Creating a Bee Friendly Garden

Bees are a crucial part of our lives. They are vital to pollinate the food we need to survive as well as being one of the main pollinators for many of the trees and flowers that provide habitat for wildlife. According to the WWF, nearly 90% of wildflowers and 75% of food crops rely on animal pollination. One out of every three mouthfuls of our food depends on pollinators such as bees. Because of this we all need to make sure we do what we can to protect bees whether that’s in our gardens, balconies or windowsills. There are many ways we can make our wild spaces bee-friendly!

Flowers are essential so that bees can have access to nectar from March to October. Traditional cottage garden flowers are some of the best that bees enjoy but you don’t have to just go for wildflowers to keep the bees happy. Here’s a list of our top 5 bee-friendly plants that you can be(e) adding to your garden this year.

        1. Buddleia

This is the Buddleja ‘Rocketstar Indigo’. Buddleia are attractive to bees as each flower is a cluster of small flowers all in one place and each one has a good helping of nectar at the bottom. These plants are a unique, arched shape which would add something different to your garden borders as well as some beautiful colours.

        2. Scabious

Pictured above are Scabious ‘Pink Mist’ which bees love! Scabious are a great choice for any wildlife garden as the flowers produce a steady flow of nectar, ideal for both bees and butterflies. Due to their size and shape, these plants would look lovely amongst a cottage garden or even just to add colour and interest to a garden border.

        3. Echinacea

The beautiful Echinacea ‘Sensation Pink’ not only looks stunning, brightening up your garden in late summer but are also great for pollinators due to their large centres! Looking like large daisy flowers, they are a gorgeous garden addition and combine well with other late perennials. 

        4. Veronica

Veronica flowers are attractive to bees due to the clustered flowers all containing a good amount of nectar for them to collect, just like the buddleias. Pictured is Veronica ‘Moody Blues, Sky Blue’. They’ll add great interest to your beds and borders. They’re great for creating an informal look in a cottage garden when planted amongst other perennials.

        5. Penstemon

Penstemon bloom for over 6 months each year and they’re easy to grow. Bees will happily fly into the bell shaped flowers to drink the nectar inside. Pictured above is ‘Phoenix Violet’. They’re elegant border plants, flowering across the summer months. Add these for beautiful colour and interesting shape.

Give the bees a home

As well as adding bee-friendly plants to your garden, providing bees with a safe space to live is beneficial in providing non-swarming bees with a safe habitat to live and lay their eggs. It’s easy to create your home insect home or we also have a Bumble Bee home ready to fix somewhere safely out in the garden.