Easy care flowers to attract bees?

ambo11, Sep 20, 9:39pm
Anyone name some easy care flowers to attract Bees please? preferably something I can sow and forget apart from the occasional watering? Might try Calendula as they grow like weeds here, and Borage. Got Marigolds for around Tomatoes. Any other common old flowers which are proven? Cheers
trad, Sep 20, 9:46pm
Just to add to what you are saying, I found borage very good for bees and it seeds well.
piquant, Sep 20, 10:03pm
Wildflower World do a "Bee mix" - as, I suspect would a few others. Bees are attracted to blues. Therefore things like Phacelia, borage, centaurea are great - or even things like Yates Cottage garden mix are good too.
trad, Sep 20, 10:41pm
Not necesarily what you asked, but you may like Teucrium fruticans, a quite quick growing shrub which can be easily grown from cutting and has a lot of small lylac flowers. I have a number of them and they attract bees well. shttps://www.google.com/search-
?q=Teucrium+fruticans+.nz&-
ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
blans, Sep 21, 12:44am
Yes agree with Borage,easy and you will have it forever but its not a problem
zak410, Sep 21, 12:51am
Lavender also.
lythande1, Sep 21, 1:16am
Clover. Most herbs - rosemary, sage - the bees love my sage. old style roses, the ones that open right up like a daisy.
Food - zucchini, cucumber, tomato etc. so your vege garden is popular with bees.
I have a climber too, searched it out specifically, winter flowering, pretty purple flowers, bees love it.
jbsouthland, Sep 21, 1:21am
Delphiniums, foxgloves, hollyhocks, bung them in at the back , bit of food and upppp the come yearly : ) Bees love them !
arabelle, Sep 21, 7:50am
Rosemary is really good as the flowers are enticing at the beginning of spring so that the bee-gang can then do their work on your fruittrees etc
annies3, Sep 21, 8:44am
It was in my pansy flowers that I found the bee nests, we have lots and they fit the bill of no care op, apart from some water, blue is predominant but lots of other colours as well, they thrive where most flowers don't.
summersunnz, Sep 21, 11:18am
Borage flowers most of the year here. my biggest plants are currently waist high with numerous flowers, with medium and smaller size plants still to flower - bees are already copious throughout the flowering borage areas.
bluefrog2, Sep 21, 9:28pm
Clover. If you have some in your lawn, leave a couple of patches unmowed for the bees. Thyme and lavender as well.

Edit: Thyme is easy care, but it will tend to die back after flowering. If you're not too fussy about tidying up the ground around the parent plant, it will regrow from the dropped seeds
hare1, Sep 22, 2:30am
The latest NZ Gardener has a great article on this subject and also a free packet of wildflower seeds as a bonus.It is a campaign called Bee Plan,especially for bees and butterflies.Seeds include Calandula,Campanula,Coreopsis,-
Cosmos,dianthus,gypsophila,lup-
in,nemophila nigella and many more.Sowed mine last week and all up already.Wonderful mag.
t*************k, Sep 22, 2:49am
genista yellow imp. and pittosporum grassifolium. Karo
brandy2002, Sep 21, 6:58pm
Bees love lavenders :)