Please Share This Page:

Photo – Fir0002/Flagstaffotos (Wikimedia) – lic. under CC-BY-3.0

The tragic decline of bee populations has been very prominent in the news recently – and we featured a detailed article about the legal battle over the pesticides which many believe are responsible. However today we bring some good news, which is that you can help bee populations by choosing plants that they love!

Image For Pinterest:



Graphic – off-grid.info. Images – Pixabay (PD)

It’s not only honey that bees can give us – we rely on pollinators for growing many of our common fruit and vegetable crops worldwide. There are in fact many factors that have caused bee populations to decline. As mentioned, it’s believed partly due to the widespread use of pesticides (some garden plant suppliers, particularly in the US, still use neonicotinoids routinely so please check that your plants are pesticide-free before buying. Otherwise, don’t be afraid to try somewhere else – we need bees!). Choosing organic produce in the stores or growing your own will make a difference too.

Another big factor in the bees decline is the destruction of wild habitats and, while we’re on the subject, please resist tidying up dead hollow plant stems until the spring – they can provide a good over-wintering place for solitary bees and other beneficial insects.









Some species of bumble bee are becoming rare due to a massive reduction of wildflower meadows in modern agriculture. Each species has a different size of tongue so they will visit different types of flower but occasionally a short-tongued species will bite through a deep flower to reach the nectar! Generally speaking they also prefer single flowering native species.

It’s now really important that all of us think about the bees when we choose plants for the garden. Thankfully we’re in luck as many of them are attractive plants and some have all sorts of other beneficial uses, as you’ll see! Here’s our top 10 list of favorites:

1. Lavender (Lavandula spp.) – A very popular flower (it’s the one in the image above) for bees and humans alike, this perennial will flower all summer long. Lavender is ideal to grow next to a path so you can enjoy the scent and watch the bees every time you walk past it.