The best plants for bees
A shortlist chosen on three criteria: how much nectar and pollen the plant produces, how accessible it is to different bees, and when it flowers. Season coverage matters more than any individual plant.
The top tier
| Plant | Season | Why it earns the place |
|---|---|---|
| Ivy | Sept-Nov | The last substantial forage of the year; feeds an enormous range including the ivy bee |
| Willow | Feb-Apr | The critical early pollen source for emerging queens and spring mining bees |
| Bramble | Jun-Aug | Long season, completely accessible flowers, works for almost everything |
| Marjoram | Jul-Sep | Among the most heavily visited garden plants there is |
| Catmint | May-Oct | Flowers for months and reflowers after cutting back |
| Viper's bugloss | Jun-Sep | Refills nectar within minutes of being emptied |
| Knapweed | Jul-Sep | The backbone of a meadow and a specialist bee's pollen source |
| Hemp agrimony | Jul-Sep | Flat accessible heads; a mainstay for late bees and butterflies |
| Mahonia | Nov-Mar | One of very few winter forage plants |
| Crocus | Feb-Mar | Early pollen when colonies most need it |
Why accessibility matters as much as quantity
A plant that produces a great deal of nectar in a deep tube is useless to a short-tongued bee. Foxglove is an excellent bumblebee plant and offers nothing to a yellow-faced bee. Hogweed and wild carrot produce less nectar per flower and are usable by almost every insect alive, which frequently makes them more valuable overall.
The rule for a garden is to include both. Deep flowers for long-tongued bumblebees, and flat open umbels and composites for the small solitary bees that everything else excludes.
What to avoid
- Fully double cultivars of anything.
- F1 bedding plants bred for display rather than reward.
- Highly bred pansies, petunias and busy lizzies, which offer very little.
- Anything sprayed with insecticide, whatever it is.
- Wildflower mixes full of non-native annuals, which look good for one year and do far less than a perennial meadow.
The list nobody plants
Several of the most productive plants for bees are ones no garden centre sells, because they are weeds. Dandelion is one of the most important early pollen sources in Europe. Bramble carries the midsummer season. Ivy, hogweed, ragwort, catsear and knapweed between them do more for British bees than any planting scheme.
The practical implication is that letting part of a garden alone is frequently more effective than buying plants for it, and it is free.
Sources
- Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Read next
Tools that use this
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?