The best flowers for fantastic pollinators

For this post, I have chosen some of my best flowers for bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

We have pollinators to thank for so much of what we eat. Not only do they pollinate our food crops, they are also vital for plenty of wild plants that in turn, support so much wildlife.

Naturally, we normally think of bees, buzzing away, as our busy pollinators. However, butterflies, hoverflies, moths, beetles and other flies do a grand job in the pollinating stakes too.

I grow as many plants as I can in my garden for all the pollinators, and I have chosen a few to share with you. Clearly, the list of best flowers for pollinators could run into large numbers, so I may have a series of posts to showcase plenty more.

So, let us crack on with the first eight of my best flowers.

Best flowers, the butterfly bush

My first choice is the fabulous butterfly bush, buddleia.

Naturally, when we think of a flower for the butterflies, we imagine the buddleia, aptly named, the butterfly bush. However, the bees love this plant as well, hence my photo above of a lovely bumble bee.

These are very easy to grow in almost any soil, in any sunny area.

The flower above is the buddleia davidii. A fast-growing shrub which will grow to three metres tall. It is ideal for a larger garden, providing there is a sunny area, the soil is well-drained, and you have the space to grow this one.

However, for smaller gardens, courtyards, and balconies there are varieties you can grow in a pot. All of them will flower in late summer for four to six weeks.

Thompson and Morgan have a broad selection of compact buddleias.

The Butterfly Candy Collection are especially dwarf and compact, reaching only around 80cm in height so they are perfect for small spaces or containers.

This collection is available in lilac, deep purple, deep red and white so a fantastic range of colours to add some sparkle to the garden or pots.

I have added a link below if you wish to check out some butterfly bush options ready to wow your pollinators in late summer.

Click here for Thompson and Morgan buddleia options

Sunflowers for pollinators

My next choice is the fantastic sunflower. In my garden I grow several varieties in every colour I can find and the bees, butterflies and hoverflies latch on to them all.

The beauty in my photo above is the fabulous Velvet Queen. One of my absolute favourites.

Most sunflowers are full of nectar and pollen for our lucky pollinators. However, some are hybrids without pollen, so it is best to check the variety if you want to provide both nectar and pollen. Those without pollen are predominantly for cutting and are said to last longer in vases as well as not shedding pollen in the home.

I always think that sunflowers have such happy smiling faces. Clearly a fantastic boon to wellbeing as they can give us a boost with their fabulously cheerful blooms.

In addition, when the flowers are left to go to seed, they serve as a food source for birds. 

I have given a link below if you need some sunflower seeds. There is plenty of time as they are hardy annuals and do not need to be sown until April outdoors, or from March in a greenhouse.

I have a seed packet of Claret to add to my varieties this year. A fabulous black-centered, deep red-brown colour. Clearly, they are aptly named Claret!

Click here for Thompson and Morgan sunflowers

Beautiful dahlias

Naturally, I had to include dahlias in this first post for best flowers for pollinators. Dahlia Hartenaas, above, is one of those fabulous dahlias. Because the flowers are small and open this makes them jolly attractive to pollinating insects.

Plus the colour, a deep rose pink, with a pink and white inner petalled collar is pretty lovely too for the garden.

In addition, as the height is only 55cm, they are absolutely perfect for the front of a garden border and also for containers.

I have lost count of how many Hartenaas I now have in my garden borders and pots. However, I do know that they are all covered in butterflies, bees and hoverflies on every bloom for months on end.

Another fabulous dahlia for pollinators is the lovely Bishop of Oxford. The orange dahlia seen at the top of this post with some bees, is also a magnet for hoverflies and butterflies.

As we know, butterflies and moths are sensitive indicators of the health of our environment. I am a member of Butterfly Conservation and if you would like to find out more about how you can help them, I have added a link below.

https://butterfly-conservation.org/

If you need some beautiful dahlias, I have provided some links below for dahlia tubers.

I have purchased dahlias from Sarah Raven in the past. Link below for some fantastic varieties

Click here for Sarah Raven dahlias

This year I ordered a beautiful collection of collarette dahlias from J Parkers which arrived recently. These are absolutely fabulous for pollinators.

Please click here for J Parkers collarette dahlia options

Best flowers, beautiful borage

My next choice is the fabulous borage, which is also known as bugloss and starflower. Another of the best flowers for pollinators and an absolute magnet for bees.

These flowers usually have blue flowers, but there is also a white variety. They will grow to a height of around 60cm.

