Bees

Plant a diverse range of nectar rich flowering plants and shrubs that bloom at different times of the year. Have a look at our planting lists and if you have a few of each you will ensure that there is nectar all year round in your garden.

Choose a mixture of seasonal flowering plants, shrubs and trees to ensure a year round food source in your garden. Look on our meadow pages for ideas on wildflowers.

Winter:
Winter heathers, mahonia, crocus, snow drops, witch hazel, Viburnum tinus, sweet box

Spring:
Aubretia, alyssum, Bowles’ mauve perennial wallflower, blackthorn, bluebell, blackberry, bugle, clover, comfrey, native cowslip, crocus, cuckoo flower, dandelion, dicentra, field scabious, forget-me-not, flowering currant, heathers, honesty, lungwort, ox-eye daisy, native primrose, goat and grey willow, sweet rocket, violets, wallflower

Summer:
Allium, aster (Novi-angliae cultivars and Aster amellus and its cultivars; these two species are not invasive), aquilegia, borage, bugloss, california lilac, campanula, catmint, chives, corn flower, globe thistle, hardy geraniums (cranesbills), escallonia, evening primrose, foxglove, heathers, hebe, honeysuckle, Jacob’s ladder, lamb’s ear, lavender, lobelia, lupins, marjoram, marigolds, mint, nasturtium, Phacelia tanacetifolia, phlox, poppy, rock-rose, rosemary, sage, scabious, salvia species, sea holly, sweet william, sunflower, thyme, verbena, viburnum, viper’s bugloss, yarrow

Autumn:
catmint, cone flower, cosmos, hemp agrimony, fleabane, heathers, ivy, knapweed, lucerne, michaelmas daisy, Sedum spectabile ‘Ice Plant’, St John’s wort, teasel, thistles

From minors to masons, different bee species choose a variety of places to set up home. Grassy tussocks are used by different species of bee and bumble bee for nesting. It is also worth leaving some bare patches of soil in the garden as mud is used by mason bees for making nests. Mining bees make their homes under the ground especially in sandy soils

You can easily provide additional nesting sites for solitary bees by drilling holes (between 2-10mm in diameter and 6-10cm deep) in logs or old fence posts in sunny sites or bundle together stems with holes in them as nesting sites. These are best placed in a sunny site/ sunny wall of the garden.

Can you create a wildlife pond? Or alternatively, how about a pot sunk into the ground or a bird bath containing a few submerged rocks to enable bees to reach the water?