Woodland sage
A hardy European salvia carrying dense violet-blue flower spikes from June, and among the most reliably bumblebee-covered plants in any garden. Cut back after the first flush it flowers again, and again, which makes it one of the longest-performing bee plants in a border.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- Very high
- Pollen
- Moderate
- As a honey crop
- Not a honey source
- Which bees, and why
- The two-lipped flowers with a landing platform are classic bumblebee architecture, and the plant is worked continuously through the summer. It is also good for the mint-family solitary bee specialists.
A two-lipped flower with a lower landing lip and a moderate tube — suiting bumblebees and medium-tongued solitary bees.
- Worth knowing
- An outstanding nectar source over an exceptionally long season, and one of the best border plants for bumblebees.
Flowering
- In flower
- June to September (northern hemisphere)
A first flush in June, with further flushes through to September if cut back after each.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Full sun with free drainage. It is drought-tolerant once established and dislikes heavy wet winter ground.
- Size
- 40-80 cm tall.
- Native range
- Central Europe and western Asia, in dry grassland and scrub.
- Suits
- Small gardens, Large gardens, Containers and window boxes, Meadow or wildflower area
- Cut the whole plant back by two-thirds immediately after the first flush and it will flower again within weeks — this is the single most useful thing to do with it.
- Full sun and sharp drainage; it is short-lived on heavy wet clay.
- Divide every three or four years to keep it vigorous.
What it looks like
Upright branching spikes of small two-lipped violet-blue flowers with coloured bracts, above a low clump of aromatic wrinkled grey-green leaves.
Sources
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
- Bumblebees: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation — Oxford University Press (2010) · Monograph
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- How to make a garden genuinely useful to beesMost bee-friendly advice covers flowers in June, which is the one thing bees are least short of. The gaps are at the ends of the year — and half the problem is not flowers at all.
- The best flowers for beesHerbaceous flowers rather than trees and shrubs, chosen for output and length of season. Most of them are things you can grow in a border or a container.
- Bee plants for a small gardenA small garden cannot do everything, so it should do the things large gardens usually skip: the winter and early spring gaps, and nesting habitat. Both take almost no space.
- Plants for bumblebeesLong tongues, big bodies, cold tolerance and an annual colony that has to build from a single queen. Bumblebees can use flowers honey bees cannot reach, and they need forage at both ends of the year when honey bees are indoors.
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?