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The Best Plants For Bees | Expert Recommendations

This article showcases our top picks for the Best Plants For Bees. We reached out to industry leaders and experts who have contributed the suggestions within this article (they have been credited for their contributions below).

We are keen to hear your feedback on all of our content and our comment section is a moderated space to express your thoughts and feelings related (or not) to this article This list is in no particular order.

Costa Farms Live Curcuma Outdoor Plant

This product was recommended by Jeffrey Moore from Everyday Power

This plant can really invite bees to your house. Curcuma plants produce elegant-looking flowers that bloom in the colors of pink, white, or purple. Hence, they are very attractive to the bees. They are very sturdy and can survive very well even if mixed with other plants in the garden. It is best to plant them in pots so you can bring them indoors during the winter season.


Tithonia rotundifolia Mexican Sunflower Seeds

This product was recommended by Heather Kasvinsky from This Noshtalgic Life

Tithonia, aka Mexican Torch Flower or Mexican Sunflower, is an absolute magnet for both bees and butterflies. Mexican Torch flower has a long bloom period, is drought tolerant, and has beautiful tall blooms. The plants can be cut back earlier in the season to encourage further growth and more blooms. Sit back with your cup of coffee and enjoy watching the plethora of pollinators visit your garden! Tithonia plants are easily started directly from seeds.


Wild Bee Balm Seeds

This product was recommended by Dr. Charles van Rees from the Gulo in Nature Blog

As its name implies, bee balm is a fantastic attractant for a variety of pollinators. Honeybees and bumble bees love it; the flowers are bilaterally symmetrical, which makes them ideal for bees to access for nectar. It’s a hardy plant that can handle a variety of conditions and the smell really nice; they can be used to make a splendid tea.


Spearmint and Peppermint Mint Seed

This product was recommended by Dr. Charles van Rees from the Gulo in Nature Blog

Mint plants make little stalks of tiny flowers (racemes) that bees find irresistible. They make copious amounts of nectar, and are also hardy plants that can grow abundantly if you take good care of them. They also bloom later in the season, so they are a good way to follow up early spring flowers and make sure that your bees have nectar to drink all summer long. I also find that a number of beneficial wasps and other cool pollinators are very attracted to mints. This is a multi-use bee plant; you can use the leaves to make cocktails, tea, and desserts!


Coneflower / Echinacea Purple Coneflower Seeds

This product was recommended by Dr. Charles van Rees from the Gulo in Nature Blog

Another multi-use plant; tea from this plant can aid in immune function and makes a great herbal, all-natural Airborne alternative for keeping your immune system primed during long trips. At the same time, many pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies, and a whole mess of native bees absolutely love these flowers. They’re a big hit with wildlife in your garden.


Catnip Great Garden Herb Seeds

This product was recommended by Dr. Charles van Rees from the Gulo in Nature Blog

Catnip produces tons of tiny flowers like mints, and really brings in the pollinators. Bees of a variety of sizes and species can access the nectar of these flowers, and the dense foliage will provide cover for other beneficial critters in your garden. Catnip spreads quickly and can thrive in full or partial sun, making it no-fuss and low maintenance. Of course, you may want to jumpstart it inside to make sure it’s big enough to survive any attacks from feline neighbors who may find it in your yard.


Lavender Great Gardening Seeds

This product was recommended by Dr. Charles van Rees from the Gulo in Nature Blog

Lavender is yet another multi-use bee plant. Bees and beneficial native wasps (which kill and eat garden pests and lawn-eating grubs) absolutely love these flowers. They bloom especially late in the season, which also makes them a great complement to other garden flowers to keep your bees going strong. You can use the leaves for cocktails, scented pillows, and potpourri, while the many flowers and spreading nature of this herb will make it a robust and lasting addition to your garden.


Basil Seeds Variety Pack

This product was recommended by John Thomas from Backyard Garden Geek

Basil is an unlikely yet incredible plant for attracting bees to your garden. Pinch off the ends of basil stems to encourage additional stem growth, then let the plant flower. Each stem will produce long clusters of small colorful flowers, giving bees all kinds of incentives to visit your garden.


Lemon Bee Balm Seeds

This product was recommended by Rachel Davis from SoulFactors

I suggest Lemon Bergamot because its scent attracts bees. This plant also attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Growing Lemon Bergamot will help you in beekeeping while improving the aesthetics of your garden.


