Bumblebees and honey bees are an important part of our ecosystem. They pollinate all types of crops, from cotton, fruit trees, sunflowers and many more. Bees make honey, beeswax, and royal jelly, all important products to humans. Your garden would not produce the harvest it does without bees. Here are five flowers that bees love. Planting these flowers can encourage bees to pollinate your plants. If you have a colony of bees move in close to your home, don’t kill them to protect your family from getting bitten. Call a professional company for bee removal to relocate the bees to a better site.

1.) Lilacs

Lilacs are beautiful flowers in any garden. The blooms attract birds and butterflies to your yard, while not attracting deer. The fragrant blooms fill the air with a wonderful aroma. Bees look for bright colours in your landscape to get pollen and nectar for food. Lilacs grow in dense clusters, giving the bees dozens of blossoms for nourishment without having to fly off to other plants. The bees pollinate your lilacs while gathering food for themselves and the drones in the hives. It’s a win-win situation.

2.) Wisteria

Wisteria is a native plant in Canada that grows well and is beautiful. These plants do well in full sun, so they can be quite easily grown. Like the lilac, wisteria has a lot of blooms close together, giving the bees an easier time to collect nectar and pollen. Wisteria vines are fragrant, which draws the bees in. You may want to avoid planting your wisteria near gates or doors to give visitors an easier time to get by the plant.

3.) Mint

Mint is an easy herb to grow. In fact, it will take over your garden if you’re not careful. It’s recommended to plant mint in containers to try to keep it contained. Mint is very attractive to bees, even though some people believe it keeps bees away from the garden. Peppermint, spearmint and catnip flowers are all from the same family. Bees love most herbs in your garden, and they’ll help pollinate the plants.

4.) Sunflowers

Sunflowers are considered bee magnets. The sunflower crop relies on bees for pollination, but bees don’t care if they’re pollinating crops for commercial use or just enjoying the pollen and nectar in your own personal garden. The bees will keep your sunflowers pollinated because they are so attracted to the showy petals. You may find different types of bees, not just honeybees around your sunflowers.

5.) Snapdragons

Snapdragons come in a variety of colours, but the bees seem to prefer blue and yellow varieties. These flowers are often used around the perimeter of a garden to repel deer. Snapdragons also bloom during cooler weather, which makes them the perfect flower in cooler climates. The shape of the flower gives bees easy access to nourishment, so bees are quite attracted to snapdragons.

Stop and Smell the Flowers in Your Garden

Whether you’re planning a garden for beauty and aesthetics or for great tasting food each summer, bees are your garden friends. If you grow it, they will come. Bees are important to the ecosystem, both in rural and urban settings. However, a swarm of bees can seem like a pest. Finding the nesting spot for bees is the first step to determining a course of action. Only a professional pest control technician or beekeeper should try to remove a hive of bees. Once you get the hive removed, you should discuss methods to prevent the bees from returning to the nest. Insect repellents are not effective against bees, so always reach out to professionals. For pest control in Kitchener, contact Truly Nolen.