Which plants in your garden do insects love?

[dubyalass]

Just been putting the washing out and the teasels, Verbena bonariensis, hyssop, Heleniums and Fuchsias were all covered in various bees. I'm currently planning a slight redesign of my garden and want it as pollinator friendly as possible. I'm on very sandy soil with plenty of sunshine so am including the obvious stuff like mint and carrot family, but rather than using lists on the internet I'd like to know what gets the most attention in your garden, particularly if it's not what you'd expect.

Thanks in advance!

Agastache, hypericum, goldenrod.

Buddleia attract butterflies like nothing else on earth. Love them.

Deutzia and echinops. Absolute bee-magnets. No fragrance (for humans, anyway) but both are very pretty and very easy to look after.

Placemarking

The bees here have been loving the foxgloves, alstroemeria and snapdragons

Salvias, echinops. Earlier in season geums.

That’s because nettles are not a nectar plant for butterflies, like buddleia and the other plants mentioned in this thread, but a food plant for the caterpillars of several species. You would expect to see them at most for a fleeting egg laying visit, not repeated feeding visits.

Yes, that was my go-to as a child if I wanted a spot of butterfly counting. Of course in those days, it wasn’t just to see butterflies - there were always plenty around - it was to see if there was anything different among the dozen small tortoiseshells that would be on the plant.

Sounds like a rather healthy Hypericum calycinum, Rose of Sharon

We have lots of bees and butterflies visiting many of the plants mentioned but my Lysimachia Ephemerum seems to be a magnet for some sort of rusty coloured flying insect to mate on!

Poppies the big poppies poppy covered in bees and self seed happily.