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Pollinators for borders

Justin Doherty2Justin Doherty2 Posts: 205
in Plants

Hi all,

I'm going to be digging up the border in the school wildlife garden this summer and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for perennial bee/butterfly attractors that would grow well there?

Thanks.

Posts

  • LoganLogan Posts: 2,532
    Hi justin doherty2 any thing thats got single flowers, also foxglove, snapdragon, lavender, salvias,scabiose,aqueligia,roses,penstemons.there's herbs tyme,sage, margerum,I know I haven't spelt that right,rosemary of cause these have to be in flower.Can't think of anything else.
  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    The best with me are pulmonarias, borage, nepeta, sage (officinalis for spring, elegans for autumn), cerinthe major, Asphodelus albus, and foxgloves (mostly for bumblebees). Also thyme and mints, although a bit less, nasturtiums and the annual sunflowers.

  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    Oh, also lavenders, of course. Stoechas for spring, angustifulia for the summer.

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698

    Caryopteris is a good manageable sized shrub for bees and flowers in September when the kids are back. Sedum spectabile ('Autumn Joy') is a nice late flowering perennial bees like. Verbena bonariensis is a nice one for height and also carries on flowering well into Autumn term.

    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    Oh, verbena bonariensis and buddleja for the butterflies. They say escallonias are also good for butterflies, but I never had one, so I have direct experience of that.

  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    Ah, Will, you beat me to it with the verbena image

  • paulk2paulk2 Posts: 184

    Chives in flower are a magnet for bees: they are easy to grow from seed and can just be left to their own devices.

    Summer flowering jasmine is a good climber for bees and hardy geraniums, something like Johnson's Blue, is a good border plant which bees love.

  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    I forgot, Hyssop and phacelia tanacetifolia, for bees.

    Phacelia, like borage, nasturtium and cerinthe, is not technically a perennial, but it selfseeds reliably, so if you sow it once you have it forever. image

    PS are you still looking for strawberry plants?

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