Most of England’s green and pleasant land is rather barren to a pollinator. Mile upon mile of cereal monoculture and heavily fertilised, overgrazed livestock pasture provides few flowers. The intensification of agriculture, while undoubtedly boosting food production for humans, has reduced the availability of the nectar and pollen upon which bees, hoverflies, and a host of other pollinators feed. This rhetoric is backed up by data, with a recent study finding a 30% reduction in nectar supply across England and Wales since the 1930s. Nectar is a pollinator’s energy source, a sugar-rich liquid that keeps them flying. Unsurprisingly, this drop in their food supply has been accompanied by declines in the distributions of many pollinators, including the extinction of 11 bee species from Britain since 1930. It is natural to feel powerless to help pollinators when their declines have been driven by national-scale changes in land use and agricultural policy.

However, our urban environment, where 84% of the UK lives, represents a surprisingly promising conservation opportunity, with UK cities actually boasting a higher diversity of bees than surrounding farmland. The key is residential gardens, which provide an estimated 85% of nectar in our cities and give us each an opportunity to do our bit for declining pollinators.

The ways in which each of us manage our small plots of land may seem irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but the collective action of many people can have huge ramifications for pollinators. As insects can move around, these tiny habitat patches are not isolated, but joined up, so a bumblebee foraging on your neighbour’s lavender could pop round next and try its luck in your herbaceous border. Pollinators want three basic things when visiting a garden. First, a high quantity of food, in the form of sugar-rich nectar and also protein-rich pollen - poppies and single-petalled roses are two great sources, though most flowers will provide both. Second, a diversity of flowers, with different species providing different colours, scents, shapes and nutrients to suit different insects. Third, a continuous supply of food, with flowers from early spring late into autumn. But gardens vary hugely from one to the next. Not everyone can maximise the value of their space for pollinators and of course we all have legitimate priorities for using our gardens, from drying our washing to hosting a BBQ or kicking a football around with our kids. But whatever we want our gardens for, we all have the potential to help pollinators because providing sugary nectar need not take up much space in a pot, border or wild patch if we choose our flowers wisely. Now is the time many gardeners will be thinking about buying seeds and will see a bewildering variety stocked in their local garden centre or supermarket. 

Below is a handy guide listing 25 nectar-rich annuals to look out for as well as ten to avoid.

Underlying this is one basic principle: pollinators prefer more natural-looking, single-petalled varieties with open flowers that you can see right into, rather than overbred, fluffy, multi-petalled cultivars which provide little or no nectar that is hard to access. When shopping for flowers you need to think like a bee!

1. Black-eyed Susan - (Rudbeckia hirta)
Native to the prairies of North America, Rudbeckia will provide striking colour late into autumn, as well as accessible nectar to bees and butterflies.

2. Borage - (Borago officinalis)
A well-known pollinator lure, borage provides bumblebees and honeybees with plentiful nectar and can refill in just a couple of minutes after being visited by these thirsty insects.

3. Cape forget-me-not - (Anchusa capensis)
Also known as bugloss, Anchusa is attractive to bees and people alike with irresistible cobalt-blue flowers. Anchusa ‘Blue Angel’ is the most common cultivar.

4. Corn chamomile - (Anthemis arvensis)
Corn chamomile is an aromatic wildflower which can bring a splash of pure white to an annual meadow. Accessible nectar rewards in its yellow centre make it attractive to a wide variety of pollinators.

5. Cornflower - (Centaurea cyanus)
Also known as bachelor’s button, this charismatic farmland weed thrived in arable field margins before the widespread use of herbicides. Now it is commonly sown along with poppies in wildflower meadows where it attracts bees.

6. Cosmos - (Cosmos bipinnatus) Cosmos, or Mexican aster, is a showy member of the daisy family whose bright petals surround nectar-rich florets accessible and attractive to a variety of bees, hoverflies and butterflies. It is particularly valuable as a late summer and autumn resource.

7. Dahlia - (Dahlia species)
Single-flowered Dahlia cultivars such as ‘Moonfire’ and ‘Roxy’ provide huge quantities of nectar to bees and butterflies, but multi-petal flowers like the cactus and pompom varieties are completely lacking in the sugary resource.

8. Four o’clock flower - (Mirabilis jalapa)
Also known as the marvel of Peru, the four o’clock flower opens in the late afternoon and the sweet-smelling blooms attract hawkmoths during the night.

9. French marigolds - (Tagetes patula)
French marigolds (really Mexican in origin) are often grown as companion plants for vegetables as they are believed to discourage pests. Single-petal varieties like ‘Pots of Gold’ are attractive to pollinators, but most are multi-petalled and to be avoided.

10. Honesty - (Lunaria annua)
So named because its translucent papery pods candidly expose their inner seeds, honesty is attractive to foraging bees and also a food plant for caterpillars of the orange-tip butterfly.

11. Honeywort - (Cerinthe major) Honeywort is attractive to long-tongued bees which can reach the nectar up its tubular flowers, particularly the garden bumblebee, which has a tongue 50% longer than the UK’s next best.

12. Mexican sunflower - (Tithonia rotundifolia)
An important nectar source for migrating Monarch butterflies in Central America, the Mexican sunflower is also loved by our pollinators in late summer and autumn.

