Bee & Butterfly Friendly Garden

Create a beautiful bee and butterfly friendly garden with the kids this summer. Bees are very important friends in the garden as they pollinate the crops you grow.

If you’re short on space grab some containers and get planting!

Bee Friendly

Attract beneficial bees into your garden to aid pollination of your crops with sweet smelling flowers.

• Bees prefer flowers that are single with open, flat shapes or clusters of tiny flowers, rather than ruffled frilly double flowers. These are the easiest for bees to get in to feed.
• Bee friendly flowers include: calendula, marigolds, sunflowers, forget-me-nots, poppies, cosmos, lavender, fox gloves, clover, nasturtiums, Queen Anne’s Lace, polyanthus, violas, pansies, purple tansy, borage, snapdragons, sweet William, alyssum, dahlias, echinacea and geraniums.
• Herbs that will also attract bees into your backyard include: sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme - don't be afraid to let them go to seed as the bees love their flowers.

Butterfly Friendly

Butterflies need two types of plants: the females will lay eggs on host plants and then all adults, males and females need nectar from flowering plants.

• Swan plants are available from your local garden centre and are a host plant for monarch butterflies. Tweedia is another host plant option to plant in your garden.
• Mass plantings of one colour are easier for butterflies to spot and guide them to your garden, rather than mixed colours.
• Suitable flowers usually have ‘landing platforms’, and many daisies are excellent.
• Calendula, marigold, chrysanthemum, sweet William, snapdragon, English wallflower and zinnia are the perfect plants to provide nectar for butterflies.

Get your bee and butterfly friendly plants off to the best start with Tui Rose & Shrub Mix.