Chelsea & RHS - Plant with bees in mind

[VirginVegGrower]

Oops. How about campion and clover, bits and bobs like that?! Could be your wildflower patch.

[VirginVegGrower]

Hellebores, euphorbias? Both shade loving.

[mrbadexample]

They'd be ideal, if they will compete with the grass? Ideally, smother it completely!

I should probably start a new thread to avoid taking this one off topic. Wildlife or flower forum, do you think?

Edit: And I don't know what any of the things you're saying are. Except Clover. That's like butter.

[mothhawk]

Pulmonaria - it's happy in the shade if you add some manure and compost to the soil. The leaves get a bit mildewed if they get too dry, but if that happens I just cut all the leaves off and give them a bucket of water, and they cheerfully come up again.

And it has lots of quirky nicknames.

How to grow: pulmonaria - Telegraph

[witchwoo]

i try to grow for bees and at the moment i have a good excuse for not mowing the lawn theres a patch of clover flowers

[Two_Sheds]

. My parents grew a bed of the phaecelia last year, I swear I have never seen so many or so many different species of bee in one place.

They love it! It's like bee heaven - I let mine flower for the bees: YouTube - ‪bumblebees on phacelia‬‏
It doesn't show the huge number of bees on them, but you get the gist

[Two_Sheds]

Is there anything I could grow in the borders ...thrive on nothing (i.e very limited soil), out-compete the weeds, and be zero-maintenance?

Crimson clover. I've sown it on my lotty path mainly to keep the grass weeds down. It's never been watered and is only 4" tall but it's flowering its socks off (it would get to a foot tall if I watered it)

[Lotsaveg]

When I go to the garden centre's I look for the plants whose flowers are teaming in bees. Yesterday I bought some Allium karataviense Ivory that the bees were going nuts over.

Thank goodness for the Beepol hives though!! My original one is still going after over 3 months and a wax moth attack! Two, maybe three lots of new queen bumblebees have been produced in this period so I'm really buzzing!!

[mrbadexample]

Ooh...we may have a winner.

I need to get the weeds up and see what soil's there, if any.

[dave_norm_smith]

I'm printing the list so I can study over the weekend. I have a variety of spots that don't have tomatoes in them()lol, I mean flowers and shrubs, so I'm sure I can pop a few more to help.

I'm hoping to establish a good snack point for my own bees when I get them next year!

Happy planting!

[Florence Fennel]

There was a piece on the BBC Breakfast Show this morning from the Blue Peter Garden, so it's getting plenty of publicity. I've got quite a few alliums and the bees love them.

[dave_norm_smith]

Alliums are on the top of the list for us. The boss has wanted them for years but we never seem to pick any up. The colours will also work as the garden has a definate blue and white biase for most of the year.

[VirginVegGrower]

They like oriental poppies too according to the list, of which I have loads but never see the bees in them. My Daphne plants, lavenders and salvias get smothered. I had two fat bumbles in the greenhouse today but had to put them out as they were banging their heads repeatedly against the glass.
Has anyone seen the Omlet Beehaus? I rather fancy one of those one day, sigh...

[Sylvan]

The ones up here love the foxgloves. (They sound very funny when they're inside - the pitch of their buzzing rises dramatically)

[pipscariad]

My foxgloves are just about to burst into flower, ditto the lavendar with a bit more sun. I've grown borage from seed this year (but the plants are still tiny at the moment) and a kind friend has given me some Vipers Bugloss seedlings which will flower next year and the bees love those. I've also got poached egg plants and nasturtiums.

I think it's really important that more people grow flowers for bees and other pollinating insects, it's great that the profile of this cause is being raised. Nice one dave norm smith!

Mrbadexample, foxgloves might be okay in that little bit of land too, they can cope with quite a bit of shade.