Sage is a favourite for honey bees and native rosemary (or Westringia) flowers all year round and is particularly attractive to Blue Banded Bees and Teddy Bear Bees. Other herbs that are loved by bees include basil, borage, parsley, mint, rocket, fennel, chives and oregano.
Lavandula -- Lavender
These are compact hardy shrubs that produce plenty of nectar and flower for a long period. Other herbs in this family, such as basil, thyme, lemon balm and mint are also very popular with native bees. These purple Lavender flowers are sure to attract any Blue Banded Bees in your area.
Select flowers with a variety of colours and shapes.
-- Some prefer blue or purple flowers. However, mauve, pink, yellow and white flowers are also popular. -- Some native bees have strong preferences for a particular native flower. However many will happily visit a wide range of both exotic and native flowers.
Attract and nourish honey bees with nectar producing plants. Wild flowers, including asters, goldenrod, sunflowers, even dandelions will provide food for the hives, and the native bee population as well. Plant flowering vegetables and fruits.
There are a few different varieties of clover – white dutch clover, sweet clover, and red clover. Clovers contribute more to honey production in the US than any other group of plants.
Some of the plants that are most attractive to bees and produce high quality honey are the flowers of blackberries, fruit and citrus trees, herbs (like rosemary, borage and sage), flowering bushes, clover and other wild flowers and, in the case of Monte-Bellaria, lavender.
Some excellent plants to attract butterflies include bottlebrush, daisies, grevillea, lavender, and wattle. You can also entice them to lay eggs in plants such as crepe myrtle, snapdragons, and native violets.
If you're looking for a border plant that will get the bees bussing in your garden, alyssum will be the answer! Their low-growing masses of honey-scented white blossoms are a pollinator magnet! Other bee-attracting annuals include Queen Anne's Lace, calendula, phacelia and daisies.
Bees need honey to get through winter. This is their energy source to produce the metabolic energy to maintain the hive at 34°C throughout the colder or wetter period. But the biggest issue we have with bee colony deaths here in Australia – like overseas – is pests and diseases.
Both bees and wasps often sip nectar from flowers. However, bees feed their young with pollen collected from flowers while wasps feed their young on insect or spider prey. So if you see an insect collecting pollen from a flower, it is a bee, not a wasp. You might say: wasps are carnivorous while bees are vegetarian!
PERFECT PLANTS
Many flowers make it easy for bees by having a built-in landing pad, such as the Lamiaceae family. Bee-friendly plants include basil, lavender, marjoram, oregano, sage, rosemary and mint, and they don't taste so bad for us either! But bees like more than just these tasty herbs.
Attract bees to your garden
Tip: The most bee-friendly coloured flowers are yellow, blue and purple. “Perennial flowers such as lavender, salvia and rosemary also attract insects – which are pollinators as well as a valuable part of the food chain for other creatures such as frogs, birds and reptiles,” says Katy.
Research suggests that the larger lavender cultivars are the best for bees. You can find varieties from fragrant white to luscious dark purple. Look for the hardier and less picky Lavandula angustifolia or Lavandin x intermedia cultivars for individual plants or to make a lovely hedge.
Yes. Bees enjoy their time around roses, especially when the flowers are brimming with nectar. However, as with everything else, bees are attracted to some specific variants of roses like wild roses and certain types of hybrid rose bushes.
Most wattle flowers are bright and perfumed, but they don't produce any nectar so are never visited by honeyeaters and lorikeets. However, honey bees readily collect the yellow dusty pollen to take back to their hives to mix as a food for young bee grubs.
Some plants are strongly preferred by native bees, including native peas and daisies, eucalyptus, banksia, Acacia and Bursaria species, and some introduced garden plants like salvia and lavender. This is a very simple way to attract native bees to an area.
Bait Hive:
Placing an empty box in an area that may attract native bees to investigate and create a new colony inside the new box. Use Propolis (Native Bee Wax and Resin mixture) around the hive entrance and inside the box to make it more attractive to the bees.
Big and beautiful - the waratah is one of Australia's most iconic flowers and is found on the southeastern parts of Australia. They produce bright red flowers - sometimes white, pink or yellow, and attract a wide variety of native birds.
Kangaroo paws are terrific for attracting birds and native bees, as they are rich in nectar.
In Australia, honey bees, native bees and other native insects like hoverflies, wasps and butterflies provide essential pollination services for native plants, pastures, crops, fruits and vegetables.
A bee's flower preference depends on the length of its tongue! Some bees have long tongues that can easily access nectar in tubular-shaped blossoms like penstemon, columbine, and honeysuckle, while those with short tongues go for daisies, asters, and sunflowers.
Dark honey usually has a more intense, pungent taste than light honey. Some darker varieties of honey include buckwheat, blackbutt, wildflower, thyme, dandelion, jarrah, chestnut, meadow, and manuka honey, many of which contain a high concentration of antioxidants and other powerful nutrients.
Dark honey is made by bees who are foraging for nectar from plants like buckwheat, palmetto, or black locust trees. These plants produce darker-colored nectars, which make this honey thicker and richer than other types of honey. Dark varieties of honey also tend to have a stronger flavor than lighter varieties.