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Best climbing plants to attract bees

 
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Hello. Does anyone have any recommendations for beautiful climbing flowers that will also do a good job of attracting bees? I have a little container garden and fear my yield of beans may have been affected by a lack of pollinators!

Thanks
 
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Welcome. Many beans are self pollinating, but to be sure it's best to attract bees indeed. I wouldn't know about climbing plants, but wouldn't a herb like rosemary,  oregano, thyme  or lavender flower at the same time? That attracts bees.
You could also pollinate by yourself, but it ain't easy!
 
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Hi Clinton,
Welcome to Permies!

Scarlet Runner beans, clematis, and some of the old climbing roses all come to mind for climbing plants.

I agree with Hugo that I do not think it would need to be climbing plants; I think it could be smaller plants too. My pole beans have always been attractive to bees even without anything else, but more flowers means more pollinators, and I think that is a great thing in a garden.
 
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Welcome Clinton. I had a similar wonder about my fava beans and bees.
I don't particularly have a shortage of bees - bumblebees abound in my tree field. It seemed though that the bees I had didn't know about fava beans the first year I planted them and I got a really poor set. It may have been the weather (although we had a good summer last year). This year the beans did better and it's like the bees have learnt that the bean flowers are good! Maybe it wasn't so windy though, or perhaps there was another factor.
I'm keen on providing more bean like flowers though, since that will help attract bees to bean type flowers perhaps! Antirrhinums (snapdragons) might be another option - they would be find in containers and flower for a long period. They also have a closed flower that the bees need to open to pollinate or get the nectar (unless they learn to drill through the base of the flower!).
 
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Hi, if you have space for larger pots i'd suggest trumpet vines and honeysuckle. Sweet peas, morning glories, or clematis also produce beautiful blooms that attract lots and lots of bees.
 
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Maypop aka passionflower vine.  The cold hardy kind.  Unique flowers with bees constantly in them getting covered with pollen.  

Here in PA, it pops up at the end of May, loses flowers around October and starts dying back to the ground in November, until next May.

It just should have something to grow on.

Don't know if it fits with your bean pollination, but you may not want to plant maypop in your vegetable garden either as it can spread.
 
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