Plants that Honey Bees Love©

Plants that Honey Bees Love©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

Let’s face it; our Honey Bees are in a critical shape.  Monsanto, big corporate farming is killing them off.

Around here at Home Farm Herbery we plant lots of flowers and especially ones that Honey Bees love such as Crocus, hyacinth, borage, calendula, and wild lilac provide enticing spring blooms.

Bees feast on bee balm, cosmos, Echinacea, snapdragons foxglove, and hosta in the summer and we grow lots of them here.

For fall, we know zinnias, sedum, asters, witch hazel and goldenrod are late bloomers that will tempt foragers and we oblige the bees by growing them..

Cosmos is an annual flower easily raised from seed. We plant them every spring because it’s also one of the very best for the bee. We grow it in groups, making the collection of pollen easier for the bees, which won’t have to fly as far to find their food. Cosmos grow 2-5ft tall, the majority reaching about 2ft. Cosmos are from Mexico, so it is a half hardy annual. We plant them after all danger of frost has passed, and we deadhead them to keep them flowering continuously through the summer. These open, flat flowers will delight you as well as giving the bees a feast.

We plant great beds of Sunflowers which are a great choice. These are available in many heights and colors to suit your garden space. We choose yellow or orange over red, since we know the bees don’t like red sunflowers.  We avoid the new varieties that exist for the allergic gardener because these contain no pollen. Please check the labels when you buy sunflower seeds.

We grow Lavender which is a hardy shrub and there are plenty of lavenders to choose from.  Lavender needs plenty of sun and well drained soil, but we are rewarded with plenty of fragrant flowers for cutting and drying. We love to watch them get smothered in bees when they come into flower.

We grow lots of herbs here and we know the bees love Thyme, Rosemary, Borage and Mint.

Honey bees love Sweet William, poppies, cornflowers (Echinacea) snapdragons, crocus and even sedum.

You have lots to choose from and you don’t even have to have a little farm like we do.  Container gardens help greatly.  Small plots of flower or herb gardens increase the Honey Bees chances of survival, including our own.

You can find most of these chemical-free heirloom seeds at our Home Farm Herbery shop on line and we will pay for the shipping. 

In the meantime…

May the Creative Force be with you.

Arlene Wright-Correll

Home Farm Herbery