Plants of the Midwest for native bees.

Hello. I'm looking for more key bee plants in the Midwest Great Lakes to help not just the rare rusty patch bumblebee, but also many other native bees. How important the Canadian Milkvetch is to bees as well other key bee attracting plants. I'm looking for plants that provide food, shelter and a place to breed for seasons to come for the upper and lower Midwest. Drop in if you got anything. Out!

Hi Blake - I have a resource for you!  

Native Plants for the Rusty Patch Bumblebee (starred* in this list)

That above is from the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, Lawn to Legume program for pollinator restoration. This page:
Building pollinator habitats for the Midwest

They were supported by Prairie Mooon Nursery.  I highly recommend ordering or downloading their catalog.  The link is on this page:
Prairie Moon Catalog Request

I first learned about what a Rusty Patched Bumble is from Prairie Moon's catalog.  (I've never lived in the midwest.) They carry many of the plants the rusty really likes, including seeds for them.  I've ordered seeds from Prairie and the packets were good sized and germinated. On their website right now not many plants come up because of seasonal availability.  The catalog is better and a really nice reference to have on hand.  I've learned so much from it. They list all sorts of pollinator-specific plants.  I used it to find butterfly food for specific butterflies.

The Minnestoa BWSR also put out a webinar, not sure the quality as I haven't watched it, but here it is for everyone who is better with videos:

very awesome coverage on the bumblebee. On my other column, there's a topic about creating a British style hedgerow for all creatures including bees and others. I've known about the buttonbush, witch hazel and steeplebush that have the most nectar, I'm looking for more hedge types for bees such as that one.

And if anyone would like to trade for some seed for this purpose, I have a couple of the varieties on that list for Rusty's.  Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) and Echinacea angustifolia seed, harvested last year.. PM me with what you'd like to trade for.

1.Horsemint, 2. American purple angelica, 3. Black Eye Susan (Hirta) , 4. Fireweed, 5.Sweet everlasting, 6.Pearly everlasting, 7. Spotted Joe Pye, 8. Regular Joe Pye, 9. Giant Ironweed, 10. Cardinal Flower, 11. Blue Lobelia, 12. Indian Tobacco, 13.Dogbane, 14. Prairie cordgrass, 15. Prairie Dock, 16. Tall sunflower, 17. Wild Mint, 18. Wood mint, 19. Pale purple coneflower, 20. Swamp milkweed and 21. Rattlesnake master. Root or tubers. 1. Wild garlic, 2. more nodding wild onion, 3. wild leek, 4. groundnut and 5. man of the earth or wild sweet potato for my community plots and backyard. If anybody has those, please ask me for e-mail in private and we'll go from here. Thanks!