Lobelia Plant Seeds

This product was recommended by Camila Henderson from FastPaydayLoans

Bees are attracted to colour before nectar. The bright blue flowers of the great blue lobelia plant that grow mainly in the winter are enormous attractions for worker bees that come to suck nectar for honey. They are excellent indoor and outdoor plants grown in pots or on the ground. They have a long blooming season that keeps the bees around for a consistent supply of nectar.


Asiatic Lilium Bulbs Mixed Lilies,Lily Bulbs

This product was recommended by Sharon Dylan from Management Help LLC

Asiatic lilies are one of the most colorful and most beautiful flowers. They actually symbolize purity and grace. With their beautiful blooms, even the bees are attracted to them. They also have sweet nectars that’s why bees love them. Aside from their sweet nectars, what draws bees to them is their faint sweet fragrance. That is why when they are in full bloom, you are bound to see a bee or two swirling around these flowers.


Marigold Tagetes Orange Annual Plant

This product was recommended by Bianca Trembley from The Best Calgary

While marigolds are beneficial to plant around food-producing plants to ward off any number of pests, honey bees will flock to their bright orange, red, and yellow blooms.


Foxglove Mix Seeds (Digitalis Purpurea)

This product was recommended by Michael East from Griddle King

The bees in our garden are completely addicted to our Foxglove plants. This slender and multi-flowering bloom is a huge hit with bumble bees in particular. Because of the tubular shape of the flowers themselves, the bees love to climb inside and get straight to the nectar whilst collecting the pollen simultaneously. To top it all off, foxgloves make a stunning addition to any garden.


Crazy Mix Cosmos bipinnatus Seeds

This product was recommended by Rob Greene from Price of Meat

It’s simple, Cosmos can grow to be between four and five feet tall and the flower itself is open, and wide, which makes them easy to access for nature’s little pollinators. And, as a built-in bonus, they’re an easy-to-maintain, colorful flower so they’ll also make any garden that they’re in lighter and brighter.


Gayfeather Perennial Flowers Seeds

This product was recommended by Alexandra Wickfree from Life is a Picnic

The flowers of Gayfeather are nectar rich, attracting an array of beneficial insects to the garden, such as butterflies, bumblebees, hummingbirds and ladybugs as well. Gayfeather plants launch radiant rockets of fluffy flowers from July to September. Blooms provide long-lasting fresh cut or dried flowers. Gayfeathers are hardy perennials which tolerate poor soil, heat, humidity, and severe winter weather, they are perfect for bees.


Symphyotrichum novae-angliae | New England Hardy Aster

This product was recommended by Jen Stark from Happy DIY Home

Asters, or Callistephus chinensis, are the tiniest and most colourful flowers in the Asteraceae family, with the most distinctive blooms. For rockeries, borders, open garden beds, cottage-style gardens, or containers, their gorgeous double blooms are perfect. Flat flowers such as asters are most popular with exotic bees as they’re easy to land on. Bees choose plants that produce flowers with a single row of petals because it is much simpler to land on and retrieve nectar from such a blossom. Aside from Asters, bees are particularly fond of the blossoms of brassica plants, stone and pip fruits, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, and dandelion plants, which are members of the Asteraceae family.


Borage Seed to Plant

This product was recommended by Tatyana Rodriguez from Florence’s Flowers

Honey bees love the Borage plant as well as bumble bees and native bees. Research has shown that the Borage plant has a lot of nectar and pollen. This plant can grown in all zones and blooms from late spring to summer. A word of caution: Borage reseeds like crazy. It can spread very quickly. In order to avoid this, remove the flowers before they go to seed and drop.


Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

This product was recommended by Alexa Justine Callada from Stayyy

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant is an annual, open-pollinated flower that can be used as a border, ground cover or filler in the garden. It has a very long flowering time and can grow up to 12 inches high. The flowers are bright yellow with a touch of red and have a sweet smell. The Rocky Mountain Bee Plant is an heirloom, annual, open-pollinated flower that can be used as a border, ground cover or filler in the garden. It has a very long flowering time and can grow up to 12 inches high. The flowers are bright yellow with a touch of red and have a sweet smell.


AMERICAN PLANT EXCHANGE Hibiscus Live Plant

This product was recommended by Chris Coleman from RV Talk

The Hibiscus plant is one of the most colorful plants you can grow on your balcony. It is known for its large beautiful flowers. It is a perennial houseplant that can live for many years. It loves sunlight so placing it outdoors will really make it happy. It flowers during summer so you are sure to enjoy many of its blooms during summertime. It is also very easy to care of as long as you water and prune it regularly.


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Written by Zak Parker

Journalist, writer, musician, professional procrastinator. I'll add more here later.

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