Bee-friendly plants: top 10

Certain plants not only beautify your garden, they also provide bees and other insects with food and a suitable habitat. We introduce you to 10 bee-friendly plants for the home garden.

We at Plantura have collected a selection of the most bee-friendly plants for you! The list should help you to make your garden paradise attractive also for the hard-working nectar collectors. Because Bees in the garden not only convey a romantic country idyll, they are also relevant for our ecosystems. Here you can remind yourself again why it makes sense to support the bees.

Unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold and that also applies to the bee-friendliness of many garden plants. Below we present the top 10 most bee-friendly plants for your garden and balcony with a useful overview table at the end.

1. Apple

Of the Apple (Malus) is not only a popular fruit and ornamental tree, it also takes first place in our ranking of bee-friendly plants. In addition to the cultured

Apple varieties from Malus domestica does the crabapple exist (Malus sylvestris), whose flowers are no less valuable, but which do not provide any fruit that we can eat. The nectar and pollen-rich flowering extends from April to June and provides so much food for honey bees that for the first time in the year a surplus that can be used by beekeepers arises. Wild bees and other insects also find the apple attractive, among other things because it also provides honeydew due to moderate aphid infestation.

2. dandelion

That was true for a long time dandelion (Taraxacum) only as an annoying weed in the lawn - the native wild plant is a real asset for every garden. In fact, the plant not only impresses with its pretty, bright yellow flowers, but is also edible. In addition, the dandelion is particularly bee-friendly: With a particularly high nectar and pollen value, the wild plant is an ideal source of food for the hard-working insects. The bee-friendly plant delivers from April to June and in some cases even into autumn Food in abundance, which is why beekeepers consider it a particularly good early and mass forage will. In addition, their early flowering time is ideal for bees, as the rich costume of the dandelion has a positive effect on the structure of the bee colony after winter. But not only honey bees benefit from the hard-working flower donors, wild bees are also very fond of flowers and love to fly to them.

3. pasture

All types of are particularly popular with our hard-working nectar collectors Pastures (Salix). They bloom between March and June, making them one of the first to be available as food for bees in our latitudes after winter. Because early in the year it can still be too cold, wet or windy for the sensitive honey bees, the offer is especially suitable for the more robust bumblebees and wild bees. The great variety of shapes of the willow species extends from the up to 20 meters high, mighty white willow (Salix alba) over the 5 to 8 meter high Sal pasture (Salix caprea) to the shrubby Swiss willow (Salix helvetica), which is just three feet high. All types of willow prefer moist to wet and nutrient-rich soils in sunny to partially shaded locations.

4. Ordinary sun bride

With its long and especially late flowering period, the common sun bride (Helenium autumnale) a particularly bee-friendly plant. From July to October, the bloom shines in all its splendor and magically attracts insects. Above all, their high nectar value is ideal for bees at this time of the year, as it allows them to replenish their supplies before winter. But the good pollen value also makes the common sun bride a popular plant for bees. Other insects, including wild bees, butterflies and bumblebees, also like to fly to the sun bride. But not only insects enjoy the pretty plant: with its pretty yellow-red flowers, the common sun bride is also a great eye-catcher for people.

5. ivy

Our home ivy (Hedera helix) is for bees and butterfly an important extension of the feeding period, because it is one of the few true autumn bloomers. The green-yellow, spherical umbels provide easily accessible nectar and pollen for wasps, beetles, flies and bees from September to October. In addition, the dense tangle of shoots and evergreen leaves provides a home for small animals in need of protection. It should be noted that the plants only bloom when they are around 8 to 10 years old and have climbed up on a support. Ivy grows on all soils - apart from pure peat - and in shady to sunny locations. The blazing sun is only badly tolerated in winter.

