Top plants for pollinators in your wildlife garden
Dave Goulson, author of The Garden Jungle, reveals some of the best plants you can grow to give garden pollinators a helping hand.
Viper’s bugloss
A beautiful native wildflower, easy to grow and hugely attractive to bees of many types.
- Where to plant: sandy, chalk and disturbed soils
- Blooming time: May – September
Comfrey
Perhaps the single best plant you can grow for bumblebees – they absolutely love it. It also makes a great liquid manure.
Geranium
Almost all of the perennial hardy geraniums available for gardens are great plants for pollinators, but my favourite is the wild meadow cranesbill.
Catmint
Alive with bees all summer long, and extremely easy to grow.
Marjoram
Very attractive to a broad range of insects, including butterflies, bees, beetles and hoverflies. Also very useful in the kitchen.
Leek
Simply allow a few of your garden leeks to flower in their second summer, and you’ll perhaps be surprised to see how attractive their large, ball-shaped flowers are to butterflies and solitary bees.
Angelica
Tall plants with giant, plate-like flowers that are enjoyed by numerous small solitary bees, wasps, beetles and hoverflies.
Field scabious
A beautiful native wildflower, with mauve powder-puff flowers in the summer months, attractive to many different insects.
- Where to plant: grassy places and dry soils
- Blooming time: July – September
Dahlia (single varieties)
Overlooked as plants for pollinators, the single variety dahlias are hugely attractive to bumblebees, with a long flowering period.
Ivy
A fantastic nectar-rich autumn flower for a wide diversity of insects, including bees, butterflies, hoverflies, wasps and more. The berries are also eaten by birds.
Where to plant: partially or fully shaded site
Blooming time: autumn
Bird’s-foot trefoil
- Where to plant: anywhere except in very acidic soils
- Blooming time: May – September
Dog-rose
- Where to plant: full sun with moderately fertile soil
- Blooming time: late summer-early autumn
Wild cherry tree
- Where to plant: mixture of sun and shade, fertile soil
- Blooming time: April – May
Yellow rattle
- Where to plant: grassland of low to medium fertility
- Blooming time: May – September
Wild carrot
- Where to plant: free-draining and slightly acidic soils
- Blooming time: June – August
Common knapweed
- Where to plant: well-drained fertile soil in a sunny position
- Blooming time: June – September
Dandelions
- Where to plant: anywhere
- Blooming time: spring and then late summer
Bluebells
- Where to plant: partial shade, well-drained soil rich in organic matter
- Blooming time: mid-April – late May
