Ten Bee-friendly Plants for Summer

Ten bee-friendly plants for summer

Did you know that the UK is home to over 250 species of bee? Some are social but some
prefer to live alone, a bit like us humans really. If you read our last blog on attracting
beneficial insects you’ll know that different bees have evolved to need different flower
shapes and sizes to feed. And because they need food all year round too, we’ll be bringing
you some more ideas for bee-friendly plants as the seasons turn.

Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden

We’ve put together a list that you should be able to choose from whether you have a sunny
or shady garden/balcony, or a mixture of both. In addition, all of these will grow in pots
as well as in the ground, as long as you give them enough root space, nutrients and water.
Because plants in a small space need to give generously, several of these are evergreen,
keeping their leaves all year round. So like the solid, reliable friends they are, they’ll be
there for you over the dark times in winter as well as in summer. And all are perennials,
coming back year after year.

Early to mid-summer flowers

Foxgloves (Digitalis)

Bee favourites in shades of pink, purple, white, apricot and yellow, most foxgloves are
biennials, so only flower in their second year. But growers have developed perennial
foxgloves that will bloom the year you buy them. Perennials such as Digitalis
‘Illumination Pink’ and Digitalis purpurea ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ will, like all foxgloves,
flower in full sun or part shade. However if you love the simple act of scattering seeds,
you can sow most biennial foxgloves up to the end of June.

Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)

More rabbit’s ears than lamb’s to my mind, for humans they’re a favourite because of
their soft, furry, grey green leaves. Stachys are among our most tactile garden plants.
To bees though, it’s the tiny purply pink flowers that are irresistible. In fact this
sun-loving evergreen is altogether a magnanimous plant, self-seeding freely and
spreading over the years to create velvety little islands in your garden.

Pyracantha

Swathed in small white flowers, this is a really rewarding bee-friendly shrub for a small
garden that’s shady, although it will give of its best in sun. Red or orange berries follow
in winter for delighted blackbirds and fieldfares to feast on when there’s not much else
around. It’s a bit spiny but this makes it a great hedge plant too. It will be equally happy
trained against a wall or fence, or trimmed back each year to form a self-supporting shrub.

Honeysuckle

Another plant that likes part-shade and will also reward you with masses of sweetly
scented flowers. In addition to the mainly deciduous species, there are some which should
keep their leaves all year. Copper Beauty, for example, is an evergreen with bronze foliage
and yellow flowers. Lonicera japonica is semi-evergreen, so may lose some of its leaves in
a tough winter but will bounce back, re-invigorated, the next year.

Mid-late summer flowers

Erysimum bicolour Bowle’s Mauve

This semi-evergreen perennial wallflower often blooms from spring to autumn. Tolerant of
some shade but also a sun-lover, it’s named after plantsman E.A. Bowles. The gardens of his
home, Myddleton House in Enfield, are open to the public. They’re a hidden wonder that’s
well-worth visiting, not only for its beautiful and varied plantings but also for its quirky
features, such as the old market cross which forms the centrepiece of one of the gardens:
https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/gardens-and-heritage/myddelton-house-gardens
Doubtless the admirable Mr Bowle’s would have been delighted by the bee-friendly nature
of this pretty but high-performance plant.

Catmint (Nepeta)

This plant has an abundance of small, generally blueish purple flowers, although there are
now white cultivars, for example, ‘Snowflake’. A worshipper of the sun, it also has
wonderfully aromatic leaves that cats are said to love. What’s more, there are lots to choose
from. Some have a loose form and spread gently, while others are a bit more formal and
upright. Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’, for example, is a relaxed but fairly compact plant
that will soften the edges of your borders or pots.

Hebes

Hailing mostly from New Zealand, these evergreen shrubs vary hugely in size and flower
colour. Their long heads of tiny, often slightly fluffy-looking flowers might be pink, purple
or white, so check the picture on the label to find the right one for your colour scheme. They
prefer full sun but will also cope with some shade; most also have a long flowering period
over the summer. All in all they’re pretty tough plants. So how lucky we are that they’re
bee as well as human-friendly.

Heleniums

Once, the leaves of heleniums were dried to make snuff, hence the common name,
sneezeweed. We’d moved on from that particular pastime even before the sneeze-averse
times we now live in. However heleniums still have their place. Flowers of yellow, orange
and red bring zest to your late summer garden and some will flower through to autumn.
Above all, full sun will encourage them to bloom in abundance. Because of their height –
up to 1m tall – they’ll provide you with excellent cut flowers. But make sure you leave some
for the bees! ‘Moorheim Beauty’ is a glorious coppery red, Butterpat is a cheerful yellow.

Cranesbill or hardy Geranium

These utterly marvellous cranesbills tick most of the gardening boxes. Indeed with over
420 different species there’s one for almost every garden situation, including the dreaded
dry shade. Returning to flower year after year in pinks, purples, blues and whites, they’re
also, crucially, as slug- and snail-proof as it’s possible to be. ‘Geranos’ in Greek means
crane,and apparently their name comes from the shape of the seed heads of some species.
Specifically, it’s said that these resemble the bill of this iconic bird. The ubiquitous lavender
-coloured ‘Rozanne’ is popular for good reason and should see you and the bees through
from June to October. Or try carmine-pink ‘Patricia’ and Geranium clarkei ‘Kashmir White’
for something a bit different and an almost equally long flowering period. All will be happy
in sun or part shade.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/hardy-geraniums-for-shade/

Salvias

it’s difficult to know how to choose from these phenomenally bee-friendly plants. There’s
such an abundance of different forms, sizes and colours, they may truly be one of the
most varied families of flowers. Closely related to sage, many also have enticingly aromatic
foliage. The bicoloured red and white flowers of ‘Hot Lips’, for example, are enhanced by its
scented leaves. Classic Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ has small leaves and bluish violet
blooms. But my personal favourite is ‘Amistad’, tall and stately with royal purple flowers
and irresistibly herby foliage. These herbaceous perennials like full sun.

Fascinating bee facts

Among all the astonishing things that bee boffins are learning is this: bumblebees can
sense the electric fields that surround flowers. And as if that wasn’t jaw-droppingly
clever enough, they also change the charge of whatever flower they land upon. As a
result the next bee to come along can tell whether a flower has recently been visited,
and might be low on nectar.

In fact bumblebees can even learn to distinguish between the electric fields produced by
different floral shapes. What’s more, pollen can literally jump from flower to bee, as the
bee approaches, before it has actually landed. Yes, really. It’s on film. It’s because bees
and flowers have opposing electrical charges. You can read all about it here:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers

Honestly, these hard-working, charming and ingenious creatures deserve as much support
as we can give them. So power up your trowel and your gardening fingers, bee-f up your
bee-friendly credentials and spread the love.

Written by Andy Williams, Capital Gardens