15 Bee Friendly Plants
15 Bee-Friendly Flowers, Plants, & More
To Grow If You Live In New England
New England abounds with beautiful flowers, shrubs, bushes, trees, and other vegetation. However, today we will discuss some of the best for honeybees and various pollinators. If you can’t be a beekeeper but have room for a garden outdoors, you can play a role in saving pollinators. Gardens provide food and habitat for various pollinators including the honeybee when planting specific plants. . According to Tufts Pollinator Initiative, there are over 350 species of wild bees in New England alone, and the honeybee only makes up a small number of these flighty friends. Luckily, New England is home to many native perennials and is conducive to several annuals from which bees love pollinating as they enjoy the nectar.
1) New England Aster
Asters have flowers that can be blue, pink, or purple with a blossom size of under an inch. They bloom in late summer and early fall and are loved by pollinators, especially honeybees. If the soil in your garden isn’t the best, generally, Asters will tolerate it.
2) Panicle Hydrangea
The Panicle Hydrangea is considered a shrub. It prefers full sun to partial shade. It grows 6 to 8 feet tall and should be planted 6 to 8 feet apart. Their flowers are showy and can be green, pink, or red. In some cases, flowers can be pale green to white and age to pink, red, and burgundy shades. They tend to produce good fall colors. Panicle Hydrangea is a favorite of bees.
3) Virginia Rose
The Virginia Rose has a bloom size of about 2 to 3 inches. Their bloom can be semi-double to double in clusters with a medium pink color. They bloom once per year in the late spring or early summer. Their flowers are showy and fragrant. Virginia Rose is considered a perennial shrub that likes full sun.
4) Bee Balm
Part of the mint family, bee balm truly lives up to its name and is a favorite of the bees. It is a rapid grower so it should only be placed where it would be ok to spread. Bee balm grows 2 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. It requires rich, moist soil and partial sunlight.
5) Black-eyed Susans
As a very-common native perennial of the northeast, Black-eyes Susans bloom late summer and early fall making them a great late-season food source for bees and other pollinators. The signature black eye may seem solid, but it’s a cluster of dozens of flowers. Each of these flowers serves a cup of pollen and nectar for the pollinators. They require moist, well-draining, acidic, or neutral soil.
6) Cup Plant
A perennial herb that enjoys full sun. They grow 36 to 120 inches (3 to 10 feet) tall and should be placed 24 to 48 inches apart. The leaves form a cup. The fruit is enjoyed by many types of birds and is also edible by humans. They bloom in the summer, late summer or early fall. Their flowers are yellow and showy.
7) Goldenrod
This is a favorite of the honeybee and many other pollinators. In the late summer to early fall. Bees flock to Goldenrod and make tasty honey that, before being extracted, smells like dirty sox! Once extracted the small seems to go away. Flowers are yellow, small, and plentiful. You see a lot of Goldenrod in fields, pastures, and along the sides or roads and waterways. Its Latin name of Solidago means “to make one whole or heal,” per Healthline, making this plant helpful to bees and people
- 8) Dandelion
The Dandelion is one of the first flowering plants in the spring providing an early food source for bees that just came through winter with limited resources. Sadly, even though their bright yellow flower is pretty, it’s considered a weed, and most people treat it with chemicals to kill it. Along with the Dandelion, many bees are killed by the chemicals or starve due to their early food source being taken away. PLEASE don’t kill the Dandelion, especially in early spring! I don’t cut my lawn until the first Dandelions go by and other food sources for pollinators come into play.
9) Common Milkweed
- Not only is Milkweed a great food source for honeybees, I learned in elementary school that is the plant the Monarch Butterfly depends on for nesting an food. Monarch Butterflies are incredibly beautiful but, sadly, are now an endangered species. Milkweed is a must-have for any pollinator garden.
10) Woodland Stonecrop
- A very hardy plant that can handle freezing temperatures, the Woodland Stonecrop is considered an Evergreen. It is a great ground cover and mat-forming. It is pest-resistant and prefers well-drained soil. Woodland Stonecrop prefers Full Sun to Partial Shade but can often thrive in Partial to Full Shade. Their flowers are white and showy, and the plant height is about 4 to 8 inches. Their bloom size is under an inch.
- 11) Sunflower
A popular garden plant, Sunflowers come in all sizes from miniature to giant. Madisen Swenson, a journalist for com, wrote, “The heaven-facing sunflower (Helianthus annus) is one of the flowers that most excites happy summertime memories thanks to its canary yellow petals. It’s also a great pollen and nectar source for bees, but not all sunflowers are created equally. Some species are over-engineered for size and looks, rendering them pollenless, says Joybilee Farm, so be sure to get a native variety for your garden. The sunflower thrives in well-draining soil with full exposure to sunlight, USDA zones 2-11, and can grow up to 10 feet tall.”
12) Wild Carrot
- Also known as Queen Anne’s lace, the wild carrot (Daucus carota) is a part of the Apiaceae family. While you won’t find any typical orange carrots on this bee magnet, its roots, and flowers are edible, so you can enjoy them after the pollination season ends. Wild Food UK recommends cooking the root into a soup and eating the flowers raw or battering and frying them up. Wild carrots bloom in the peak summer season in USDA zones 3-9 and need full sun exposure and well-draining soil
- 13) Virginia Bluebells
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are part of the forget-me-not family, and with these delicate trumpet flowers in shades of periwinkle and violet, it’s easy to see why. They are a great source of pollen and nectar for bees and a stunning addition to your New England cottage garden. In addition, they tolerate partial to full shade, so they’re a good choice if your yard doesn’t get a ton of natural sunlight and needs rich and moist soil in USDA zones 3-8.
14) Creeping phlox
Sometimes known as moss pink, creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) is a sprawling, low-growing shrub that is a dream plant for those with only the slightest of green thumbs. Meadows Farms also notes that this plant blooms in early spring, from March to April, so they’re a great early-season source for bees and other pollinators. In addition, they sprawl quickly and easily, making them ideal for filling in negative space in your gardenscape. Plant creeping phlox in full or partial sunlight, loamy, well-draining acidic, neutral, or alkaline soil, and USDA zones 5-9.
- 15) Running Foamflower
Running foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) is a hardy woodland vine sometimes known as a “running tapestry” plant thanks to its abundant, sprawling leaves. The delicate white flowers bloom from late spring through summer but leave behind evergreen heart-shaped foliage that lasts year-round, similar to maple leaves, per New Moon Nurseries, so this is great for a native garden that wants to eliminate the grass. It requires full or partial shade, sandy or clay soil of any pH level, and grows in USDA zones 3-9.