What flowers can I buy for bees?

[sunflower49]

Total novice here.

If you've read other threads you'll know I'm doing up a ramshackled old house at the moment. It has a garden, albeit a small one, and there is a bumblebee nest next to the shed. It's a pretty sheltered garden too.

I don't think I can feasibly do any planting yet, but are there any pot plants, or such that I could buy that bees will like?
Thank you. :)

Bees in my garden love lavender, foxgloves and teasles. They also seem to like the mint which is flowering (uncontrollably) at the mo!

Thank you, shall get on it :)

My origano plants (origanum vulgare compacta) have been flowering for ages and are always covered in bees. They're all honey bees, rather than bumbles.

Any sort of sage or salvia is popular with bees. Scabious, too, would be good in pots. Almost any native wildflower would do you well.

Penstemons are wonderful bee-magnets, and if you dead-head them regularly they keep flowering for 6 months. They are known as 'the partyers of the flower world'!

Thanks :)

I like to do my bit to preserve them, and I love watching them work I don't know why, maybe I need to get out more

:)

Lavender, lavender and more lavender - different varieties and they will be thrilled!

They love lavender in my garden.

they absolutely love the cotoneaster (not sure about growing that in a pot though?)

they love my jasmine too

Buddleia

Lavender

Any flowers which are not 'highly cultivated' these tend to have double heads or lots of petals - so difficult to get into if you're a bee. If you're planning a garden it's great as you can plan to have flowers through the year - continuity is good.

Have a wild patch that you maybe sow a meadow flower mix into. If you have a lawn you can do what you sometimes see in parks and leave a patch unmowed. If you sow a meadow mix in there you'll get lots of bees and butterflies: so campions, cornflowers, poppies and the like.

When you get round to seed-planting, do search out Limnanthes - Poached Egg Plants, another bee favourite. These germinate easily, do well in poor soil and don't need dead-heading, watering or any fuss at all.

The bees here loved the sedum that flowers in the Autumn.

Purple loosestrife is great in damper or wet soil. It'll take a bit of shade too. I've got a few different types and they're alive with bees just now.

Our bees love white flowering clover, not sure if you can plant it though.

Mine too, ender. My herb garden is always crammed with honeybees and butterflies.
Early spring, the bees love the lungwort.

Hebe and buddleia; clover in the lawn too but you might not fancy that!

Foxgloves and snapdragons - they love those!

purple toadflax
borage
hardy geraniums
foxgloves
lavender
hyssop
marjoram and oregano and chives when in flower
flowring sedums

They seem to go for purple stuff that ot too over processed. I get lots on the sage, lavender, budlia (which is on wasteland beyond our boundry as I dont like it) sea holly, foxgloves, and next doors orange trumpet shaped thing.

Cornflowers!

look out for year round interet as well.
crocus ar great for very early spring.

Have a look at this great bee friendly flowers poster from friends of the earth:

www.foeshop.co.uk/bee-friendly-poster.html

I've just finished work and looked on 'All threads I started' , no idea why I didn't get any notifications for this thread-I ALWAYS click on 'I'm on'!

Thanks for the replies everyone!I did heed the replies I'd seen, I bought loads of lavender and purple pansies and the bees seem happy.
I'm going to buy more types as I too, love purple and the garden's looking a bit better now.

Is it just me that loves watching bees :)