I rent, so I got a limited space to work with. That said, I counted 12 bees buzzing my 3 anise hyssop plants (Two are 2 years old in the ground, 1 in a container from seed this year) and my (Monarda Citriodora) lemon bee balm! This is the most I have seen in my yard so far!

Walking conservation areas around here I’ve noticed they show extreme preference toward common milkweed and butterfly weed, and somewhat to nearby mountain mint. I have seen a few buzzing my salvia as well.

What other native species have you seen bees go crazy for?

  • psyspoop@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Key resource for optimizing pollinator habitats - https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion. Pick your region and pick some of the keystone herbaceous perennials for bees, then find species you like that are native or near-native to your region in those genera.

    Native Allium has had a lot of success for me; I’ve seen a variety of bumble bee, wasps, carpenter bees, and cuckoo bees on them this year. My Monardas and coneflowers are always very popular. I’ve seen some decent activity on my Gaillardias too. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much activity on my non-cultivar sunflowers but the little activity I have seen has included some really interesting Ichneumonoid wasps.
    Zone 5b northern plains

  • LucidFeverDream@mander.xyzM
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    1 year ago

    If you’re in the US, I recommend aster. They bloom in fall and bees love them. I have bush growing in my yard and last fall it was completely covered with bees every day until winter. The bushes aren’t large but they don’t really looking like much until fall.

  • wheels@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Native to which country are you talking about? Bees love lavender, maybe that’s native where you are?

  • Toadvark@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Seems like absolutely everyone (bees, wasps, beetles) loves goldenrod when it’s in bloom later in the year here in the northern US.

  • pecanpie@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    They really seemed enthusiastic about my downy wood mint (Blephilia ciliata) this spring, especially the bumbles. Zone 7b, southeast US.