Let’s keep our essential pollinators well-fed and under notice by maintaining a bee-friendly garden. Various bee species may be satisfied by growing a diverse range of blooming plants. We can also help bees by building a safe haven in our gardens that they may call home, along with planting flowers that attract them.
Thus, bees are a vital part of the ecosystem, and love flowers! Here are 20 of bees’ favorite flowers to grow in your garden so that you can enjoy the pollination process and the sweet fragrance of these blooms.
List of 20 Bees’ Favorite Flowers to Grow in Your Garden
These bee-friendly flowers do double duty as they also provide humans with good nutritional and medicinal properties.
1 – Lavender
It can offer a garden full of busy bees, especially when they bloom. These flowers tend to attract bumblebees particularly. Lavender is an appealing fragrant blooming plant that is often utilized in cosmetics and natural beauty items, such as lip balms. It has a pleasant calming effect and is a very aromatic flower.
2 – Borage
Not only humans but borage flowers are loved by bees too. It helps to keep out harmful insects while attracting pollinators like bees, making it ideal for companion planting. Borage blooms are usually blue, although pink or white blooms can be found. Borage is a human-friendly flower in terms of respiratory and cardiovascular benefits as well.
3 – Oregano
Bees hover like great over the fully bloomed oregano flowers. Marjoram, like oregano, is a similar relative. Oregano blooms are also attractive to hummingbirds. Oregano is a powerful medicinal herb as well as a valuable cooking herb. This herb also boosts the immune system and has robust antifungal and antibacterial properties.
4 – Thyme
Thyme is those tiny purple, pink, or white flowers that are also highly recognized by bees. Moreover, thyme is quite famous among the pollinator crowd and we can’t blame them even a bit! Thyme is also a kitchen herb that most families use almost daily in their cooking. It’s also a powerful immune-system-strengthening herb.
5 – Sunflower
Their huge, gorgeous blossoms provide a magnificent landing pad for bees and are large and lovely. Bees adore them because they’re full of pollen! You can make sunflower flower oil or sunflower seeds to feed your family and other insects too. Sunflower flowers bloom between June 14 to July 31 annually and have self-cleaning pollen holders, making them an important pollinator habitat.
6 – Yarrow
Yarrow’s broad and semi-flat blooms make it simple for bees to take a break while collecting pollen! White is the most frequent color for Yarrow, however pink, red, yellow, and orange are also available. It’s a common wildflower that’s usually easy to find. Yarrow is edible, but it has a bitter taste that makes it primarily used for medicinal purposes. With wound healing and blood clotting properties, it’s a super medicinal plant.
7 – Sage
Sage has beautiful blue or purple spikes of flowers that attract all kinds of pollinators. This plant also doesn’t require much in terms of plantation maintenance. Sage is a common culinary herb that is used frequently during the holidays. It’s also effective for healing colds and sore throats and has medicinal properties such as anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anti-fungal.
8 – Catmint
With catmint, you will be rewarded not just with the bees all around but the blue blooms and top silvery foliage all season long. Don’t be fooled by the term; these flowers attract bees and are worth planting. Look for non-reseeding well-behaved types and eliminate them from the garden.
9 – Sedum
You can choose to plant these flowers in scorching heat as they can tolerate it. You are required to choose a variety however that best suits your design of the garden. You’ll get season-long blooms by planting both summer and autumn flowering varieties. These flowers are also used in the treatment of cough, high blood pressure, and wound healing purposes.
10 – Foxglove
The late spring or early summer garden is enhanced with spires of big bell-shaped blooms. For gardeners with shady places and moist, organic soils, Foxglove is a fantastic option. Being poisonous in nature, these plants are however unsafe for self-medication.
11 – Bee Balm
Bee balm is a perennial wildflower native to Arkansas and Texas, now widely grown as an ornamental in the southeastern united states. Bee balm was once used as a traditional medicine for treating bee stings, but there are no proven medicinal benefits of bee balm, other than its ability to promote scent communication between bees and plant species by attracting pollinators (bees).
