The best plants for bees and pollinators

Set up a ‘nectar café’ by planting flowers for pollinating insects like bees and butterflies

Many of our prettiest insects feed on nectar, so need flowering plants for their survival. Butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies all need sources of nectar and pollen to thrive. As they travel from flower to flower, they also pollinate them, enabling them to set seed or bear fruit. So, setting up a nectar café benefits both your plants and you, allowing you to enjoy the flitting and fluttering of beautiful butterflies.

Setting up a nectar café not only benefits your garden, but allows you to enjoy the fluttering of beautiful butterflies too

Setting up your nectar café:

Choose a sheltered sunny spot
Place each plant in groups or drifts so that the colour and scent are easy to detect
Prolong the flowering season – select plants so that you have a show of flowers from early spring to late autumn
choose flowers with a simple (often flat) structure, like old cottage varieties, as they are the easiest for insects to feed from
Remember to provide a night-time feast for moths. Plant some night-scented flowers.
Add herbs to the mix as they are highly attractive to insects, or design a dedicated herb garden

Nectar plant suggestions:

Early season	Mid season	Late season
Aubretia spp	Buddleia - Buddleja davidii	Coneflower - Echinacea spp.
English bluebell - Hyacinthoides non-scripta	Heather - Erica cinerea	French marigold - Tagetes patula
Currant - Ribes spp.	Lady’s bedstraw - Galium verum	Golden rod - Solidago spp.
Grape hyacinth - Muscari armeniacum	Lavender - Lavandula angustifolia	Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum
Lungwort - Pulmonaria officinalis	Common mallow - Malva sylvestri	Ice plant - Sedum spectabile
Primrose - Primula vulgaris	Purple toadflax - Linaria purpurea	Ivy - Hedera helix
Sweet violet - Viola odorata	Rock cress - Arabis spp.	Meadow saffron - Colchicum autumnale
Winter aconite - Eranthis hyemalis	Sea holly - Eryngium maritimum	Michaelmas daisy - Aster pyrenaeus
Wood anemone - Anemone nemorosa	Verbena - Verbena bonariensis	Common sunflower - Helianthus annuus
Alyssum - Alyssum montanum	Wallflower - Erysimum cheiri	Red valerian - Centranthus ruber