Choose the Right Flowers

​

To help bees and other pollinator insects—like butterflies—you should provide a range of plants that will offer a succession of flowers that provide pollen and nectar through the whole growing season. Patches of foraging habitat can be created in many different locations, from backyards and school grounds to golf courses and city parks. Even a small area planted with the right flowers will be beneficial for each patch will add to the mosaic of habitat available to bees, moths, and other pollinators.

 

In such a short fact sheet it is not possible to give detailed lists of suitable plants for all areas of the Upper Midwest. Below are two lists of good bee plants, the first of native plants and the second of garden plants. Both are short lists; there are many more bee-friendly plants. However, these lists, combined with the following notes, will get you started on se- lecting good bee plants. Your local chapters of the Wild Ones, the Native Plant Society and native plant nurseries are worthwhile contacts for advice on choosing, obtaining, and caring for local plant species.

 

• Use local native plants. Research suggests native plants are four times more attractive to native bees than exotic flowers. In gardens, heirloom varieties of herbs and perennials can also provide good foraging.

• Choose several colors of flowers. Flower colors that particularly attract native bees are blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow.

• Plant flowers in clumps. Flowers clustered into clumps of one species will attract more pollinators than individual plants scattered through the habitat patch. Where space allows, make the clumps four feet or more in diameter.

• Include flowers of different shapes. Bees are all different sizes, have different tongue lengths, and will feed on different shaped flowers. Consequently, providing a range of flower shapes means more bees can benefit.

• Have a diversity of plants flowering all season. By having several plant species flowering at once, and a sequence of plants flowering through spring, summer, and fall, you can support a range of bee species that fly at different times of the season.

• Use organic plants or buy flowers that are labelled to be free of pesticide posion. 

 

 

More Resources on Bees and Bee Gardening 

Are Neonicotinoid Pesticides Killing Bees?

http://www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/

http://www.xerces.org/wings-magazine/neonicotinoids-in-your-garden/

 

Upper Midwest Plants for Bees

http://www.stlzoo.org/files/9613/3296/0636/uppermidwest-plants-for-bees-xerces.pdf

 

South Central Plants for Native Bees and Pollinators

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/southcentral-plants-for-bees-xerces6.pdf

 

General Plants for Bees

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/general_bee_plants_fact_sheet_xerces_society.pdf

 

Native Bees for Agriculture          

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/factsheet_value_of_native_bees_for_agriculture.pdf

 

Three Steps to Help Bees and Butterflies

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pollinator-three-steps_fact_sheet2.pdf

 

Build your own nests for Native Bees

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/nests_for_native_bees_fact_sheet_xerces_society.pdf