Look at this little beauty:

I photographed her last week at Hidcote, the wonderful National Trust gardens in Gloucestershire, feeding on a Euphorbia.

She is Andrena cineraria, and she is common in gardens across much of Britain.

She sort of has a colloquial English name - the Ashy Mining Bee. And she's one of over 250 species of bee in Britain, of which maybe 10-20 species are in each of our back gardens.

Many species are really quite difficult to identify, so what you might think is a bumblebee might actually be a flowerbee, and what you think is a Honeybee might be any manner of solitary bees.

But don’t worry about it (I don’t!). The important thing is that all bees are nectar eaters and pollen drinkers, and that means they’re wonderful pollinators, helping turn many of our flowers into fruit and seeds.

Each species of bee has slightly different Home Needs to the next – for example, different species have different tongue lengths, making them suited to certain types of flower. Nevertheless, it is still possible to give good generic advice, so here is my 6-point plan to help all sorts of bees:

  1. There are many types of garden flowers that are great for bees, but there are even more that are useless. So if you want to help bees, choose carefully.
  2. Plant a range of bee-friendly plants that will give a sequence of flowers from February to November.
  3. Don’t forget trees for bees. It is easy to be distracted by watching what bees are using at ground level, when some of the best plants for bees are above our heads.
  4. Grow each flower en masse – bees like banquets rather than nibbles.
  5. Bees like to feed in places that are sheltered, warm, and sunny
  6. Don’t forget that bees need nest sites too. Different bees use different places, so try to provide a mix of undisturbed tussocky grass, warm banks of sandy soil, and soft mortar. Forget bumblebee boxes, but do try the ‘bundle of hollow cane’ type boxes.

And so which plants to choose? I've been researching this in gardens for several years, and here are some of the top groups of plants to try (in no particular order), giving you loads to choose from.

  • Geranium family
  • Borage family (comfreys, forgetmenots, anchusa, alkanet, lungworts, viper’s buglosses)
  • Pea family (vetches, clovers, lupins)
  • Dead-nettle family (woundworts, thymes, claries, bugle, mints, salvias, sages)
  • Heather family (below Winter Heather Erica carnea with Honeybee)

  • Rubus genus (raspberries, blackberries)
  • Teasel family (teasels, scabiouses)
  • Knapweeds, thistles, globe-thistles
  • Alliums
  • Vipers Buglosses (here with the Common Carder Bee, a type of bumblebee)

  • Foxgloves
  • Penstemons
  • Ivy

...and for Trees for Bees, try

  • Cherries
  • Willows
  • Cotoneasters
  • And fruit trees (apples & pears)

If I had to pick my top five plants? I think I'd go for Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant', Cephalaria gigantea. Globe Thistle, Pulmonaria and Goat Willow (the latter two for early nectar).

But I want to know what your top bee plants are, if you would - go on, share your recommendations!

  • I'm loving the sound of your garden, Carole. Any idea which of your Euphorbias work the best? I find them very variable in their attractiveness to pollinators

  • Really interesting about the 'Joseph Rock Rowan, Peter, thanks. Stachys byzantina - I bet some of those bees are Wool Carders - they love it!

  • Hi J Boardman

    You're quite right to pull me up about just saying 'Forget bumblebee boxes'! I should have said 'Feel free to try them, but just be aware the success rate is very low, and you'll probably find them nesting under your shed - or in your sparrow boxes! - instead'

  • Hi GullsareGreat

    Good call on the Black Widow Geranium. For anyone that wants to try it, you'll probably find it listed under Geranium phaeum, and the common one with attractive splodges on the leaves is 'Samobor'

  • In spite of the inclement weather this year, (drought, frost, flood et al), the bees do seem to be hanging on! My borders are full of them every year feasting on plants such as Rosemary, Chives, various Euphorbia shrubs, Buttercups, Poppies, Foxgloves, Thymes, Mints, Salvias, Cotoneaster, Lavender, Monarda, Coltsfoot, Michaelmas Daisies and Vetch. In the veg patch I inter-plant Runner Beans and Peas with Sweet Peas and pots of herbs. Colours are amazing as well as scent.

    The most attractive to all bees seem to be the Rosemary, the Chives and the Cotoneaster which can be covered by several species from dawn 'til dusk.

    I try to cover the whole year with something suitable and options for both long and short 'tongued' species.