What can I grow for butterflies and bees?

Butterflies and bees are an essential part of the natural cycle of nature and a beautiful addition to our gardens. By growing plants with rich nectaries and pollen producing flowers, these insects can feed in our gardens and help pollinate the plants in the process.

These days there are endless lists of bee friendly plants on the Internet for avid gardeners to study, follow and plant. This year the RHS has launched its Perfect for Pollinators Plant List and a symbol that nurseries and garden centres can apply to plant labels to inform gardeners which plants are good for these precious creatures.

For the best results look at the way you garden. If you are a trigger-happy chemical user then there’s little point trying to attract these insects into your garden as the pesticides you use also have the potential to affect these beneficial insects. You don’t have to be an organic gardener to benefit from pollinators in your garden, but gardening with nature definitely helps. Leave an area of your garden wild, where weeds and wildflowers can grow. Bumble bees in particular like a natural wild area to nest and forage. Many weeds such as vetch, clover, dandelions and daisies provide excellent pollen and nectar for bees and should be allowed to flower. For the rest of the garden choose plants that are native to the UK, that are not highly bred and that have single or open flowers where the flower parts are exposed for bees to gather pollen and nectar. By growing an ever-changing variety of plants that flower throughout the year you will attract a huge range of beautiful insects into your garden. Watch which pl
ants are visited the most and make a note to grow more of them next year.

Boundaries

Look at the edges of your garden. If you plant a hedge rather than using fencing and include a variety of native hedging plants such as hazel, willow, blackthorn, willow and alder these will all provide essential protein rich pollen when it is needed the most.

Productivity

As bees and other insects gather pollen and nectar they pollinate the plants that they visit. Take advantage of this mechanism and feed them and your family at the same time by growing fruit. Almost all types of fruit need to be pollinated. Apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, currants, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, cherries and more all need pollinating insects to transfer pollen from flower to flower, even a small garden can support a wide range of fruit throughout the year and produce a bountiful, fresh and healthy harvest. There are many bee friendly herbs that are not just culinary plants; some can be used for medicinal purposes too. Great herbs to grow include thyme, lavender, rosemary, marjoram, borage, chives, catmint (nepeta), fennel, Hyssop and calendula (pot marigold). Don’t forget the vegetables too, anything that flowers needs pollinating and will attract butterflies and bees with a rich source of pollen, nectar or both.

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