Best Flower Bulbs For Bees And Butterflies
Hearing bees buzzing around your plants is the soundtrack to an active and healthy garden, and seeing butterflies flitting from flower to flower will lift even the heaviest of spirits. How can we entice these beautiful creatures to stay a bit longer, and keep visiting our gardens all season long?
Inviting butterflies into your garden
Butterflies live on flower nectar and need to eat constantly, so it’s important to have many different flowers for them to snack on. They like being in the warmth of the sun, and since they are near sighted it’s easier for them to see plants that are planted in groups than to find one single flower to feed on. They need water as well as nectar, so you may want to place a shallow saucer of water on the ground next to their favorite flowers to allow them to grab a quick drink.
Flowers for Butterflies
Here at DutchGrown we love butterflies as much as you do, and we have just the right bulbs to attract these colorful pollinators to your garden:
- Allium Purple Sensation is a butterfly favorite. Watch in wonder as one butterfly after the other lands on these fluffy purple globes.
- The rich warm shades of Yellow Crocuses are not only attractive to our human eyes, but are also a hit with our winged friends.
- Bright white Daffodils will lure butterflies to linger in your garden a little bit longer, dancing on the breeze.
A bee-friendly place
By making your garden a haven for bees you’re not only helping your own plants, but you are saving the entire planet. We need bees to pollinate the plants that grow the food we love: fruits & vegetables. So next time you see a bee, thank them for that crisp juicy apple or those yummy strawberries you had this morning.
If you’re more of a laissez faire gardener, you’re in luck! Bees like their gardens messy: overgrown brushes, dry grass, dead wood and half dried mud puddles are all very attractive to them. Just like us bees love color: Blue, purple, yellow and white are their favorite. Make sure you plant the flowers that feed them close together, ideally in clusters of four feet or more. Bees favor sunny spots over shade and need some shelter from strong winds.
Flowers for Bees
The following bulbs will help you create a smorgasbord for the bees in your area:
- The flowers of the easy-care Spanish Bluebells are chock-full of nectar, and will ensure bees come back to your garden year after year.
- Once you have caught a waft of the wonderful fragrance of the Grape Hyacinths, you will immediately understand why bees go crazy for this charming little bulb.
- The petite miniature tulip Lilac Wonder combines all the colors bees love, so don’t be surprised when they come flocking the second this little beauty starts blooming.
No pesticides please
There is one thing that is guaranteed to chase nature’s hardest workers away: Pesticides. Unfortunately killing off the baddies in your garden also kills bees, butterflies and other pollinator insects.
A quick-start collection
Creating a bee and butterfly-friendly garden is a fun project and an important way to help support the survival of these beautiful winged creatures. To help you make the biggest impact with the smallest effort, DutchGrown has created the Butterfly Collection. Order them now, plant them this fall, and from February to June your garden will be a true Pollinator’s Paradise!