Bee-Loved

Unlike Jesus who loves all of us equally, bees love some plants more than others.

In this short post, I’d like to outline a few flowers that bees particularly love.

This is important for attracting bees, if you’re thinking of bee-keeping.  But plant placement is also important because you really don’t want these plants within 3 feet of your entry doors.  This is also helpful information for the two out of every 1000 people who are allergic to bee stings.  You will want to avoid planting these near walkways, doorways, and traffic areas of your yard.

While most of these plants are favored by butterflies and honey bees–both of which are welcome visitors to the garden, occasionally a honey bee can sting passersby instead of just sticking to its work of gathering nectar for making honey.

Some of the most bee-loved plants include:

Asclepias

(Butterfly weed)

Aster

Crocus

Echinacea (Coneflower)

Erica (Heath, Heather)

Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)

Helianthus (Sunflower)

Lavender

Monarda (Bee-balm)

Nepeta  (Catmint)

Sedum

I personally love seeing honey bees in my yard. 

They are much more of a rarity these days. 

Why honey bees have been disappearing is a bit of a mystery. 

It’s been happening all over the world.

Some say it’s over use of pesticides.  Some say it may be a fungus or a virus.

Some suspect electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers.  Scientists just don’t know for sure.

I certainly don’t have an answer, but I do make it a policy not to spray or use pesticides of any type on or anywhere near the plants that I know honey bees favor.

For this reason and so many others, it helps to know which flowers are Bee-Loved.