Every spring, all garden centers get shipments of plants that are labeled 'bee-friendly' or 'bee-attracting'. What they don't tell you is that there are already numerous starving bees in your area long before you buy your perennials and even plant them.
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Check PriceBuying more plants every Spring isn't the secret to a true bee sanctuary. The secret is smart seasonal planting this Fall that will create spaces for established blooming perennials to be ready when the bees need them the most.
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Why Planting in the Fall Improves Bee Habitats
By planting perennials in the fall, you're allowing them to create strong root systems for a few months while the soil is still warm, but the outside air temperature is cooling. This leads to fall planted perennials being healthier, and blooming earlier in the spring with more plentiful and longer blooms compared to perennials planted in the spring.
The timing difference between the bee queens and the flowering plants can literally mean life or death. The queen bees have just woken up from their winter dormancy, and only have a small amount of body fat stored that will last them for a short amount of time. During this time, she will greatly need her first food sources and will need them to be rich with nectar for food. Also, when she wakes up, the spring planted gardens are still being set up. However, the perennials that have been planted in the fall are already fully established and will provide the queen with the food sources she needs in order to start new colonies.
The 14 Everlasting Powerhouses for the Survival of Bees
1. The Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) self-seeds, and starts blooming from July to October, offering late-season nectar when most flowers have dried up.
2. Bee Balm (Monarda) North American native that colonizes and produces dense clusters of tubular flowers that attract long-tongued bees.
Self-seeds expanding your bee habitat year after year. Tough prairie native that blooms for months. Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
4. Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) This drought tolerant native plant draws in over twenty species of native bees, honeybees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
5. Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) has spikes of small flowers full of nectar that bloom from the middle of summer until the frost.
6. Catmint (Nepeta) produces flowers during the whole season. When you deadhead the flowers, they keep coming, providing nectar for hungry pollinators.
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7. Salvia (Salvia nemorosa) Heat and drought tolerant, will produce flower spikes that bloom in waves from spring to fall with appropriate maintenance.
8. Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)Native does not support its own ecosystem, but has great, massive flower clusters that attract dozens of species of bees at the same time.
New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) starts blooming in Autumn and is native to the area. This species of Aster is very important for the native pollinators, especially the bees as they collect nectar to build their fat reserves for winter. This plant helps the bees as many other flowers stop blooming before the Winter season.
10. Goldenrod (Solidago) Goldenrods are often unfairly blamed for causing allergies. However, these native plants provide some of the most valuable late-season pollen and nectar for the preparation of overwintering bees.
11. Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is an early spring bloomer featuring uniquely shaped spurred flowers that are intended for long-tongued bees. The Columbine offers nectar when few other sources are available.
12. Blazing Star (Liatris)
This is a native prairie plant that has an unusual blooming pattern from top to bottom. This unique pattern allows the plant’s flowering season to be extended and provides multiple types of pollen.
13. Sedum (Hylotelephium)
These succulent perennials have late summer and fall blooms that are a magnet for winter bee preparation.
14. Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) This ground-level bloomer supports specialist native bees which nest in soil. It provides both habitat structure and food.
Planting with Purpose – The Most Effective Way to Help Bees
Instead of planting individual perennials, plant them in clusters. Patches of the same flower type are more likely to attract bees and grouped plantings will create stronger visual signals that busy bees are able to see from a greater distance.
When planning for the bloom succession, consider incorporating different varieties. Wild Columbine would be considered an early bloomer, and it would feed the emerging queens. On the other hand, New England Aster would be a late bloomer; thus, she would help the bees pack on their winter survival fat reserves.
The Subway System That'll Change Your Life
During winter, fall-planted perennials create impressive root systems that help them grow more robustly in spring. This causes them to produce larger flowers, more nectar, and bloom earlier than perennials stressed from spring planting.
A lot of these plants create helpful partnerships with fungi in the soil. This boosts their ability to reach nutrients, making the plants healthier, which in turn increases the quantity and quality of their nectar.
Beyond Nectar: The Complete Habitat of Bees
Flowers are not the only things that the best bee gardens provide. Many of these perennials also provide nesting habitats and bare soil patches between plants where ground-nesting bees can dig tunnels. Additionally, there are hollow stems that are left standing over the winter where tunnel-nesting bees lay their eggs.
When you select fall planting, you are not only adding beautiful flowers, you are establishing the groundwork for an entire bee ecosystem that will sustain multiple generations of both native and honeybees for decades.
