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flowers

What flowers do Bees love to pollinate?

Anne Miller

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This year we are not seeing very many bees.

We want to attract them to help pollinate the tomatoes.

What flowers do you suggest?

Any suggestions are welcome though I would like something 3 or 4 inches tall.

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Douglas Alpenstock

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The only low stuff I have close by is white (Dutch) clover

I have taller stuff in the general vicinity that bees love: red clover, sweet clover, catmint, sunflowers, and the usual harmless weeds (dandelion, annual nettles). And my scarlet runner beans are close by as well.

Cindy Mortera

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Anne Miller wrote:This year we are not seeing very many bees.

We want to attract them to help pollinate the tomatoes.

What flowers do you suggest?

Any suggestions are welcome though I would like something 3 or 4 inches tall.

For attracting bees to the garden, look for small, nectar-rich flowers that bloom for a long season. Some good options around 3 to 4 inches tall include creeping thyme, sweet alyssum, dwarf marigolds, low-growing clover, and some compact native wildflowers.

It also helps to plant a mix of flower shapes and colors so different bee species can feed easily. Avoiding pesticides and leaving a few areas a little wild can make a big difference too. Bees often return when they find a steady food source and a safe place to live.

Timothy Norton

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I find that borage and milkweed attracts their fair share of pollinators, especially bees, to their flowers. The nice thing about borage is you can just cast the seeds out onto the ground and they seem to grow just fine in my climate.

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Matt McSpadden

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A second vote for sunflowers for the big pollinators and a second vote for sweet allysum for the small pollinators.

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Judith Browning

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I've seen a lot of bumblebees and other pollinators on our comfrey...I apologize to them whenever I cut some and try to cycle through different clumps for cutting (we have a lot!).

a few on cosmos, sunflowers and melon flowers but over all many fewer the last two or three years.

Steve says he just saw a lot of honey bees on the trash receptacle at the gas station...the most pollinators in one place he's seen🙄

Edit to add passionflower vine....bumblebees, at least love it!

and I thought tomatoes were self pollinating and that wind or maybe just shaking the plant a bit was enough?

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Joao Winckler

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posted 6 days ago

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Comfrey is a magnet for them if you have the space. Mine is covered in bumblebees from spring right through to autumn and it grows back after cutting so you get multiple flushes of flowers. Not short though, so depends if that matters. For something lower, creeping thyme works well between paving or at bed edges and they seem to love it.

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Anne Miller

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Judith mentioned Cosmos which is what I am leaning towards.

I am looking for transplants since I want something already blooming, not seeds.

Need a jump start, ...

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Judith Browning

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Anne, if you can find them, a variety of cosmos called Bright Lights is what I've grown for years, The orange and yellow flowers seem to attract everybody, bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds....and they take the heat and drought here most aummers.

It's not blooming yet here but tithonia is actually the very best flower that attracts pollinators in our area....I've seen butterflies and bees fight over the flowers...the bloom time is late compared to comfrey that blooms early and if you cut it back occasionally it will keep blooming for months.

I think fennel is our best for the tiny insects.

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Jay Angler

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Judith Browning wrote:Steve says he just saw a lot of honey bees on the trash receptacle at the gas station...the most pollinators in one place he's seen🙄

Were they harvesting sugary garbage, or looking for a "cavity" to nest in?

I saw bees swarming in my field once and then taking off through the forest. I was a beautiful sight and sound, and I hope they found a good home.

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Judith Browning

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Were they harvesting sugary garbage, or looking for a "cavity" to nest in?

Jay, It was sugary garbage unfortunately...there are local bee keepers here so we see honey bees in this small town fairly often.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Anne Miller

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posted 5 days ago

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Cindy Mortera wrote:

For attracting bees to the garden, look for small, nectar-rich flowers that bloom for a long season. Some good options around 3 to 4 inches tall include creeping thyme, sweet alyssum, dwarf marigolds, low-growing clover, and some compact native wildflowers.

Thanks for the suggestions. This made me laugh!

I love Sweet Alyssum, though it grew to about 2 feet for me. Dear hubby, against my wishes, pulled it all up since it was so tall.

This said, it made a great mulch plant to hold water in soil.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Victoria Polmatier

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The most bees: Plantain, oregano, elecampane, clovers, self-heal, thyme, winter savory. We have narrow-leafed and a small plantain. The bees love it and I’ve left it in the pathways of the veg garden and anywhere else it wants to grow. It lasts a long time, keeps blooming up the stalk and the bees hum when I walk up. Of course there’s no barefoot gardening but seems perfect to me. Fairly easy to remove in areas I don’t want it.

Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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I have plantain and clover though I have never seen bees on them.

Years ago I found self-heal in our woods though I doubt I could find it again.

Thanks, as it is good to know that I have things they like.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Jamie Chevalier

pollinator

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posted 3 days ago

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There are hundreds--thousands in some countries--of native bees. Some have long tongues, and some have short tongues. Of course, the smaller, shallower flowers suit both. All pollinators have an easy time with umbell flowers, which have umbrella-like flower clusters, with many small flowers in a flat cluster. Yarrow, carrots, parsley, and cilantro are all members of that family.

A wide variety of bees and beneficial insects are attracted to these, and butterflies also appreciate the flat secure landing space. I always suggest yarrow as a perennial and cilantro as a quick-blooming annual. Alyssum is another suitable flower, and attracts predator insects that eat thrips, mites, and other small pests.

Cruciferous flowers, the cabbage family, are also bee favorites. Perennial arugula attracts so many bees that you can hear them across the garden. Kale and othe brassicas that bolt to flower are bee magnets as well.Phacelia tanecetifolia "Bee's Friend" is similar.

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