6. Seed Esparsette

The local seed sasparsette (Onobrychis viciifolia) is a perennial with an exceptionally high nectar and pollen value. Because it is very rich in protein and, as a deep-rooted legume, improves less fertile sites, it was and is used as a forage plant and for green manure. But their aesthetics don't have to hide either: the pink butterfly flowers appear from May to June and the pinnate leaves on the upright stems can be integrated very well into a classic herbaceous border or beautify dry and difficult-to-plant areas of the Garden. The Saat-Esparsette prefers sunny, warm locations.

7. sloe

the sloe (Prunus spinosa) is also known as black thorn because of its thorny, black shoots. It is considered a valuable bee pasture because it is one of the early blooming trees. From April to May, when the bees are encouraged to fly by the rising temperatures, the sloe delivers valuable nectar, a sufficient amount of pollen and serves both honey and wild bees and Butterflies. In addition, the sloe is almost always from Aphids infested, which excrete honeydew as an additional energy source for insects. The white blossoms smell amazing for us too and the fruits that develop from it can be consumed raw or processed after the first frost - or as Winter food for birds to serve. The sloe is very frugal in terms of its location and thrives almost everywhere - except in floodplains.

8. Sweet clover

The sweet clover (Melilotus officinalisIt is no coincidence that it is trivially referred to as honey clover. It blooms from July to September and its yellow bloom is of great value to honey bees due to its abundance of nectar. Some specialized wild bees can also benefit from honey clover, which is not least due to the four-month flowering period. As a pioneer plant, sweet clover thrives very well in sunny locations and poor soils. It is more of a candidate for the “wild corner” of a garden and, as a nitrogen collector (legume), also improves the soil on which it grows.

Tip: While the general interest is currently heavily focused on the bees, you can find more general information here Tips for an insect-friendly garden pick up.

9. Balcony plants

Insects are grateful for every source of nectar and pollen, especially in heavily built-up areas. the the most bee-friendly balcony plants are the oregano (Origanum vulgare), the Sunflower (Helianthus spec.) and the thyme (Thymus vulgaris). The Raublatt aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), the globe flower (Trollius europaeus), Everyone Lily species (Lilium spec.) and the little winterling (Eranthis hyemalis) are valuable contact points for honey and wild bees. Incidentally, the combination mentioned would cover the entire flight time of the nectar-collecting insects.

Expert tip: The classic balcony flowers are unfortunately all too often hardly helpful: geraniums (Pelargoinum) for example, which often just look pretty, but have nothing to offer for insects.

10. raspberry

the raspberry (Rubus idaeus) has a long flowering period, which extends from May to August. The production of nectar and pollen can be described as good to very good. It is also an important source of food for wild bees and grows in the garden, in forest areas and on paths in partially shaded to sunny areas. Because it spreads via root shooters, regular maintenance or the installation of a root barrier are essential if the entire garden is not to be overgrown with raspberries.

Tip: Also sweet cherry (Prunus avium), Sauerkische (Prunus cerasus) and plum (Prunus domestica) are exceptionally good bee pastures that did not make it into our top 10 due to lack of space.

Summary of the most bee-friendly plants

In flowering time calendars, only the months in which the plants are in bloom are marked for the respective plants. With the help of these tables it is easy to plan to have a food source for bees and insects every month.

plant	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October
raspberry	x	x	x	x
Balcony plants	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Sweet clover	x	x	x
sloe	x	x
Seed Esparsette	x	x
ivy	x	x
dandelion	x	x	x
pasture	x	x	x	x
Ordinary sun bride	x	x	x	x
Apple	x	x	x

Tip: If you have little time, you can help yourself by doing nothing. In the fall, leave your perennials withered and do not cut them back. Wild bees find shelter here for the winter. You can also - if there is space - create a “wild corner” in the garden. There you can see what would like to grow there, and it is only mowed once in autumn. You may be surprised what interesting and ornamental wild plants are here. Overall, that promotes the Species diversity and biodiversity in your garden. Seed mixes like that Plantura bee pasture are also excellent for the bees in your garden. Due to the variety of bee-friendly types of flowers and herbs, the bee pasture provides food for the useful insects for many months.

Butterflies also need support in the garden. The 10 best butterfly-friendly plants You will find here.