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The best plants for bees and pollinators

Set up a ‘nectar café’ by planting flowers for pollinating insects like bees and butterflies
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Many of our prettiest insects feed on nectar, so need flowering plants for their survival. Butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies all need sources of nectar and pollen to thrive. As they travel from flower to flower, they also pollinate them, enabling them to set seed or bear fruit. So, setting up a nectar café benefits both your plants and you, allowing you to enjoy the flitting and fluttering of beautiful butterflies.

Setting up a nectar café not only benefits your garden, but allows you to enjoy the fluttering of beautiful butterflies too

 

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Setting up your nectar café:

  • Choose a sheltered sunny spot
  • Place each plant in groups or drifts so that the colour and scent are easy to detect
  • Prolong the flowering season – select plants so that you have a show of flowers from early spring to late autumn
  • Choose flowers with a simple (often flat) structure, like old cottage varieties, as they are the easiest for insects to feed from
  • Remember to provide a night-time feast for moths. Plant some night-scented flowers.
  • Add herbs to the mix as they are highly attractive to insects, or design a dedicated herb garden

Nectar plant suggestions:

Early season

Mid season

Late season
Aubretia spp Heather - Erica cinerea Coneflower - Echinacea spp.
English bluebell - Hyacinthoides non-scripta Lady’s bedstraw - Galium verum French marigold - Tagetes patula
Currant - Ribes spp. Lavender - Lavandula angustifolia Golden rod - Solidago spp.
Grape hyacinth - Muscari armeniacum Common mallow - Malva sylvestri Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum
Lungwort - Pulmonaria officinalis Purple toadflax - Linaria purpurea Ice plant - Sedum spectabile
Primrose - Primula vulgaris Rock cress - Arabis spp. Ivy - Hedera helix
Sweet violet - Viola odorata Sea holly - Eryngium maritimum Meadow saffron - Colchicum autumnale
Winter aconite - Eranthis hyemalis Verbena - Verbena bonariensis Michaelmas daisy - Aster pyrenaeus 
Wood anemone - Anemone nemorosa Wallflower - Erysimum cheiri Common sunflower - Helianthus annuus
Alyssum - Alyssum
montanum		   Red valerian - Centranthus ruber

 

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