12 – Heliotrope
Bees will be drawn to fragrant purple, violet, or white blooms, while you’ll get the lovely smell in the garden. You can plant these flowers annually in well-drained soil and full sun. And, these species of flowers are popularly used in the Philippines to treat wounds, ulcers, and diseases like conjunctivitis.
13 – Black-Eyed Susan
It has cheerful flowers with bright yellow colors and dark brown centers. Along with the bees, these attract other kinds of beneficial garden insects as well. Orange and crimson petals, as well as bicolored blooms, are seen in certain cultivars. Susan is a stunning perennial plant that has considerable medicinal properties. It has a lot of the same medicinal qualities as echinacea, and it’s closely related to it.
14 – Phlox
In mid to late summer, this hardy native perennial attracts bees and other pollinators with fragrant blue-pink blooms. To cure stomach and intestinal problems like aches or indigestion, wild blue phlox tea has been prepared from the entire plant. Dried Phlox leaves are used to make tea, which is thought to cleanse the blood and help cure skin diseases such as boils or eczema.
15 – Goldenrod
Goldenrod offers late-season forage for bumblebees, honey bees, butterflies, soldier beetles, wasps, and other insects with beautiful yellow feather blossoms. It’s a top ally for colds, seasonal allergies, urinary tract infections, and flu. It’s a plant enthusiast’s dream: it’s a premier medicinal.
16 – Joe Pye Weed
This perennial flower, which is most often recognized as a butterfly plant, draws bees with its fragrant pink-purple blossoms. It thrives on wet soil and may reach 9 feet in height. In North America, from the eastern United States to southern Canada, this hardy native perennial thrives in great abundance.
Its roots are picked and dried, ground, and made into an herbal tea tonic, which is considered especially beneficial.
17 – Aster
Pre-hibernation bumblebee queens need the aster as a late-blooming fall plant. Flowers in the colors of blue, lavender, pink, or white make excellent ground coverings, borders, and containers. Butterflies are drawn to Aster flowers as well.
By combining bloodroot with aster, you can easily make a laxative with this flower. For headaches, the Ojibwa drank an aster root tea.
18 – Anise Hyssop
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is a North American native plant species that is known for its appealing blue color that attracts bees. The plant can grow up to 3 feet tall and has a tendency to self-seed. In order to encourage more blooms, it is recommended to deadhead the plant. Not only is it a great bee attractant, Anise Hyssop is also known for its medicinal properties and has been used as an effective remedy for common colds and flu. It is believed to suppress coughs, lower fever, and heal throats. Overall, Anise Hyssop is a great addition to any garden, not only for its beauty but also for its medicinal properties and ability to attract bees.
19 – Crocus
Crocus is a genus of perennial plants that belong to the iris family. They are known for their brightly colored flowers that bloom in the early spring. These plants are considered to be bee attractants because they are among the first flowers to bloom in the spring, providing an important source of nectar for bees and other pollinators when other food sources are scarce.
Additionally, the shape and color of crocus flowers make them highly visible to bees, making them easy for insects to locate. The nectar and pollen of crocus flowers also provide an important source of nutrition for bees, helping them to build up strength and prepare for the busy pollination season ahead.
20 – Calendula
Pot marigold is another name for this edible flower. Soups and stews were formerly seasoned with yellowish-white and orange petals. It thrives on rich, well-drained soil in full sun. It prefers chilly temperatures.
Furthermore, it has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal properties to make it a powerful healing ingredient.
Final Words
There’s just something about flowers that makes them so special. Whether you’re in the mood to enjoy a luxurious bouquet in your home or make some sweet edible arrangements for your loved ones, there’s no denying the appeal of flowers. In this blog, we list 20 of our bees’ favorite flowers to grow in a garden. From varieties that are perfect for sunny days to those that are perfect for dark mornings, we’ve got you covered! Let us know which flowers you’d love to grow in your garden in the comments below!