this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
31 points (100.0% liked)

Native Plant Gardening

756 readers
1 users here now

Why native plants?

According to the The National Audubon Society:

Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. By creating a native plant garden, each patch of habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for birds and other animals.

What our community is about—

This community is for everyone who is interested in planting native species in their garden. Come here for discussions, questions, and sharing of ideas/photos.

Rules:

  1. Don't be a jerk.
  2. Don't spam.
  3. Stay on topic.
  4. Specify your region in the post title. This is a global community, so designating your region is important.

More for you to explore—

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
LucidFeverDream@mander.xyz
31
Favorite Plants For Bees? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by kurdunkaroo@lemmy.world to c/nativeplantgardening@mander.xyz
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I rent, so I got a limited space to work with. That said, I counted 12 bees buzzing my 3 anise hyssop plants (Two are 2 years old in the ground, 1 in a container from seed this year) and my (Monarda Citriodora) lemon bee balm! This is the most I have seen in my yard so far!

Walking conservation areas around here I've noticed they show extreme preference toward common milkweed and butterfly weed, and somewhat to nearby mountain mint. I have seen a few buzzing my salvia as well.

What other native species have you seen bees go crazy for?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] psyspoop@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Key resource for optimizing pollinator habitats - https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion. Pick your region and pick some of the keystone herbaceous perennials for bees, then find species you like that are native or near-native to your region in those genera.

Native Allium has had a lot of success for me; I've seen a variety of bumble bee, wasps, carpenter bees, and cuckoo bees on them this year. My Monardas and coneflowers are always very popular. I've seen some decent activity on my Gaillardias too. Unfortunately I haven't seen much activity on my non-cultivar sunflowers but the little activity I have seen has included some really interesting Ichneumonoid wasps.
Zone 5b northern plains