Oxeye daisy
The big white daisy of road verges and hay meadows, and one of the most accessible nectar sources in European grassland. Its completely open flower head is a landing platform of hundreds of tiny florets, usable by the small solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles and parasitic wasps that most deliberate pollinator planting quietly excludes.
Where not to plant it
Naturalised and locally invasive in North America, Australia and New Zealand, where it is a listed weed in some rangeland areas.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- Moderate
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Which bees, and why
- The visitor list runs heavily to small solitary bees, hoverflies, soldier beetles and parasitic wasps rather than to charismatic bumblebees — which is precisely why it belongs in a serious pollinator planting.
Completely open florets on a flat platform. As accessible as any flower gets.
- Worth knowing
- Moderate nectar and good pollen, and its distinction is who can reach it — the very small and short-tongued insects that need shallow open flowers.
Flowering
- In flower
- May to September (northern hemisphere)
A long window with a strong peak in June, and it reflowers after cutting.
- When nectar flows
- Moderate per floret and hundreds of florets per head, all completely exposed.
- Year-to-year variation
- Very dependable in grassland of low fertility. Not a crop.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Full sun, well-drained soil of low fertility. Rich ground lets grasses smother it.
- Size
- 30-70 cm.
- Native range
- Europe and temperate Asia, naturalised worldwide.
- Suits
- Meadow or wildflower area, Small gardens, Large gardens
- A cornerstone of any wildflower meadow mix and one of the easiest species to establish.
- Do not feed the ground. Fertility is what removes it from a sward.
- Cut the meadow after it has set seed, in late July or August, and remove the cuttings to keep fertility down.
What it looks like
An upright perennial with dark toothed spoon-shaped basal leaves and solitary large white daisy flowers with a flat yellow disc, on unbranched stems.
Sources
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- Plants that attract honey bees specificallyHoney bees have short tongues and work in large numbers, which means they want different plants from bumblebees. Half the flowers sold as bee-friendly are out of their reach entirely.
- Making a wildflower area for beesA meadow is made by reducing fertility and weakening grass, not by scattering seed on a lawn. The single most useful plant in the process is a parasite.
- Plants for solitary beesNine bee species in ten are solitary. They are small, short-tongued, short-lived and often tied to particular plants — which makes open shallow flowers, a long season and untidy ground more useful to them than a border of showy perennials.
Tools for planning planting
- 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?