Colorful annuals and herbs can really pack a punch with attractive colors while providing a long bloom season. Sneezeweed is especially responsive to dead-heading and will continue producing new blooms until frost. Native and non-native coneflowers are a favorite of bees. Mid-season, traditional perennial border plants including sneezeweed, globe thistle and blazing star offer unlimited opportunities for many pollinators to forage. Summer bulbs like Allium christophii and Allium ‘Millenium’ add to the palette and are bee magnets! With Allium cultivars that bloom throughout spring and summer, possibilities are endless. New hybrids of coral bells re-bloom throughout the season and well into fall with fresh bloom spikes emerging every couple of weeks. Prime timeīy the time spring unfolds, garden favorites like single peonies reveal their pollen-laden anthers and start receiving attention from bees. Perennial favorites such as bleeding heart, foxglove and Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ bring in the late-spring show audience and larger bees are often seen feeding on these beauties. Minor bulbs like Siberian squill, Punchkinia and Chinodoxa attract the tiniest of bee species. Early showĮarly spring-blooming plants such as Pachysandra and bugleweed buzz to life with insect activity when windy spring weather makes it difficult to navigate plants that are taller. A plant that was bred to be sterile (lacking stamens) or does not contain nectar does not benefit pollinators. Photos by Zachary Huang, MSU.įlowers bred to have dense petals such as roses or peonies may not accommodate pollinators since the nectar glands and pollen laden stamens are more difficult to locate. Human vision of a flower (left) versus insect vision (right). Using UV light, bees see things in flowers our eyes cannot, including patterns, colors and markings, which enables them to pilot directly to a “landing pad” leading to the pollen source. Open flowers with flat umbels like our native ironweed provide resources to many kinds of beneficial insects.īees will forage on hundreds of different flowering plants, but they especially love purple, blue, white, yellow, mauve or violet flowers. Tubular-shaped flowers with an extended petal, like foxglove or Salvia, allow bees to perch and then enter the bloom. Providing a wide range of bloom sizes and shapes will encourage these insects regardless of the insect’s size. ![]() ![]() Other garden favorites have been bred to continue blooming throughout the season. ![]() Some annuals like Tithonia and perennials like Helenium (Sneezeweed) can be encouraged to re-bloom during summer with pruning and routine dead-heading. Early blooming plants such as spring bulbs or Pachysandra, or very late bloomers such as Sedum or Anemone are often the most needed food sources for pollinators since there are fewer floral resources available during those times. Choose a wide range of flowering plants including annuals, herbaceous perennials and native plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs that are known to support pollinator health. Think about “serving” up a menu of blooms in early spring through fall. Native bees will widely feed on many different types of flowering plants in your landscape and garden. ![]() This is their food, the carbohydrates and protein they need to thrive and produce offspring. Pollinators are looking for nectar and pollen when foraging in your garden.
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