Bee Plants

Many plants depend on bees for pollination, including a huge range of food plants that we in turn depend upon. Bees are attracted by large amounts of nectar (a carbohydrate, providing energy for the bees) and/or pollen (a protein, which is fed to the larvae and to the queen bee). Plants have evolved to attract bees to ensure their own pollination, ie. reproduction. and by providing nectar as an enticement, as well as through the flower form, e.g. flat open or tubular flowers, and colour – bees show a preference for blue/purple, white and yellow flowers. Flowers that are visited more often by bees will produce larger and more uniform fruit than those visited less often. In order to keep our bees happy therefore, it pays to have a range of plants in your garden which flower (and hence provide food) year round.