pollinators and bees. Its lovely flowers are cold hardy.
Lavender--Perennials
Always picturesque, lavender is a favorite for borders and beds, and is best planted in large swaths. All bees love it, but so do people, and the flowers can be dried to use in scones, sachets, and lemonade.
Poppy — Annuals or Perennials
These elegant flowers have papery blooms that open in mid to late spring. Poppies are available in a range of colors, and their seedpods make attractive dried arrangements.
Salvia — Perennials
Salvia has pretty, spikey flowers in violet, pink or white. This hardy plant tolerates heat, drought, and poor soil. It’s especially eye-catching in large drifts and is deer and rabbit resistant.
Sweet Alyssum — Annuals
Some varieties of this charming flower drape beautifully over window boxes and hanging baskets. Bees love its white, purple, and pink flowers. It blooms from early spring to a hard freeze.
Sunflower — Annuals or Perennials
Sunflowers come in a wide array of colors and heights. Their nodding heads add cheery sunny color to the garden all summer into early fall. Bees can't resist! Plant them in mixed borders or along fences.
As you take time to prepare your garden, know the bees and all the other pollinators will thank you and reward you with their presence, their pollination services, and maybe some honey.
