Bee Food Flowers

[ysabetwordsmith]

Scientists’ top 10 bee-magnet blooms—turn any lawn into a pollinator paradise

Botanists from the University of Copenhagen and the UK set out to find the best flower combinations for bees and hoverflies.
Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, offering ready-made recipes for transforming lawns, parks, and patios into vibrant pollinator hotspots.


Below are the plants recommended for European and United Kingdom uses...


"We can see that seed mixtures containing both non-native and native flowering plants establish themselves better in the soil, bloom for longer, and have more visits from pollinators. And they are also most attractive to the human eye," says Natasha de Vere.

Based on the study, the researchers recommend choosing seed mixtures with these species if you want to attract bees and hoverflies and are also interested in the aesthetic value of the flowers:

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Corn chamomile (Anthemis arvensis)
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
Purple viper's bugloss (Echium plantagineum)
Corn marigold (Glebionis segetum)
Common poppy (Papaer rhoeas)
Field mustard (Sinapis arvensis)
Scentless chamomile (Tripleurospermum inordorum)
Garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Moroccan toadflax (Linaria maroccana)
Common phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)


What flowers in your locale are most popular with bees or other pollinators?

Comments

[moonhare]

Clover (white flowers) is usually humming with bees. My weedy lawn has huge patches of this.

Not a flower in the sense of this post, but the most honey bees and other pollinators I’ve had in one place here were on our staghorn sumac panicles. Incredible!

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Clover (white flowers) is usually humming with bees. My weedy lawn has huge patches of this.<<

Yeah, I have lots of white clover, as well as dandelions and violets in my lawn areas.

>> Not a flower in the sense of this post, but the most honey bees and other pollinators I’ve had in one place here were on our staghorn sumac panicles. Incredible! <<

Flowering trees are very popular. People usually think of fruit trees, but they aren't the only ones that attract attention. An

[timespirt]

They liked my vegetable garden plants as well as the columbine, azaleas, lavender, black-eye Susan, hosta and a number of other flowering plants.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have heard that double-flowered tomatoes are easier to pollinate.

Re: Yes ...

[timespirt]

Tomatoes, eggplants, spinach and string beans.

[cardinalfang]

For California, bumblebees are way more common in our yard than honeybees, but they prefer the California poppies by far to papaver rhoeas, somniferum or orientale. When there are more honeybees, they will go nuts for the somniferum and orientale. The bees also really love lavender. Those two seem to be the most popular.

We can't do marigold because the slugs and snails eat it right down to the ground.

I've noticed the hoverflies go for anything that attracts aphids - for obvious reasons - and for that we have kale and chard. The ladybugs like it too.

I've also read that you need to provide a water source for pollinators and insect predators to stay in your garden; otherwise they tend to fly off and nest elsewhere.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

A water source is always the biggest draw for wildlife, unless you already live somewhere with natural water (e.g. seashore, farm pond). I have a ground bowl, a raised metal birdbath, a deep birdbath with a brick in it, and a tiny trough water garden. The bees favor the metal one.