6 Blue Flowers for Bees

Blue flowers for Bees is both a planting list suggestion for your garden and a call to action for providing bees with a food source.

Encouraging bees and other pollinators into our gardens is critical, yet it is such an easy action for us all to take. It doesn’t mean messy weedy spaces but beautiful, and frequently scented, flowers and shrubs.

Blue Flowers for Bees

Violet flowers, blue flowers, purple flowers – these are all favourites with bees, more so than other colours. Because yes, bees can see colours, although have a different range to us humans. What it is that attracts them to flowers in the blue spectrum is explained in a previous blog “Why Do Bees Like Purple Flowers?” The link for this is below.

In a different article, I gave you planting suggestions for year round purple flowers. My aim there was twofold. To give you a slightly different or unusual selection of plants as well as year round food for bees.

But before we get onto the planting suggestions, some general tips if you’re inspired to look for more blue flowers and blue flowering shrubs for bees. What should you bear in mind when choosing flowering plants to encourage bees into your garden?

Simple flower shapes, such as single blooms and open flowers
Have flowering plants all year round if you can
Choose pollen and nectar rich species
Plant a range of flowering plant species as different bee species like different types of flower

Blue Flowers for Bees

These are all perennial plants and will suit a range of soils, gardens and gardening styles. The flowering time covers late spring through to late autumn and I’ve listed them in their approximate flowering order.

Chionodoxa forbesii

Also known as Glory of the Snow as it flowers in late winter – early spring regardless of the weather! ‘Chion’ comes from the Greek for snow and ‘doxa’ means glory.

The cultivar Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Blue Giant’ flowers for longer than the species, but either will be appreciated by Bumble bees, who are some of the earliest bees to emerge.

It’s a great rock garden plant and also thrives under deciduous trees, so would be happy in a woodland edge garden too.

Glory of the Snow, Photo by wolfgang_hasselmann on unsplash

Scilla siberica

Also known as Siberian squill, this is a mid – late spring flowering bulbous perennial. Plant your first bulbs in the autumn at a depth two to three times as deep as the height of the bulb itself. It will soon form a clump and provide you with glorious blue flowers for bees with drooping, bluebell like flowers. Bees love it and watching them fly up to reach the nectar is a daily pleasure in spring.

My Scilla siberica is planted in free draining soil where it gets the sun until about 2pm and has been so happy I had to split the clump last year!

Pulmonaria

Pulmonaria, also known as Lungwort, Jerusalem cowslip, Soldiers and Sailors, are spring flowering herbaceous perennials. They prefer light shade but will cope in full summer sun if the soil is moist.

The funnel shaped flowers are a good source of nectar for bees and can be pink, white and purple as well as blue.

Good blue flowered cultivars are Pulmonaria angustifolia ‘Blue Ensign’ with green leaves and Pulmonaria ‘Trevi Fountain’ with silver spotted leaves.

Cut back older foliage as well as blooms flowering to regenerate a good leafy clump. Most Pulmonaria are evergreen, but the angustifolia types are less likely to retain their foliage over winter.

Ceanothus

More commonly known as California lilac, this range of shrubs have lightly fragrant blue flowers and are generally but not always evergreen. They certainly need a sheltered spot away from cold winds and prefer an alkaline soil.

In size they range from the tree like Ceanothus arboreus ‘Trewithen Blue’ to the smaller Ceanothus azureus ‘Concha’. Both are spring flowering with deep blue flowers.

Whilst Ceanothus arboreus ‘Autumnal Blue’ has mid-blue flowers from late summer and may be a better choice in exposed areas.

Whether you choose spring or autumn flowering shrubs or both, they are all positive bee magnets!

Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Blue spire’

Also known as Russian Sage and recently renamed as Salvia yangii, following new genetic information. So it really is related to the Salvia (Sage) family.

It has soft, silver, aromatic foliage. Which is a real give away that it prefers to grow in full sun! Although I’ve seen it thriving on heavy clay, it prefers a chalky soil, well-drained. All the Perovskia have blue flowers for bees, but I’ve found ‘Blue spire’ the easiest for clients to maintain.

The violet blue flowers are held erect from July to October in almost feathery panicles. And it makes a good choice for seaside gardens as salt-laden air doesn’t bother it. In fact its fairly tolerant of air pollution generally, if the rest of its growing requirements are met

Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Summer Sorbet’

Also known as ‘bluebeard’, or ‘blue mist bush’ this is a late summer to autumn flowering deciduous shrub. Suitable for small gardens too as its fairly compact and responds well to trimming. The variegated gold and green foliage is slightly aromatic and as this Caryopteris comes into leaf in late April /May offers a long season of interest.

The mid-blue flowers are popular with both bees and butterflies. Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Summer Sorbet’ grows in a sunny border or light, dappled shade. Too shady and the leaves will revert (turn) all green.

Bees Needs Week UK

Bees’ Needs Week is an annual event coordinated by Defra, working alongside and involving a number of charities, academic institutions, businesses, conservation groups, us gardeners and the public to help raise awareness of bees and other pollinators. It is part of the National Pollinator Strategy, England. This was begun in 2014 and is a ten year plan to help bees and other pollinators survive and thrive.
In 2020, Bees’ Needs Week runs from July 13 -19 and is, as you’d expect, largely online. Check out the Bumble Bee Conservation for some ideas.

Blue Flowers for Bees

For more planting ideas, check out the links below and the blog categories (drop down menu to your left or at top of page depending on the size of the screen you’re reading from!)

And do get in touch with Plews for a bee friendly garden design or planting design to suit you, your children, your pets, your garden and the bees themselves.