When people ask me to recommend garden flowers for bees I usually point them at the excellent Plants for Bees by Kirk and Howes. Like most of us, though, I often wander through the local garden centre to buy plants for the garden. I try to buy flowers which are good for bees and other pollinators. I had thought that the RHS "Perfect for Pollinators" badge was a definitive guide to help me. Not so, apparently - nor are a number of other similar schemes and labels. A study has just been released by the excellent Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at Sussex University. They spent time in local garden centres where they found that "there were many recommended varieties that were unattractive or poorly attractive to insects, and some non-recommended varieties that were very attractive". The report also points out the difficulties of recommending many different varieties and hybrids in the same plant group, many of which have misleading pictures on their labels.
I was aghast, to be honest, although it did confirm what I had suspected for a while. How can you say that two wildly different cultivars are both as attractive to pollinators? It explains why some "bee friendly" of "butterfly friendly" flowers in our garden here have disappointed. Roses are a very good example; the open single types of rose - closer relations to wild roses - are very different and much better for pollinators than the popular modern "English Roses".
So what's the answer? The study suggests seeing which plants at the garden centre insects and bees visit most, which seems good advice. Ask yourself too how any self respecting pollinator is going to access the nectar and pollen of the flower you're looking at. The labels are a guide but nothing more.
When people ask me to recommend garden flowers for bees I usually point them at the excellent Plants for Bees by Kirk and Howes. Like most of us, though, I often wander through the local garden centre to buy plants for the garden. I try to buy flowers which are good for bees and other pollinators. I had thought that the RHS "Perfect for Pollinators" badge was a definitive guide to help me. Not so, apparently - nor are a number of other similar schemes and labels. A study has just been released by the excellent Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at Sussex University. They spent time in local garden centres where they found that "there were many recommended varieties that were unattractive or poorly attractive to insects, and some non-recommended varieties that were very attractive". The report also points out the difficulties of recommending many different varieties and hybrids in the same plant group, many of which have misleading pictures on their labels.
I was aghast, to be honest, although it did confirm what I had suspected for a while. How can you say that two wildly different cultivars are both as attractive to pollinators? It explains why some "bee friendly" of "butterfly friendly" flowers in our garden here have disappointed. Roses are a very good example; the open single types of rose - closer relations to wild roses - are very different and much better for pollinators than the popular modern "English Roses".
So what's the answer? The study suggests seeing which plants at the garden centre insects and bees visit most, which seems good advice. Ask yourself too how any self respecting pollinator is going to access the nectar and pollen of the flower you're looking at. The labels are a guide but nothing more.