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The Plant Exchange

Looking for Plants that Attract Bees for my Bee Garden

12 years ago

Hi guys,

I am looking for some plants, bulbs, flowers, etc that honey bees tend to migrate towards. I am starting 2 honey bee hives in a few weeks and would love to plant a bee garden. This is a newly tilled area in my yard, so I don't have anything in the garden yet. So far, I plan on having some purple butterfly bushes, but that's it (they were recently given to me). Anyways, I don't have all that much to offer in trade, but please take a look at what I do have. I also have seeds, but as of today that list is outdated. I will remove the disclosure at the beginning of my seed list when my seeds are updated, so if you see any seeds you are interested in, just ask, I may have them. Everything else (besides the seeds) is up to date. I have many wandering jew plants and a few other cuttings/rootings as well (take a look at my plant list). Anything to help me get started would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you want to trade or have anything for postage.

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Comments (8)

apoppyfield
12 years ago
The bees go crasy for the landscape rosemary that is in full bloom right now. Can be started from nursery 6 packs or pick off starts and root them.
Michelle Reynolds
12 years ago
hello
what kind of aloe do you have? I have vera, gold tooth and spider. do you have anything other than these?
I can trade you lots of bee balm, last summer it was covered with bees and butterflies.
michelle
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Todancewith wolves, I like that Mason bee house too. I wonder if I drilled holes into some of the dead snags (dead trees and branches) or a log if they would use that. Kiddo, I like your clover lawn. Looks like lots of potential there for some gardens or maybe a mini-meadow along with the clover. Every few years, I cast some clover seed over the grass, although there is not that much grass on my lot (coincidentally also 1.25 acres). Clover is a good companion to grass because it is a legume and fixes nitrogen which nourishes the grasses. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is very attractive to pollinators, has showy pink flowers that smell heavenly, and is an excellent Monarch host plant, however it's kind of a coarse plant and not well-behaved in the garden. It sends out fairly long runners every which way. I have some growing in the wild area in the back-backyard, where it can spread hither and yon if it wants. The Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is clumping and well-behaved. I think the foliage is much more attractive. In my garden it reseeds readily. I saved seeds from the light pink in the picture above, and also have seeds that are white and a few seeds that were from a dark pink. I winter-sowed the dark pink last year, and it hasn't bloomed yet, but can't wait to see the color. Send me an email, I'd be happy to share some of these. Another bee attractor - Echinacea -
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gardengal11
Original Author
12 years ago
bump
Susan Garrison
12 years ago
I would recommend guara, the tall kind. Unfortunately, mine didn't reseed last year because of the mulch I had down. But it always had bees on it.
Mercy599
12 years ago
Whenever my varieties of upright sedums bloomed in late summer/fall the local honeybees were all over the flowers. They are waay easy to grow from cuttings, and so drought tolerant it's ridiculous. I have some if you can't find any:)
yogastef
12 years ago
I have a lot of volunteers in my cottage garden that attract bees. I think the birds planted most of them: horehound, wild sunflowers, feverfew, and allysum. Also, citrus trees is bloom really attract bees....my orchard in back is buzzing away right now. Hollyhocks are good, too. I will have seeds for those in a couple of months. If you want to trade anything, I'm open...

Thanks,
Stephenie
frostynyc
12 years ago
Gardengal,
When my huge Crysanthemum 'Gold and Silver' bloomed late last September, it was covered in bees for a month. I hadn't seen a honey bee ALL SUMMER, yet this plant had hundreds of bees crawling all over the blooms. You could smell the blooms and hear the bees from five feet away. It's spread like crazy this year, with runners in all directions. I'm going to check to see if the runners are rooted. Send me a message if you're interested and can't find them locally.
klhprice
12 years ago
Try some salvia too. It has pretty, spikey purple flowers that bees, butterflies and hummingbirds like. If you cut it back after the first blooms have died it will put out new flowers although not as prolific as the first bloom.

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