pollinator-friendly plants
Create a nectar rich haven for butterflies, hoverflies, and bees with our pollinator-friendly plants.
We have a huge selection of butterfly and bee-friendly plants that are perfect for filling borders, planting in pots, or lining paths. Choose from lavenders, verbenas, and honeysuckles and enjoy their scent whilst helping to provide a rich source of nectar for passing pollinators.
Make sure to plant a good succession of these pollinator-friendly plants so your garden can provide bees and butterflies with a food source throughout the year.
Use this guide to discover our top pollinator-friendly plants. Simply click on each image to find the product on our website.
BEST OF... © Sarah Raven 2023
COSMOS purity
TYPE : Half-Hardy Annual
SPECIES : Bipinnatus
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : July-October
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT : 90cm (36”)
SPREAD : 24cm (18”)
Large, open flowers of pure white, with delicate apple-green foliage. The classic cut flower and a supremely lovely garden plant, which no one should be without.
CULTIVATION : Best sown under cover in April but can be direct sown in May. Grow seedlings on in individual pots or modules until large enough to plant out. Gradually harden off before planting out after all risk of frost has passed.
CARE TIP : Pinch out tips at 15-20cm to encourage bushier plants. Stake and tie Cosmos plants if necessary during the growing season, water regularly and dead-head to prolong the flowering season.
Click here for more varieties of cosmos
1 510296
OTHER POPULAR VARIETIES
030142
‘Fizzy Rose Picotee’
190424
‘Double Click Cranberries’
153004 ‘Sensation Pinkie’
512066 ‘Apricot Lemonade’
190674 ‘Apricotta’
510295 ‘Dazzler’
A NGELICA gigas 2
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : Gigas
ASPECT: Part shade
FLOWERS : May-July, the following year (and up until December for the seedpods)
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT: 1.8m (6ft)
SPREAD : 1.2m (4ft)
One of my favourite plants, with aromatic flower heads, and loved by bees, butterflies, and birds. Perfect for the back of the border as a cut flower.
CULIVATION : Plant out once roots have filled a small pot in soil improved with compost or well-rotted manure.
CARE TIPS : Grow angelica in moist soil in partial shade. Mulch annually with well-rotted manure or compost. May need support.
Click here for information on how to bring pollinators into your garden
510045 (9cm & 2L pots) 070062 (seeds)
ASTER X mönch
A lovely blue variety which grows quickly and easily, with good mildew resistance. Very long-flowering.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : x frikartii
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : July-October
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT : 60cm (24”)
SPREAD : 45cm (18”)
CARE TIPS : Pinch in midsummer to encourage a great flowering season. Most asters will need dividing every fourth year to maintain vigour which is best done in spring as new growth starts.
510323
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Click here for how to grow asters
4 ACHILLEA terracotta
The fantastic thing about yarrows is that they flower for many months at a stretch. These open the colour of terracotta, fading like a lovely antique tapestry as they age.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : Millefolium
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-September
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT : 75cm (30”)
SPREAD : 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Cut back after first flowering to encourage a second flush in late summer. Divide plants every 3 years to rejuvenate.
OTHER POPULAR VARIETIES
Click here for information on how to bring
into your
pollinators
garden
510308
140132
Achillea ptarmica ‘The Pearl’
157014
Achillea millefolium ‘Summer Pastels’
190619
Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’
LAVANDULA hidcote 5
The most floriferous of the compact lavenders, with purple-blue flowers. Incredibly reliable and rich in pollen and nectar for much of the summer, so bees and butterflies love it.
Lavender flowers are edible and can be used to add flavour to cocktails, syrups, sorbets, and salads.
TYPE : Shrub
SPECIES : Angustifolia
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-August
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT + SPREAD : 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Cut back flower spikes in the autumn, but do not cut into the woody stem. Do not overwater, as Lavender dislikes having soggy roots.
Click here for information on how to bring
into your
510157
pollinators
garden
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : x faassenii
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : May-September
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT : 30cm (12”)
SPREAD : 45cm (18”)
A perfect compact border edging catmint, so much better than the usual floppy form. Cut back once or twice through the year and it will very quickly flower again.
CARE TIPS : Cut back lightly after flowering to promote a second flush of flowers. Cut back hard in autumn for vigorous new growth in spring. Divide large clumps in spring or autumn.
190611 6
NEPETA kit kat
Erigeron ‘Profusion’ 510342
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ERIGERON profusion
Masses of daisy-like flowers with a hint of pink. Perfect for softening some steps with curtains of daisies, plus you can create a lovely tumbling outside table centre. Erigeron flowers for months self-sowing into all the nooks and crannies. A brilliant value plant which no garden should be without.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES : karvinskianus
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : April-November
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT : 30cm (12”)
SPREAD : 90cm (36”)
CULTIVATION : Sow under cover FebruaryApril. Sprinkle seed on the surface of seed compost and keep moist on a warm kitchen windowsill, then plant out in May. Or sow direct April-July.
CARE TIPS : Will self-seed and spread with its roots making it perfect for walls and paths. Deadhead to encourage flowering.
Click here for information on how to bring pollinators into your garden 510342
ERIGERON lavender lady 511848 Shown here in a Ribbed Planter 420223 The Stars and Waterfalls Pot Collection 512087 Click here for more great planters and pots
8 SCABIOSA kudo pink
This compact variety is perfect for pots. It is highly floriferous, producing bright pink pincushion flowers from May through to November, and is adored by the bees.
TYPE : Perennial
SPECIES: Incisa
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : May-November
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT + SPREAD : 30cm (12”)
CULTIVATION : Sprinkle
mycorrhizal fungi (Rootgrow) into the base of the planting hole and water well after planting.
CARE TIPS : Deadhead to prolong flowering.
Click here for more varieties of scabiosas
511899
430063 - Rootgrow
VERBENA bonariensis 9
A haze of purple flowers at head height from late summer to autumn, which is a confetti of butterflies the moment there is a glimpse of sun.
TYPE : Perennial
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : June-November
SOIL: Well-drained
HEIGHT : 1.8m (6ft)
SPREAD : 60cm (24”)
CARE TIPS : Leave the dead stalks until spring which helps protect from cold wet weather and because seeds will be appreciated by visting finches. Protect with a layer of leaf mould or compost mulch in autumn.
510222
Click
to
for
here to find out how
plant, grow and care
verbena
OTHER POPULAR ANEMONE VARIETIES 10
DAHLIA blue bayou
TYPE : Tender Perennial
SPECIES : Anemone
ASPECT: Full sun
FLOWERS : July-November
SOIL: Moist but well-drained
HEIGHT : 1.2m (4ft)
I came across ‘Blue Bayou’ in the wonderful De Boschhoeve Dutch Garden and love it. A truly beautiful and nectar-rich variety, excellent for butterflies and bees. All dahlia flowers are edible, scatter their petals on salads for flavour, texture, and colour.
CULTIVATION : Pot up undercover in spring, place somewhere light and frost-free and keep moist. Pinch out growing tips at 20cm and plant out after last frosts. Alternatively plant straight into the ground when the frosts are nearly over.
Click here for more varieties of dahlias 229204
229271
Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’
229388
Dahlia ‘Josie’
229521 Dahlia ‘Rosie Raven’
Thank you for taking time to explore our ‘best of’ series. Next month, discover our must-have native British flowers. For more information on picking the perfect pollinator-friendly plants for your garden, please visit here. sarahraven.com 0345 092 0283 join us online
Photography by Jonathan Buckley ©
