Eco Friendly Plants
If you want to attract Bees into your garden you need to know what plants Bees are attracted to and why. If you plant flowers to attract Bees you will also get Butterflies too! Make sure to include plants that provide food and shelter for all stages of a butterflies life cycle. Butterflies like warmth so choose sunny, sheltered spots when planting nectar plants and choose different plants to attract a wider variety of species.
Spring flowers are vital for butterflies coming out of hibernation. Autumn flowers help butterflies build up their winter reserves.
Tips
- Prolong flowering by deadheading flowers, mulching with organic compost, and watering well to keep the plants healthy.
- Plants that are well-watered will produce far more nectar for hungry bees and butterflies.
- Don’t use insecticides and pesticides. They kill butterflies and many pollinating insects as well as ladybirds, ground beetles and spiders.
Bee And Butterfly Friendly Plants
- Agastache Foeniculum (Anise Hyssop) – a super heat and draught tolerant plant. Deer leave it alone, it blooms for weeks in late summer and butterflies love it. Plus this is a great cut flower.
- Aster: (Aster selections) – A top plant for the autumn garden, aster is a heavy bloomer with colourful flowers in shades of blue, purple, pink, red, and white.
- Bee Balm (Monarda) – Bee balm flowers are brilliant additions to late summer herb gardens and flower borders.
- Butterfly Weed (Milkweed) – Grow a butterfly weed or two and you’re sure to have monarch butterflies show up. This is if monarchs are native in your area.
- Coreopsis: (Moonbeam) – This perennial will reward you and the butterflies with little yellow flowers over rich green, ferny foliage for much of the summer.
- Lupin: – Lupins are upright, mound forming wild flowers with fans of green, lance shaped leaves and spikes of brightly coloured sweet pea like flowers from June to August, that are favoured by butterflies.
- Phlox: (Philox paniculata) – Phlox bears beautiful clusters of red, pink, lavender, salmon, or white blossoms throughout the summer. Their lovely scent delights our noses as much as their nectar delights hungry butterflies.
- Salvia: (May Night) – There’s a Salvia for every garden: Some are tall, others are short. Some have blue or purple flowers, and others have red, orange, or pink flowers. While you might have trouble picking a salvia, the butterflies won’t. They will flock to it every summer.