As the flowers will self-seed fairly vigorously if the faded flowers are left on the plant, it is best to deadhead these blooms before the seed develops unless you would like a carpet of borage.

Amazingly, borage flowers refill with nectar every couple of minutes so no wonder large numbers of bees visit this plant throughout the day.

Again, a fabulous flower for butterflies and hoverflies as well as bees.

As borage is a hardy annual, seeds can be sown direct in flower borders from March onwards. However, if you want to grow in pots, make it a large pot, as they do prefer growing in the ground.

Best flowers, lavender blooms

I have chosen beautiful lavender next, as it is one of the most loved flowering plants in the world. Treasured for its fantastic fragrance, beautiful flowers, and calming properties.

In the first place, lavender flowers are a great natural food source for bees. Because the flowers contain both pollen and nectar, the bees make a bee-line for the blooms.

In addition, lavender flowers provide butterflies with lots of surface area to find and eat nectar.

Also, swollen leg beetles, and red soldier beetles, as pictured above, love lavender flowers.

With this is mind, last year I thought it would be interesting to gaze at my lavender flowers for ten minutes and see how many pollinators came to visit these beautiful blooms.

Consequently, the results of my relaxing ten minutes with the lavenders became a blog post. I have added a link below, if you would like to see this one.

Some beautiful lavender, 10 minutes gazing, 10 fantastic pollinators

In addition to planting the semi-woody perennial lavender in flower borders, some varieties are compact enough to be grown in pots. Therefore, another beautiful flower, ideal for smaller gardens, courtyards, and balconies. If you do not have any lavenders and would like to check out some possible options, see below.

Click here for Thompson and Morgan lavender options

Gorgeous foxgloves

My next choice is the lovely foxglove. This upright beauty is an absolute magnet for bees and other pollinators such as butterflies.

This pure white foxglove added stature to my flower borders last year, and the bees loved it. Growing to a height of 120cm, they make truly elegant spires, reaching towards the sky. Available in many colours, including the native purple pink.

Foxgloves are happy in shade, so they are ideal to brighten up a shady area. Although, they will also grow in full sun and they happily bloom in sunny and shady borders in my garden.

Providing us with splendid colour between June and September, the pollinators get a valuable source of nectar too.

Furthermore, foxgloves self-seed freely, so once you have them, you can have plenty more dotted around if you wish.

Foxgloves are either perennial or biennial, so the biennial’s will send up leaves in one year and flower the following year.

Best flowers, blue scabious

My next choice is the fantastic Scabious, or Scabiosa, also known as the pincushion flower.

As you can see in my photo above, the bees are jolly keen on these flowers.

The fabulously flat flower heads are great for butterflies, moths and hoverflies too. In addition, the seeds, if the flowers are left, are fantastic for birds.

I grow my favourite, dark scabious from seed each year. Varieties called Black Cat and Black Knight. In addition, for this year, I have the perennial Beaujolais Bonnets, a beautiful burgundy coloured bloom.

However, the bees and butterflies appear to prefer the blue perennial scabious in my garden, aptly named, Butterfly Blue. Although they will feed off all varieties.

They can be sown from February through to April, and I have added a link below if you would like some Butterfly Blue, Beaujolais Bonnets or any other varieties for your garden. Seeds or plants are available.

Here is the link for Thompson and Morgan scabious options

Echium blue bedder

Finally, for this post, I have chosen the beautiful Echium Blue Bedder. One fabulous flower that is extremely appealing to pollinators, especially bees. I love the violet blue bell-shaped blooms as much as the bees do.

In addition to attracting bees, these flowers are also a magnet for butterflies, moths and other pollinators. Each plant has an abundance of nectar and pollen rich flowers, so it is will worth having some in your garden.

Another hardy annual, so the seeds can be sown direct in flower borders in March and April and will flower from May through to September.

Since the plants are a compact 45cm in height, they can also be grown in pots. However, wherever you sow them, they do require full sun.

I stagger my sowing at two week intervals to ensure I have an abundance of flowers for several months.

In fact, last year I sowed a few seeds in late August and I had plenty of new flowers a few weeks later.

Well, that is the end of my first eight of the best flowers for pollinators. I hope you have enjoyed this one and will grow plenty of blooms for the bees, butterflies, hoverflies, beetles, and flies too. Here’s to a bright and colourful future for our all important pollinators and a bright and colourful garden for us all too.

This blog is an affiliate for Thompson and Morgan, Sarah Raven and J Parkers. If you click on one of the links above, and make a purchase I may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you.

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