Most of the bees you'll meet in a British garden do not make honey. They all share one need, which is a steady supply of pollen and nectar through the whole year. That's really the heart of how to help bees at home and it works just as well on a balcony as it does on an acre. A bee-friendly garden in the UK is mostly a matter of planting for every month and leaving the sprays in the shed.
Why your garden matters
Gardens count because bees move through them the way people move through towns and they stop wherever the food is. A hedge or a border or even a window box becomes part of that route. Our hives in Wiltshire sit beside a wildflower garden we planted for the colonies and we see daily how much a dependable supply of forage shapes the life of a hive. A pollinator garden at home does the same job on a smaller scale for bumblebees and solitary bees as well as honey bees.
Even a single pot can serve a passing forager well. Lavender and chives both flower generously and stay compact and bees reach their pollen without trouble. Single flowers like daisies and poppies work the same way and they beat the heavily bred double blooms which often tuck their pollen out of sight.
Best bee-friendly plants by season
A good planting plan runs like a relay where each group of flowers hands over to the next. Gaps in the calendar do more harm than any one missing plant and clumps of a single flower get noticed faster than scattered singles. This is the thread behind most bee garden ideas in the UK and it's easy to follow once you think in seasons.
Spring plants
Queens and early workers need food as soon as the weather turns and crocuses and hellebores and pussy willow reward them first. Lungwort and fruit blossom pick up through April and a handful of dandelions left to flower are a quiet help because our beekeepers see bees working them hard on the first warm days.
Summer plants
By summer the borders can carry most of the load. Lavender and borage and foxgloves and cornflowers all suit bees and echinacea and marjoram and thistles keep things going through August. Herbs earn a double place here since chives and thyme and oregano left to flower feed the cook and the bees from one bed and a light deadhead on the rest often coaxes out a second flush.
Autumn plants
The end of the season is where gardens often let bees down. Honey bees are still building stores for winter so ivy flowering from September matters a great deal and sedum and Michaelmas daisies and single dahlias add to it. These are the plants for bees that keep a garden useful as the evenings draw in.
Creating water for bees
Water is easy to overlook although bees use it to cool the hive and to feed their young and to thin stored honey. Our post on whether bees drink water covers the detail. A birdbath is usually too deep and slippery for a small forager so a shallow dish works far better.
Fill a dish with pebbles or marbles and add water until the tops stay dry. Bees perch on the stones and drink safely. A sunny spot near the flowers suits them best and the dish needs topping up on warm days.
Avoiding pesticides
Insecticides can harm bees even when they're aimed away from a flower since residues can reach pollen and nectar. Reading the label and avoiding anything with a bee warning is a sensible start and open blooms should never be sprayed.
The wildflower garden around our apiary follows the ideas in this guide. It's mixed and flowering across the seasons and a little untidy on purpose.
We've trained more people as beekeepers and our beekeeping courses run at the hives and welcome complete beginners. More guides like this sit on the Bee Blog.
