Week 13 - 7 Best bee attracting plants
We need bees. It is not just honey that bees give us. As I mentioned in my Weekly Green Tips last week (7 beneficial garden bugs) bees pollinate over 30% of all our food stuffs and without them the future on mankind is believed to be at risk. As guardians of the open spaces we call gardeners, we therefore owe it to everyone to do our bit to help bee populations by planting a variety of plants they can feed from.
Bees can fly in cooler temperatures than other insects as they are able to generate their own body heat in some way, rather than having to rely on the warmth of the sun to get going. They can therefore be on the wing from early spring to late autumn so we need be growing plants that provide them food throughout the year. There are also different species of bees and their tongue length varies so growing different flowering plants to cater for both long and short-tongued species is important.
Generally bees prefer single native flowers rather than complex or non native ones flowers but they also adore wild flowers and weeds so leaving some wild areas in your garden in great for bees.
If you are thinking about growing plants that will best help bees the following list will serve our flying friends well - it offers food plans all through the year and caters for different species.
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| 2 bees feeding on a passion flower |
