Bumbly bees bless 'em

[spikemomma]

I've just watched the doc. on the bees demise and i feel compelled to grow something for them! What could i grow which is hardy but pretty which will attract beeds and butterflies. (don't have room for buddliahs and big stuff).

I just caught the end of that programme and have googled to see what I can do in my garden and found this

(Hope that worked, am rubbish at links!)

Lavender is popular with bees - I've got quite a bit of it and they seem to enjoy it a lot!
Its easy-peasy - Hidcote is a pretty standard variety and hardy enough to survive a cold winter - ours had snow on it this year and now seems better than ever! Some of the french ones can be a bit tender.
Lidl is currently selling small lavendar plants - 6 for about a fiver - bargain! You can also put lavendar in a hanging basket.
It smells lush looks nice can be easily maintained - or even used a sort of hedging device and you can dry the lavendar too!!

Yes - buddleia a good one to avoid - we hacked our down to a tiny stump last year and it still came back with avengence!!!

Helium - my lavender is fantastic this year, way better than the last few years. They must love snow!

p.s look at this:

www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/takeaction/planbee/

Ah these are great suggestions thanks. Poor little bumble bees. My wildflower seeds failed to germinate again this year. Sigh. So, i think i'll get a container and plant something specifically for my little stripey friends.

its sad how many people convert their gardens into car parking spaces, no green at all.

Just spotted this thread while browsing...I recently found that we had a bumble bee nest in the bottom of our compost bin They like nesting in compost apparently.Now loads of them buzzing round garden

It's good for bees to have access to pollen at different times of the year so try and plant things which flower in spring, autumn and winter as well as summer.
Some good suggestions here
www.gardenersworld.com/plants/features/plants-for-bees/.

In winter things like winter flowering honeysuckle, Xmas box, Dahpne are good and Pulmonaria and Hellebores for early spring.

bees in my garden like my poppies

Our bumbly bees just love foxgloves - you can hear them inside the flowers buzzing away and then they'll suddenly pop out and disappear up another one. Tis lovely to watch and quite addictive.

Scabious come in blues and whites and reds etc, are small and butterflies and bees love them. I think you can also grow them from seed if you don't want to have to buy plants.

scabious