15 Best Plants for Pollinators
Help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators with these 15 nectar-rich plants - plus how to design a garden that supports wildlife all season.
The best plants for pollinators - lavender, catmint, echinacea, and salvia for bees, buddleia and verbena for butterflies, and crocus or hellebore to feed them early and late - turn a garden into a living, humming, fluttering space. Nectar-rich and easy to grow, they reward you as much as the wildlife.
Pollinators - bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths - are in decline worldwide, and gardens have become one of their most important refuges. The good news: helping them is genuinely easy and costs nothing extra.
You don’t need a wild meadow. A few well-chosen plants will do it. Here are the 15 best, plus the design principles that make a real difference.
What Makes a Plant Good for Pollinators
Not all flowers feed pollinators. Look for:
- Single, open flowers - not frilly “double” blooms. Many showy double-flowered cultivars have been bred at the expense of nectar and pollen, or hide them where insects can’t reach. Single flowers are accessible.
- Nectar and pollen rich - old-fashioned and native species tend to offer more than heavily bred ornamentals.
- A long flowering season across your plant choices, so there’s food from early spring to late autumn.
- Blue, purple, yellow, and white flowers - especially attractive to bees (bees can’t see red well; butterflies, however, love it).
At a Glance: 15 Pollinator Plants
| Plant | Pollinators | Season | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender | Bees | Summer | Full sun |
| Catmint | Bees | Late spring-summer | Full sun |
| Echinacea | Bees, butterflies | Summer-autumn | Full sun |
| Borage | Bees | Summer | Full sun |
| Salvia | Bees | Summer | Full sun |
| Buddleia | Butterflies | Summer | Full sun |
| Sedum | Bees, butterflies | Autumn | Full sun |
| Verbena bonariensis | Butterflies | Summer-autumn | Full sun |
| Crocus | Early bees | Late winter | Sun-part shade |
| Foxglove | Bumblebees | Early summer | Part shade |
| Marjoram / Oregano | Bees, hoverflies | Summer | Full sun |
| Single Dahlias | Bees | Summer-autumn | Full sun |
| Cosmos | Bees, hoverflies | Summer-autumn | Full sun |
| Hellebore | Early bees | Late winter | Part shade |
| Sunflower | Bees | Summer | Full sun |
Best Plants for Bees
Lavender, Catmint & Salvia
This trio of aromatic, purple-flowered plants - lavender, catmint, and salvia - is irresistible to bees. All three are drought-tough, long-blooming, and easy. Catmint and salvia rebloom if trimmed mid-season.
Borage
A self-seeding annual with brilliant blue star flowers that refill with nectar remarkably fast - bees visit the same flower repeatedly. One of the best bee plants you can grow.
Marjoram & Oregano
Let your culinary marjoram or oregano flower and it becomes a humming cloud of bees and hoverflies. Herbs that feed you and pollinators.
Single Dahlias & Sunflowers
Choose single dahlias (open-centred), not the pom-pom doubles - bees can reach the centre. Sunflowers offer a generous landing pad of pollen.
Best Plants for Butterflies
Buddleia (Butterfly Bush)
The name says it. Buddleia’s long flower spikes draw butterflies in numbers. (It can self-seed aggressively in some regions - choose well-behaved or sterile varieties, and deadhead.)
Verbena bonariensis
Tall, airy, see-through stems topped with purple flower clusters - a butterfly favourite that weaves through a border without crowding it.
Echinacea & Sedum
Both are landing-pad flowers butterflies love. Sedum is especially valuable because it blooms in autumn, feeding butterflies fattening up for winter.
Cosmos
Easy, long-blooming annual daisies with open centres - butterflies and bees both feed happily, and it flowers until frost.
Best Plants for Early and Late Season
The hungriest, hardest times for pollinators are early spring (when bees wake up) and late autumn (before winter). Plug those gaps:
- Early: crocus, hellebore, snowdrops, fruit-tree blossom, pulmonaria - vital first food for emerging queen bees.
- Late: sedum, ivy flowers, asters, verbena, late dahlias - the last fuel before winter.
A pollinator garden’s real test isn’t mid-summer (easy) - it’s having something in flower in March and again in October.
How to Design a Pollinator Garden
- Aim for continuous bloom. Choose plants so something is always flowering, February to November. This is the most important principle.
- Plant in drifts. A group of the same plant is far easier for pollinators to find and work than single scattered plants. Plant in threes, fives, or bigger clumps.
- Choose single flowers over doubles, and include native species, which co-evolved with local pollinators.
- Stop using pesticides. Insecticides kill the very creatures you’re inviting. A pollinator garden and a spray bottle can’t coexist. A healthy, diverse garden balances itself.
- Add water. A shallow dish with pebbles for insects to land on gives pollinators a safe drink.
- Leave a little mess. Bare soil, a log pile, hollow stems, and an undisturbed corner give solitary bees and overwintering insects somewhere to nest. Don’t tidy everything.
- Let some herbs and veg flower. Flowering oregano, thyme, chives, and rocket all feed pollinators.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best plant for bees?
Lavender, catmint, salvia, and borage are among the very best - all are nectar-rich, long-blooming, and easy. Borage refills its nectar exceptionally fast.
What flowers attract butterflies?
Buddleia (the “butterfly bush”), verbena bonariensis, echinacea, sedum, and cosmos are top butterfly plants. Butterflies favour flat or clustered flowers they can land on.
Why are single flowers better for pollinators than double ones?
Many double-flowered cultivars were bred for extra petals at the expense of nectar and pollen, or they bury those rewards where insects can’t reach. Single, open flowers give pollinators easy access to food.
When do pollinators most need flowers?
Early spring, when bees emerge hungry, and late autumn, before winter. Mid-summer is easy. Plant crocus and hellebore for spring, and sedum and asters for autumn, to cover the gaps.
Will a pollinator garden attract wasps or get me stung?
Bees visiting flowers are focused on feeding and rarely sting unless threatened. A diverse pollinator garden actually attracts predatory insects that keep pests in balance - it makes a garden safer and healthier, not more dangerous.
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