The presence of bees is the sign of a healthy garden, one that sends out the message, ‘nature is welcome here!’
Attracting bees and other pollinators as well as beneficial predatory insects requires a mix of pollen and nectar rich flowers. Indigenous as well as open-pollinated heirloom flower varieties are the best options, especially those that don’t have high water requirements and tolerate summer heat.
According to Marlaen Straathof of Kirchhoffs seeds, growing flowers and flowering herbs from seed is probably the most economical way to create the kind of diversity that attracts bees. Not only bees, but other pollinators like butterflies, hover flies, bee flies and ladybirds that prey on aphids.
Her advice is to group the same flowers together, which makes it easier for the bees to harvest the pollen or nectar, and they use less energy. If space allows, try to plant at least one square meter of the same type of flower together.
Also, choose flowers with a long flowering season, or quick repeat flowering cycles so that the bees keep coming back to the garden. That way, there will always be something in flower.
Marlaen’s tip for successful germination, is to keep the soil moist while the seeds are germinating. When the seedlings are about 8cm high thin and space them out according to the recommendations on the seed packet. Feed with Margaret Roberts Supercharger, or another liquid fertiliser, two weeks after germination and thereafter every four weeks.
Flowering herbs will bring pollinators to the vegetable garden, benefitting of fruiting vegetables like tomatoes, all the different squash, peppers and brinjals.
Bees will come to basil that is in flower as well as dill, lemon balm (also known as bee balm) and thyme. Borage is prized for its blue flowers, and it is an excellent soil conditioning herb that acts as a compost activator. Echinacea too attracts bees with its cone-shaped centre.
The six heirloom flower varieties for bees that Kirchhoffs recommends as being easy to grow are California poppy, cornflowers, cosmos, marigolds, nigella and sunflowers.
- Cosmos is one of the best nectar plants for attracting pollinators. It is disease free, tolerates poor soil, heat, and humidity. ‘Sensation Mix’ has large flowers in shades of pure white to purplish pink with yellow centres. It is an easy to grow, no fuss annual that is a tall and graceful for mass planting or at the back of borders.
- California poppy ‘Kindergarden’ is also heat and drought tolerant. It has brilliant orange cup-shaped flowers that are visited by bees for pollen. It grows in poor soil, making it an anywhere plant that re-seeds easily. Being indigenous to California, it is perfectly suited to our climate, and unpredictable rainfall. It is a useful border plant, being low growing (40 to 60cm high).
- Cornflower ‘Polka Dot Mix’ is an old-fashioned cut flower, the type found in jars on kitchen windowsills or added into bouquets, mainly for their true blue flowers. Also, low growers, just 30 to 34 cm high, that are suitable for beds, borders and edging as well as containers. Plant in full sun in fertile, well composted soil and water regularly.
- Dwarf French marigold ‘Bonita Choice Mixed’ has yellow, red and bicoloured crested blooms on compact plants, great for gardens and containers in full sun positions. Plants are hardy and fast growing, need lots of sun and thrive in moderately fertile well drained soil.
- Nigella ‘Persian Jewels’ (Love-in-a-Mist) likes partial sun, the best being morning sun and afternoon shade. It grows about 50cm high, makes a wonderful border plant and is also a good cut flower.
- The three Kirchhoffs sunflower varieties are ‘Tall Yellow’ the traditional sunflower with golden yellow petals and dark centre, ‘Dwarf Sunspot’ which has big seed filled heads with yellow petals on dwarf bushes (40 to 60cm high) and ‘Cutflower Mixed’ with large blooms in shades of yellow, red and brown. Add some fertiliser when planting so that the roots get a good start and can anchor the plant. The taller varieties must be staked.
Published in Beeld. Article written by Alice Coetzee.
