Growing Wildflowers For Insects And Bees
One of the best ways to make your garden a lot more nature-friendly would be to grow wildflowers dedicated to bees and insects. These flowers are known for bringing beauty and life to gardens, regardless of the time of year. There are many species to choose from and they are also easy to grow.
Wildflowers attract a range of beneficial insects other than butterflies and bees. They also attract predatory insects like ladybugs and hoverflies. Together these insects assist with boosting harvests and keeping pests such as aphids under control.
Flowers that contain pollen and nectar offer the main source of food for these types of insects. Wildflowers are beneficial since they typically feature single, simple flowers that are much easier for the flying insects to land on and to feed on the nectar. And it makes sense that native insects will prefer native wildflowers.
- Grow Wildflowers That Are Going To Thrive
Your soil and local climate can help you to work out what you should be growing. Some of the wildflowers such as the ox-eye daisy, knapweed, and yarrow cope well with free-draining, sandy soils that are susceptible to drought. Other wildflowers such as the buttercup, cowslip, or primrose, prefer heavier clay soils.
It would be worth your while to find out about the wildflowers that are native to your region followed by checking the suitability of these flowers to your garden and the conditions to ensure your chosen wildflowers are going to thrive there.
- Plan For Year-Round Flowers
You should plan for wildflowers year-round if you would like beneficial bees and insects to call your garden their home. Shrubs like witch hazel will start flowering later in winter, and bulbs like crocuses, snowdrops, tulips, fritillaries, and daffodils. Bulbs that are native to your area will start spreading overtime where they will turn into a welcomed and permanent part of the garden.
Here are some examples of wildflowers that are excellent at attracting bees and other beneficial insects:
- Bee Balm
This is a wild perennial that often grows in meadows and along roads. The leaves of the flowers give off a strong scent with long tubular shapes providing ample nectar for insects and bees. Bee Balm is enjoyed for its stunning blossoms of white, purple, red, and pink. These flowers are excellent for attracting bees.
- Hollyhocks
Hollyhocks produce nectar-rich flowers and the blossom season is long.
- Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
Also known as the orange eye or summer lilac, the Butterfly bush is the perfect addition to your garden if you would like to support the bee population in your area throughout the summer.
- Foxgloves
Foxgloves produce clusters of tubular-shaped, slender blooms that come in a variety of colors such as purple, red, pink, lavender, and yellow. The cylindrical shapes of the flowers offer a way for bees to creep slowly inside the flower to collect both pollen and nectar at the same time. These wildflowers prefer growing in well-draining soil.
- Cosmos
These wildflowers feature simple open flowers that provide easy access for bees and other types of flying insects. These are very generous re-seeders that typically produce white, red-yellow, and pink-orange flowers.
- Goldenrod
Goldenrod is the ideal wildflower to attract bees. These flowers are also known for attracting other pollinators like the butterflies and many other beneficial insects.
Self-Seeding Wildflowers
Most wildflowers will self-seed, which means they will drop seeds naturally. They will then germinate and start to grow again with minimal intervention. This is one of the main benefits of choosing to grow wildflowers since you will usually only have to plant the wildflowers once to enjoy many years of blooms.
Some of the self-seeders, like the Mexican fleabane, will even establish well in cracks present in walls or paving. Other examples of popular self-seeders you can choose from include poppies, borage, calendula, and many short-lived perennials or biennials such as foxgloves, hollyhock, and teasel.
Having more bees and insects visiting your garden will improve some of your crops since they will pollinate your vegetables and flowers on your behalf. Many of the seeds are very easy to grow, which means even beginners can easily establish wildflower beds in their gardens.
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