13. Moroccan toadflax - (Linaria maroccana)
Toadflax flowers resemble mini snapdragons (a close relative) and provide some of our longer-tongued bees with plentiful food via a nectar spur at the back.

14. Nasturtium - (Tropaeloum majus)
In its native habitat in South America, nasturtium is often pollinated by hummingbirds, but in the UK the garden bumblebee drinks its nectar while large white caterpillars fatten up feasting on its leaves.

15. Night-scented stock - (Matthiola longipetala)
Stock flowers appear similar to the rest of the cabbage family, but what makes this particular species special is its exquisite evening fragrance, which draws in nectar-feeding moths.

16. Painted sage - (Saliva viridis)
Painted sage is unusual in that the leaves provide the colour (shades of purple, pink and white), while the flowers are nondescript, albeit attractive to bees.

17. Phacelia - (Phacelia tanacetifolia)
Phacelia is an absolute bee and hoverfly magnet and doubles up as a green manure crop, capable of improving soil fertility if dug back in at the end of the season.

18. Pot marigold - (Calendula officinalis)
Calendula is a traditional cottage garden flower and like other members of the daisy family, single petalled varieties have open, accessible florets providing nectar to bees, flies and butterflies. The petals are also used in cooking, adding colour and a peppery flavour.

19. Scabious - (Scabiosa atropurpurea)
Scabiouses resemble pincushions, with pollen-rich stamens poking out from the rest of the flower, particularly striking in the variety ‘Black Knight’. The flowers are also rich in nectar and attractive to a wide range of insects.

20. Snapdragon - (Antrirrhinum majus)
Snapdragon flowers are specialised for bumblebee pollination because only they are heavy enough to force the ‘dragon’s jaws’ open and reach the guarded nectar. Nevertheless, some bees prefer to cheat by robbing nectar through the back of the flower.

21. Sunflower - (Helianthus annuus)
Sunflowers are loved by a whole range of pollinators, especially solitary and social bees, because they supply food that is easy to access in their flat flower heads. On top of that, the seeds are eaten by garden birds.

22. Tickseed - (Coreopsis species)
Coreopsis is a North American daisy attractive to bees, butterflies and hoverflies throughout the summer. The variety ‘Sunkiss’ is particularly striking with a whorl of red and yellow petals.

23. Tobacco plant - (Nicotiana alata)
Nicotiana produces huge quantities of nectar at the base of deep tubular flowers, perfect for the long proboscises of night-flying hawkmoths, and if you are lucky, the day-flying hummingbird hawkmoth.

24. Viper’s bugloss - (Echium vulgare)
Like other members of the borage family, viper’s bugloss is rich in nectar and refills rapidly, so is loved by bees and butterflies. The variety ‘Blue Bedder’ is often grown as a vigorous annual.

25. Zinnia - (Zinia species) Single and semi-double zinnias like ‘Sombrero’ and ‘Zahara Rose Starlight’ are popular with bees, butterflies and hoverflies, and also make long-lasting cut flowers. As with dahlias and marigolds, fluffy doubles and cactus or globe shaped cultivars are a missed opportunity.

10 LOW NECTAR PLANTS TO AVOID

1. Begonia - (Begonia species) - Begonias are certainly colourful and attractive to us, but they typically lack any nectar and very rarely attract pollinators in the UK. Many are multi-petalled to add insult to injury.

2. Busy lizzie - (Impatiens species) - Busy lizzies are heavily modified cultivars of Impatiens which are unappealing to pollinators because they tend to contain little nectar, which is often hard to access due to their altered flower structures.

3. Carnation - (Dianthus caryophyllus) - Although wild type, single-petalled carnations do exist, most available to gardeners are overbred to the point of providing nectar which is out of reach of pollinators.

4. Multi-petalled daises - Fluffy, multi-petal forms of plants like Dahlia, Zinnia and Marigolds tend to be useless for pollinators as nectaries have been bred into extra petals and even when some food remains it can be hard to access.

5. Nemesia - (Nemesia species) - Nemesia is a popular bedding plant because it comes in a wide variety of colour schemes and flowers from spring late into autumn. Nevertheless, it offers few resources for pollinators and is rarely visited.

6. Pansy - (Viola species) - Although some pansies are native to the UK and contain moderate nectar supplies, horticultural cultivars are often highly modified in flower structure, making any nectar present hard to reach.

7. Petunia - (Petunia species) - Petunia and related Calibrachoa are common hanging basket annuals, but for most pollinators they are a waste of space, with overbred flowers generally providing meagre nectar rewards.

8. Sweet pea - (Lathyrus odoratus) - Although colourful and pleasantly scented, most sweet pea varieties seem not to be visited often by bees and other insects, as they typically self-pollinate before the bud has even opened.

9. Tender geranium - (Pelargonium species) - Not to be confused with the hardy and pollinator friendly Geranium species, Pelargonium hybrids tend to be highly modified and low in nectar, so are distinctly pollinator unfriendly.

10. Twinspur - (Diascia species) - The two small spurs of twinspur flowers do not contain nectar like in toadflax. Instead, they house floral oils which are only attractive to specialised southern African bees.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. May you have plenty of fun planting your garden wonderlands!