Top 5 flowers to attract Bees into your garden

As more and more British countryside is turned into building sites, bees are having increasing trouble in finding suitable flowers, and this also means that the lack of bees means that flowers are having a harder time reproducing too, so why not do your bit for the Bee and flower community and help entice bees to pollinate your own flowers? Read on to find out what flowers make bees tick and the benefits of allowing them to venture into your garden.

#5 – Lavender

Easy to grow and fantastic to look at, Lavender is a very effective way of enticing bees into your garden to collect nectar for their colonies, as well as giving the flower a bigger chance of reproducing!

As Lavender has many small, brightly coloured flowers, as well as a beautiful scent, Bees find them irresistible,  and studies have shown that bees even prefer Lavender to the mighty Rose!

#4 – Viper’s Bugloss

Similar in appearance to lavender, but sporting a different smell, the Viper’s Bugloss flower is rich in nectar, which provides food for the bees ( and honey for us when the bees make it! ) and thanks to its bright colourful , multiple flowers, bees are very attracted to this flower and will therefore help increase the chances of this flower pollinating another!

#3 – Crocus

This is an early spring flowering plant, will give the bees a head start on building up vital pollen and nectar for the survival of their hive, and while they may not be the biggest of flowers, they actually emit a multitude of scents, one we can smell, and one we cant, the second one being reminiscent to bee pheromones,  which are a massive aid in luring the bee to the flower!, And as always, more bees  means more pollinating!

#2 – Sedums

Sedums are autumn flowering plants, and are a superb addition to the bee and flower ecosystem, as on average, less flowers grow in the winter, but bees need as much food as possible to feed their hive through the coming winter until the next spring.

They are incredibly easy to grow, and require very little maintenance from you to flourish – Do your bit for the bee community and grow some Sedums! And remember, the more food that the bees have over winter, means more bees to pollinate your flowers for you for the next few months!

#1 – Mahonia

Legendarily easy to grow, Mahonias are what we think are the kings of winter flowering plants, well they are for bees at the least!  Providing many tens of small, easily accessible flowers that are simply covered in pollen, which can be seen from a good distance away from the flower, giving it its yellow/orange tint.

Thanks to the flowers small size, it is also much easier for bees to get to the nectar within the flowers centres ( Unlike butterflies, bees have characteristically small tongues), providing them with the valuable food supply they need to last through winter.

Thank you for reading this guide, and we hope you use the information in it to help out the bee ecosystem, to whom we owe so many things, – like flowers!