10 Honeybee-Friendly Plants

Asters (Symphyotrichum)

Asters are especially beneficial for the honeybee because they're late-blooming, producing blue, pink, and purple daisylike flowers late in the summer and sometimes well into November. This gives honeybees a chance to get a late-season energy boost to sustain them through the harsh, pollenless winter season.

There are more than 600 species of this perennial, but the two most common in North America are the New York and New England varieties. They are very similar and both honeybee-friendly, but the former grows slightly taller.

Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)

Honeybees love to slurp nectar from this native North American perennial—a common wildflower—and black-eyed Susans do their part to attract them. To the human eye, these classic blooms look cheery and yellow with a contrasting brown center, but to the bee, which sees on the ultraviolet spectrum, the subtle darkening of its inner pedals creates a vivid bullseye that leads the insect straight to the nectar.

Black-eyed Susans' stalks can grow three feet tall and beyond. They are long-lived and will fill your garden with bright color without ever needing to be replanted.

Dandelions (Taraxacum)

Technically a weed, this short-lived perennial yellow sprout is also a common food source for bees—albeit a mediocre one. Dandelions lack the amino acids and nutrients that bees really need to thrive and raise brood, but the insects will still flock to them when little else is in bloom. That they also have deep roots that can channel nutrients from the ground up into your grass means dandelions are also great for your garden.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

This perennial herb, part of the mint family, is a perfect bee-attracting addition to any partly shady garden. Aaron von Frank, an expert organic gardener and co-founder of GrowJourney, a USDA-certified organic Seeds of the Month Club, says that in ancient Greek times, lemon balm was planted near domestic hives to help keep the honeybees well-fed and to help prevent their bees from swarming. He notes that the citrusy herb "makes a delicious tea, too."

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)

Otherwise known as echinacea, this resplendent daisylike flower is a honeybee magnet that provides both pollen and nectar to foraging bees. Whereas many flowers close during the day, the perennial purple coneflower remains open and continuously produces nectar through the afternoon, keeping the bees well-fed even during the hottest part of the day. Butterflies, moths, and other bee species love this herbaceous flowering plant, too.

Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)

Snapdragons' most abundant scent compound, and the thing that best draws honeybees to them, is methyl benzoate. During the day, when bees are active, they produce four times the amount of this scent per flower as they would at night. Adding to the allure, the bees then carry the aroma of the snapdragon back to the hive, which attracts even more bees.

Snapdragons can be annual or perennial, though perennial varieties are often grown as annuals. Their spiky, colorful flowers are said to resemble a dragon's opening and closing jaws, hence the name.

Sunflowers (Helianthus)

A hardy annual that's tall and grows into strong stalks, sunflowers are a honeybee must-plant. The insects and sunflowers have a mutual relationship—the delightful plants' extra-large heads provide ample nectar and pollen for bees and bees are essential for pollinating sunflower crops grown for oil and seeds. Opt for yellow or orange sunflowers instead of red ones, since bees can't detect the color red when they seek out places to feed.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

This perennial's bitter taste deters unwelcome garden pests, but honeybees love the yarrow's abundance of pollen and nectar. Its bright, flattened buds—which may be white, red, yellow, or purple—perched on those fernlike leaves are one of bees' favorite spots.

Yarrow is mercifully low-maintenance, and its tiny blooms are ideal for cutting and drying once the season is over.

Zinnias (Zinnia elegans)

Plants with plenty of small flowers are great for bees as more flowers means more pollen on which to feed. Zinnias are the perfect beginner's flower because they're easy to care for and fast-growing, advancing from seed to bloom within just two months. These annuals may produce single- or double-petaled flowers in almost any color of the rainbow. They're also late to bloom, providing pollinators a last little bit of nutrition before winter.

Lavender (Lavandula)

Bees love this fragrant, decorative herb—not least because it flowers during the peak of summer when bees are hungriest, and the pollen and nectar pickings are slimmest. Gardeners adore the perennial, too, for its fresh, aromatherapeutic scent and because it's naturally deer- and drought-tolerant. A garden full of purple lavender is decidedly welcoming and calming.