These beauties will ensure your garden will be abuzz.
Watching bees buzz in and out of your flowers on a summer day helps you understand exactly how industrious these little insects are. They’re tireless workers because they have a big job in the garden: Bees and other pollinators carry pollen grains from one part of a plant to another to fertilize the plant. Without pollination most plants can’t make seeds, fruits, and more plants. In fact, at least 75 percent of flowering plants are pollinated by insects and animals, including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, and bats. No pollination means no food and flowers.
To attract bees to your garden, plant a variety of flowers including annuals, perennials, flowering shrubs, and flowering trees to provide food all season long. Although these beneficial insects are most drawn to blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow, they'll visit many plants. Many herbs also attract bees and have the additional benefit of providing fresh flavor for your recipes. When creating a pollinator garden, consider planting in “drifts,” or wide swaths of color, rather than just one plant here and there, so pollinators can easily locate flowers. Finally note that many bee favorites need full sun—six or more hours of direct sun per day—to bloom well. Read on to discover the best flowers to attract bees to your garden.
Sweet Alyssum
This charming annual is a favorite of pollinators. Its low-growing form makes it a perfect edging plant, though some varieties drape beautifully from window boxes and hanging baskets. Sweet alyssum comes in shades of white, pink, and purple and blooms from early spring to a hard freeze.
Perennial Salvia
Salvia has pretty spikes of violet, pink, or white flowers atop mounded foliage. It’s a tough plant that tolerates drought, heat, and poor soil. It’s especially attractive when planted in large drifts, and it’s also deer and rabbit resistant.
Snapdragon
Snapdragons tolerate cool temperatures so they’re a great annual to plant in spring to provide early season color for pollinators. They tend to stop blooming when temperatures heat up, but trim them back and they might revive when cool weather returns.
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Sage
Sage is a perennial herb with absolutely lovely flowers that bloom for weeks and weeks. Plant it for the bees, but snip off fresh leaves for stews, roasts, and poultry dishes.
Coneflower
This sturdy summer-blooming perennial comes in every color you can imagine including hot pink, salmon, white, yellow, orange, and red. Plant coneflowers in mixed borders for season-long color, then leave the seed heads intact for the birds in fall and winter.
Bee Balm
As the name indicates this is a favorite of bees. The fringed flowers bloom for months starting in early summer. Look for new varieties that don’t spread aggressively but stay in tidy clumps.
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Creeping Thyme
This is an excellent low-growing ground cover or edging plant for walkways and borders. The purple, pink, or white flowers attract bees and other pollinators, and you can use the leaves of this perennial herb for cooking.
Lavender
A cottage garden favorite, lavender is a delightful perennial for borders and beds, best planted in large swaths. Bees love it and you can dry the flowers to use in scones, lemonade, and sachets.
Catmint
If you are looking for a sturdy perennial that doesn’t mind heat, drought, or poor soil, then plant catmint. It has fragrant foliage and spikes of purple flowers that bloom for weeks from early to late summer. Plant in borders or beds.
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Chives
Chives are a perennial herb that blooms in early to mid-spring and makes a lovely cottage garden plant. Bees adore them! The leaves and flowers are edible, so enjoy their mild onion flavor in soups, salads, potatoes, and butter.
Aster
Asters are perennials that bloom late in the season when most other plants in your garden have faded. Some types keep blooming well into autumn, providing late season nectar for bees.
Oregano
You might not think of this perennial herb as attractive to bees, but its flowers bloom for weeks and weeks in mid-summer. Plant in pots or along borders, and add the aromatic leaves to marinades, dressings, pizza, and more.
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Cosmos
This bright annual loves all kinds of soils and even tolerates a bit of shade. It has daisy-like blooms and finely textured foliage that make it an appealing addition to mixed borders.
Borage
This lesser-known heirloom herb has the most amazing blue star-shaped flowers. Every time you look at it, you’ll see the bees visiting its charming blooms. Although it’s an annual, borage drops plenty of seeds, so the plant will pop up again next year. Plant it in your edible or herb garden.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers come in an astonishing array of colors and heights, with their nodding heads adding cheery color to the garden from summer to early fall. Bees can't stay away from their blooms! Plant in mixed borders or along fence lines.
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Larkspur
Larkspur is a quintessential cottage garden flower that blooms in spring to early summer. This cold-hardy perennial provides early season nectar to bees and other pollinators with its lovely flowers in shades of pink, blue, or purple.
Verbena Bonariensis
This heirloom favorite has adorable purple globe-shaped flowers that add charm and whimsy to any garden. It’s relatively tall, so place it at the back of borders. Verbena bonariensis is perennial in some climates but grown as an annual in much of the country.
Poppies
The papery blooms of these elegant flowers open in mid- to late spring. Poppies are available in a range of colors and may be annual or perennial; their interesting seedpods look amazing in dried arrangements.
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Blanketflower
Blanketflower blooms continuously from spring to frost. The cheery daisy-like flowers keep going during even the hottest days of summer, and they’re excellent in mass plantings.
Garlic Chives
Garlic chives flower in late summer and bloom for weeks. Bees love this perennial herb, and you can snip off leaves to add a mild garlic flavor to your favorite dishes.
