Plantain family plants for bees
Foxglove and hebe — one a bumblebee flower so specialised it is almost a diagram, the other a long-flowering shrub worked by everything.
Why this family matters
Foxglove is the textbook example of a flower built for one kind of visitor. The tube is exactly the length of a large bumblebee, the spotted lower lip is a landing guide, and the anthers sit against the roof so that a bee crawling in is dusted on the back. Almost nothing else can use it. Hebe is the opposite: dense spikes of small open flowers, accessible to everything, flowering from June to October. The two together demonstrate the range of strategies a small family can contain.
When it flowers
Foxglove is a June-and-July biennial. Hebe covers June to October and is one of the most reliable long-season shrubs for a small garden. Culver's root fills July to September.
Which bees it serves
Foxglove is worked almost exclusively by large bumblebees — garden, buff-tailed and common carder — and watching one work up a spike is the clearest demonstration available of why corolla depth matters. Hebe is worked by honey bees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies without discrimination.
Worth knowing before you plant it
Foxglove is seriously toxic — all parts, including the seed — and it self-seeds freely. It is worth growing and worth knowing about in a garden used by children.
Plantain family plants in the catalogue
What this group covers
5 of 12 months have something in flower. Nectar and pollen are counted separately and a month counts only where at least one plant offers that resource at moderate value or better — a plant in flower is not the same as a plant worth visiting.
| Month | In flower | Nectar | Pollen |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | nothing | No | No |
| February | nothing | No | No |
| March | nothing | No | No |
| April | nothing | No | No |
| May | nothing | No | No |
| June | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| July | 3 | Yes | Yes |
| August | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| September | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| October | 1 | Yes | Yes |
| November | nothing | No | No |
| December | nothing | No | No |
What this group does not cover
Nothing in flower: January, February, March, April, May, November, December. Planting only from this group would leave those months empty.
Bees these plants are recorded with
Taken from the relationships on each plant record. These are the well-attested associations rather than an exhaustive list of visitors, so treat the number as a floor.
Honeys from these plants
- Koromiko honeyLight and clean with a faint herbal bitterness and a soft floral base — mild with just enough edge to be interesting.
- New Zealand bush honeyWarm and rounded with a light caramel base and a faint resinous lift, and considerable variation between regions — generally more approachable than any of its monofloral components.
Other families
- Daisy family
- Mint family
- Rose family
- Pea family
- Honeysuckle family
- Heather family
- Buttercup family
- Myrtle family
- Cabbage family
- Borage family
- Carrot family
- Mallow family
- Onion family
- Buckthorn family
- Maple and horse chestnut family
- Sapodilla family
- Citrus family
- Protea family
- Primrose family
- Asparagus family
- Currant family
- Elder and viburnum family
- Pine family
- Cashew and mango family
- Palm family
- Ivy family
- Oak and chestnut family
- Leatherwood family
- Spurge family
Plan with these
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?