- 10. Garden Chrysanthemums
- 9. Cultivated Roses
- 8. Tulips
- 7. Double Dahlias
- 5. Geraniums
- 3. Forest Trees
- 1. Forsythia
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People often talk about bee-friendly plants, but which plants don't bees like? The following plants are not well received by the buzzers.
Bees are of particular importance for our habitat because they are among the most important pollinators for many plant species. Unfortunately, the number of bees continues to decrease for a variety of reasons, such as an increasing number of monocultures and the use of toxic insecticides. To counteract this trend, more and more hobby gardeners are deciding to help the bees in their own garden. But did you know that not every plant is bee-friendly or that there are even plants that can harm bees? Here you can find out which plants have proven to be bee-unfriendly and therefore not an asset to a bee-friendly garden.
Unfortunately, the misconception that all plants are automatically bee-friendly is widespread. In fact, there are numerous bee-unfriendly plants that do not make the hard-working insects happy. There are many reasons why plants are unsuitable for bees: some plants produce neither pollen nor nectar, while others have double flowers that limit their food supply. We have compiled for you ten plants that bees do not like at all.
10. Garden Chrysanthemums
The chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum) provides radiant color accents in autumn like hardly any other plant. Especially the great flowers, which shine from bright white to warm orange to intense violet, turn many gardeners' heads. However, not all types of chrysanthemums are suitable for bees: the highly cultivated garden chrysanthemums in particular often have double flowers, which means that they are unsuitable as bee pastures. If, on the other hand, as a gardener you use chrysanthemums with single, single flowers such as the autumn chrysanthemum 'Hebe' (Chrysanthemum indicum 'Hebe'), you can give the bees a real treat - with their Flowering from October to November, the plant serves as an important food source in autumn, when most of the other plants have already faded.
9. Cultivated Roses
For many gardeners, a garden without roses (pink) is hard to imagine, after all, the majestic flowers ennoble every bed. Only bees do not like the elegant beauty: Most roses are bred in such a way that their double flowers provide little or no food for beneficial insects. Luckily, there are also roses that are bee-friendly and beautiful. Especially unfilled varieties such as the dwarf rose 'Bienenweide Rot®' or the shrub rose 'Global Water®' are perfect for the Brummer. Wild roses are particularly popular with bees: apple rose (Rosa villosa), wine rose (Rosa rubiginosa) and creeping rose (Rosa arvensis ) impress people and animals with their abundance of flowers and are a romantic ornament for every garden.
8. Tulips
What would spring be without the export hit from the Netherlands? For many gardeners, tulips (Tulipa cultivars) are among the loveliest spring bloomers in the bed. The colorful varieties in particular, which are a bright eye-catcher in the bed, make the tulip a popular guest in the garden. For beneficial insects, however, tulips are a double-edged sword: while wild tulips such as the vineyard tulip (Tulipa sylvestris) are often flown to by all kinds of beneficial insects, the value of garden tulips is often very low, so that the flower with it is unattractive to bees.
7. Double Dahlias
In the garden or on the balcony - dahlias (Dahlia) are among the classics in the flower bed and it is hard to imagine garden design without them. In particular, the large number of sometimes spectacular flower shapes and colors have helped the plant to achieve the cult status it has today. But it is precisely these opulent flowers that make life difficult for the bee: not only are the stamens responsible for pollen production often stunted, but the path to nectar is also blocked by the numerous petals. Bees cannot find food here. If you don't want to do without dahlias, you can use unfilled varieties such as orchid dahlias and bishop dahlias, because bees like to fly to them.
The pansy (Violawittrockiana) is a well-known classic among balcony plants, but is also very popular in beds or as grave decorations. The plant particularly impresses with its enormous color spectrum: almost all shades of the rainbow, as well as different flower markings can be found in pansies. Bees, on the other hand, do not enjoy the colorful flowers - due to the long breeding process for the most beautiful flowers possible, the nectaries of the pansy are often stunted, so that they offer little or no food for beneficial insects. Fortunately, the closely related Horned Violet (Viola cornuta) does not have this problem, making it a great alternative to the bee-unfriendly pansy.
