Bee and butterfly garden

The bees loved the Russian Sage and Lambs Ear flowers. We had blackberry canes that attracted them as well.

Love those suggestions.

I have a big blackberry bush at the back but it's grown somewhat out of control. I'll have to cut back on a large part of it because it cuts access to entire corner of the garden.
But now I'm definitely not cutting it all away!
And I love the idea of having my own berries in the garden.

Get yourself lavender bush, attracts both butterfly and bee.

Thanks!

I already bought those seeds a while back, just have to wait till the proper time to put them in the ground.

Kinda hard with shade. Bee s like peppermint, that grows ok in semi shady. Butterflies seem to stick with the full sun plants that produce a lot of nectar.

There's actually a plant called a "Butterfly Bush", sort of a small bush that does attract them.

Leave a bit of water out for the bees as well, they like a supply of clean, clear water.

This is OP , I just made an account (yes, just now)

It's funny that I actually hadn't thought about that even tho I know that plant under it's literal translation in Dutch.

And that's a great suggestion about the water, I didn't know that they liked that. I'll keep it close to the butterfly bush.

I also got a little insect house that you can buy at almost every gardening shop, just a few pieces of wood where solitary insects (and solitary bees) can make temporary homes in.

But this one definitely goes on the list : butterfly bush!

Yes, I know, but the few patches that have full sun I plan to take full advantage of

look to plants and bushes that tolerate partial shade/sun. Try to find things that bloom at different times of year the earliest ones being quite important as there is not as much for bees to in early spring. The bees are loving the flowering quince at this time and is one of earliest blooming shrubs. Lilacs are another. Just look up this type of thing and remember you need it to work in your zone (weather area) Get wildflower mix that is native to your area also use purple, yellow, white and blue colored flowers as bees find them more attractive than orange, pink and red. you can mix in some flowering vegetables and fruit if room allows. Strawberries peppers...some herbs such as lavender, mint bee balm. If your yard has clover growing in it leave a bit un mowed for them.

a little birdbath will give them and the birds water and look nice as well

minature thyme when its allowed to go to flower makes little purple flowers that bees can't seem to avoid, honeysuckle, lilac trees

I'm starting to notice that trend

if you want insects: get purple flowers


butterfly bush exists in white and purple as far as I know but the purple ones attract the most insects





what I'm getting here is that instead of trying to focus on flowers I should focus on herbs instead


except for lilac trees which just smell nice,
and fortunately yet unfortunately my landlord allows me to do whatever I want with the garden so I can cut down trees if I want to, I have two silver birches and one needle tree that looses needles on dead branches.


I have some chamomile flowers already thinking if they take they will spread fast

and a carrot patch ... against my husband's wishes (but then he saw it and was ok with it)

I thought about making a bird bath but they will just eat the insects!

and I really want a garden full of buzzing bees and fluttering butterflies

adding a bird bath will just make this into a warzone

my house on the front is getting pounded by solitary bees, the kind htat don't have hives and don't produce honey you can harvest in financially satisfactory ways

but they are bees and they seem to like my cul de sac

my front garden is very small, lots of room for flowers but I'll have to cut down the bushes, some trees and and also the neighbours garage is right across the street and if his children get bitten by bees ... hmmm


I might just plant the entire front yard with flowers and find a very conveniently environmentally friendly way to keep my porch a kid free zone

I live in a very small town : seriously there are five houses in my entire town and it's so small (in Belgium) that we had to annex the town to another one just to have a mayor. In fact they had to annex around four other surrounding towns just to have a mayor

My landlord owns three houses here, which means he literally owns more than half of the town

I have a large butterfly bush about 10 feet off the end of a couple rows of my beehives. Usually full of butterflies and bumble bees. My honeybees don't bother with it.

Have room for a tree? Korean lilac attracts both heavily.

The usual honeybee flowers are really not what you would usually plant in a garden, and if you did, you won't be able to plant enough to make it worth their time. A bee or 2 may work your patch, but no large swarms.

Providing water: if you are not going to keep it cool and clear, dont bother. You'll end up only helping the mosquito population. An outside faucet doing a very slow drip onto a surface they can sit on is the way to go. Usually a board.

Thinking about your own hive yet?

I live in Belgium , we have solitary bees and they do visit them and I do see imkers honeybees there too, they have a distinctive color marking I know beekeepers here are prone to like (I'm a registered beekeeper myself)




I just don't really wish to bother my neighbors and for somer reason I think that if I should be a beekeeper then tradition tells you that the hive ...err ... : knows where you live and all other sort of beekeeper legengds like when the beekeeper tells the bees that a marriage will take place and that one should never kill a bee or that bees never sting good people