[Christine]

Surprisingly, the free dandelion is attractive to bees and butterflies.

[sunshineband]

Verbena bonariensis (the tall stately one with the little purple flower heads a metre tall on wiry stems).... well beloved

[Pimento]

Sunflowers... astrantia... echinacea... And the humble, stately foxglove. Here's a little fella gearing up for a feed in my garden last summer. Cute, eh? 

[GYO Girl]

My phacelia seeds have arrvived this morning.  As they are sold in bulk for green manure, the instructions say to just broadcast them around the in the area to be "manured".  Am I OK sowing them in modules for planting out later as I don't want them all over the place?!

All your suggestions are being noted, many thanks, keep them coming!

[Yorkie]

I don't see why not - it's a bit more faff but if you're happy to do that, go for it.

[Pimento]

Hi GYO Girl,

Sure you could do that, but also you could sow in drills where you want them, and then just thin them out - they're quite tough little things, so you could then move the thinnings elsewhere if you wanted to, and they may well survive - otherwise just add to your compost heap or dig them in green manure-style!

P.

[CapeTown-dude]

In our garden they seem to love Buddleja globosa (Orange ball tree)

I used to have 2 Buddleja globosa trees as part of a hedge between our house and a country lane. I took the plants as cuttings from a specimen growing in Kew Gardens when I worked there back in 2000, was able to use their mist propagation unit in their temperate collection nursery. I don't suppose Buddlejas are particularly hard to propagate, but I was amazed when the cuttings rooted in a matter of days thanks to the warm and humid conditions. I planted them out on a bank of clay and flint overlying chalk on the Hampshire Downs. They thrived and grew into large, healthy bushes in no time at all. I can still remember the masses of insects that they attracted when in flower during the summer months. I noticed that bumblebees in particular seemed to relish the flowers. Orange is one of my preferred colours so this plant was always destined to become a favourite of mine. I really like the spherical nature of the flowers too, like little soccer balls! If you want to attract bees to your garden do yourself a favour and plant one of these. You'll see why!

[Macca-rena]

They love Scabious too. I can't say for sure, but i think i remember something on tele saying that bees prefer certain colours, blues, purples and the like (lucky as they're my favourite coloured flowers too).

Also try to have something in flower all year round. A few early crocus scattered in your lawn can make a massive difference when the weather is mild and there's little else in bloom.

[Pimento]

Hi Cape Town-dude,

Buddleja globosa looks gorgeous - I haven't come across it before - thanks for the tip! 

Pim.

[CapeTown-dude]

Two other plants in particular that I remember being absolutely alive with bees during my stay at Kew were the little known Photinia niitakayamensis from Taiwan and Ilex opaca (American holly). As you can see in the photos below, both have small white flowers which contain a relatively deep nectar funnel at the base. They were also both scented.

Linky

Oh and I just need to add that Angelica gigas is a great attractant for bumblebees too. It is a large biennial herb from the forests of Korea, China and Japan. Well worth growing for it's purple flower heads.


edited to fix long link which broke the page 

[GYO Girl]

I have just googled Buddleia globosa, I've never seen it before.  Chiltern seeds sell packets of seed for £3.90, has anyone ever tried growing it from seed?

...ooh, and they have Angelica gigas seeds too!  They don't sell dandelion seeds though, Christine!