5. Geraniums
It is a perennial favorite on the patio or balcony - the geranium (Pelargonium) is a real classic when it comes to summer planting in window boxes and pots. The geranium is a real eye-catcher with its radiant color intensity and its great double flowers and transforms every balcony into an oasis of well-being. But what we humans like is horrible for the beneficial insects: the double flowers of the geranium ensure that the plants hardly produce any pollen and the nectar slumbers inaccessible to the insects behind a wall of petals. Thus, the plants are useless to the bee. If you want more bee-friendly balcony plants, you should instead keep an eye on bluebells (Campanula) or lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) - these plants are not only beautiful look, but also provide bees with enough food.
It is one of the most popular hedge plants of all and is often used as an evergreen privacy screen - the tree of life (Thuja occidentalis) is a popular guest in many gardens with its smooth, slightly shiny needles . In particular, their extremely frost-hardy and easy-care nature ensures that the hedge plant is planted with pleasure. For bees, however, the tree of life is not a lifesaver - like all conifers, the thuja relies on wind pollination, which is why it provides neither nectar nor pollen for the small animals. But a hedge does not always have to be bee-friendly: bee-friendly hedge alternatives that also look good would be, for example, privet (Ligustrum), snowberry (Symphoricarpos) oralso the Deutzie (Deutzia).
3. Forest Trees
Unfortunately, not only coniferous trees are unfriendly to bees - numerous forest trees are also worthless for the small insects. Oaks (Quercus), birches (Betula) or beeches (Fagus) in particular rely on wind pollination and have no foraging value for bees. Only the rare honeydew supply, which occurs when the trees are infested with aphids, ensures that bees can be found on the forest trees from time to time. Aspens (Populus tremula) and alders (Alnus) are also not good bee pastures, as they donate a small amount of pollen but no nectar. In order to create a bee-friendly garden, it is best to use fruit trees: These not only provide bees with a very good supply of food, but also reward their gardener with delicious fruit. Also deciduous trees such as the bee tree (Tetradium daniellii), the sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) or various types of willow (Salix ) are ideal for bee-friendly planting.
With its numerous, blue-violet flowers, the lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is probably one of the most beautiful ornamental trees that you can find in the garden. In addition to its magnificent, almost opulent floral decoration, the plant inspires above all with its wonderfully sweet scent that wafts through the whole garden. But despite the large number of flowers, the lilac is actually not a bee-friendly species: one problem with the plant is that many highly cultivated noble varieties only produce little nectar and are therefore not suitable as forage plants. But wild lilac varieties are also avoided by bees. The reason for this are the toxic components of the plant, which, among other things, make the nectar taste extremely bitter - which makes the plant extremely uninteresting. But don't worry - the black elder (Sambucus nigra), which is also known as lilac, is a very good bee pasture in contrast to the common lilac.
1. Forsythia
What a splendor of flowers - when the forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) shows its numerous golden yellow flowers in March, it turns into a real eye-catcher in the garden. The luminous eye-catcher, which is also known under the name gold bells, is also known for itsFrost resistance and its compact growth very popular. But anyone who thinks that such a sea of flowers is bee-friendly is wrong. In fact, the forsythia is a sham: the flowers look beautiful, but they are dry, which means they produce neither nectar nor pollen. The plant is therefore completely worthless for bees, because it offers them no food whatsoever. A good alternative to forsythia is the cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), because it also blooms wonderfully yellow at the same time and is also good bee pasture. If you don't want to do without forsythia, you can use the 'Beatrix Farrand' variety - this is one of the few forsythia species that produce pollen.
Of course, in addition to the bee-unfriendly plants, there are also numerous species that are particularly suitable for bees. Our Plantura bee pasture, for example, contains over 20 different bee-friendly types of herbs and flowers. Here we share our top 10 bee friendly plants and in this article you will find 15 shrubs for bees.