1 day Ago By Samantha Bartlett
Many people take great pride in their gardens, and nothing brings them more joy than seeing their plants and flowers flourish. But did you know that attracting a certain insect to your garden can actually enhance the growth of your plants and ward off pests? And which insect might this be, you ask? Well, it's none other than bees . In addition to promoting plant growth and providing natural pest control, bees, who flit about collecting nectar and pollen from plants, also contribute to biodiversity maintenance and support healthy ecosystems.
Gardening expert Fiona Jenkins at MyJobQuote.co.uk has now revealed what types of plants and flowers attract bees to your garden throughout the year, allowing you to enhance the look of your garden while also protecting the environment.
Foxglove Foxglove is a well-known plant across the UK, which produces a spike of purple-pink flowers from summer to early autumn. It can grow up to 2m tall and is commonly found on heathland and woodland edges, making a beautiful addition to a summer garden. Foxgloves bloom from late spring to summer and can easily be grown from seed.
Once planted, they will self-seed in shaded areas of your garden, ensuring a steady supply of pollen and nectar for bees during the early summer months. Lavender Belonging to the mint family, lavender is native to countries bordering the Mediterranean but is a common sight in many UK gardens. With their fragrant leaves and attractive flowers, they are a popular choice in herb gardens.
Lavender serves as a natural source of pollen, which is vital for the health and survival of bees. Bees are naturally attracted to the purple hue of lavender, its delightful fragrance, and the nectar it offers - making it an excellent choice for attracting pollinators. Poppy The poppy is a flowering plant predominantly found in the Northern Hemisphere, with several species widely cultivated as ornamental garden flowers.
These often short-lived perennial plants can grow over a meter tall with flowers up to 15cm across. Despite the fleeting nature of poppy flowers, annual poppies are easy to cultivate from seed, add a splash of colour to a garden and are adored by bees. They have numerous hair filaments and anthers, which make the pollen easily accessible to bees, and they contain very few fungi or mycotoxins.
Aster Asters are favoured plants that are unmatched in their range of late-season flower colour. They look stunning in any space and, when placed in a mixed border, can bring a charming cottage feel to even the most urban of gardens. Asters, which bloom until the frost arrives, are often hailed as the top flower for attracting a variety of pollinating insects.
Bees are particularly drawn to asters when they're in full bloom, providing a rich source of nectar during the late summer and early autumn months when most other plants have finished their annual flowering. Dahlia The dahlia, a tuberous perennial plant native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, boasts compound flowers that come in a spectrum of colours, including white, yellow, red, or purple. These stunning blooms make for an eye-catching garden border and are also favoured as cut flowers.
Bees find dahlias irresistible due to their unique flowers, which feature a long spike of petals resembling honeycombs. As bees flit from one bloom to another, they gather precious pollen and nectar, making dahlias a crucial part of their diet. Primrose Primrose, a petite, perennial woodland plant, typically blossoms from December through May.
These vibrant, sturdy plants add a pop of colour to gardens in the early months of the year and are often used as temporary bedding or in seasonal containers and window boxes. Early bumblebees are enamoured with these gorgeous spring flowers. While the delicate petals can't support larger queen bees, worker bees and hairy-footed flower bees flock to their nectar-rich centres, which offer them an excellent source of protein.
Hyacinth The common hyacinth, a fragrant flowering plant that blooms in early to mid-spring, produces stunning flowers in shades of blue, purple, white, pink, and red. These appear in thick clusters on tall spikes, each with fragrant bell-shaped blooms. Bees are attracted to hyacinths for several reasons, including their vibrant colours and enticing scents.
In addition to providing nectar, the strong stems and closely clustered florets offer a safe place for bees to rest or shelter from harsh weather conditions. Crocus The Crocus plant, native to the Alps, southern Europe, and the Mediterranean area, is widely grown for its cuplike blooms in early spring or autumn. They bring a touch of joy to borders, seasonal containers, or when planted in lawns to add colour.
Crocus flowers bloom in autumn or early spring and provide nectar and pollen for various bee species, including the honey bee. They are especially attractive when placed in large clusters. Like hyacinths, these flowers can be a great source of shelter as well as pollen, as during the night, the petals will close around nesting bees.
In addition to adding certain plants and flowers to your garden to attract bees, gardening expert 'Earth, Nails & Tails', known on TikTok as @earthnailsandtails , recently shared additional tips on how to attract these insects to your garden. In a video, he advised that you should provide a bee bath, which can 'easily be created with a plant pot, its dish and some rocks'. The expert also recommended constructing a bee house to 'keep the population local'.
He shared with his followers that his garden "began to thrive" after introducing these 'pollinator havens'..
