Plants for pollinators

Painted lady butterfly on garden plant

© Adam Cormack

How to help wildlife

Plants for pollinators

Creating a pollinator garden

With wild habitats at risk, bees and other pollinators need us to provide a food source in our gardens, balconies, allotments and other outdoor spaces.

You can help by growing flowers that attract butterflies, bees and other pollinating insects to your garden throughout the year.

Bumble bee on poppy

© Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

Know your soil

When planning a wildlife garden, it is important to know your soil type. Not all the plants listed below will be suitable for all soil types, and may not grow properly or die completely.

pH Test

A simple test to find out if your soil is acid, alkaline or neutral can be carried out using a soil testing kit from your local garden centre, which uses colour as an indicator. 

The solution will turn yellow-orange for acid soil, green for neutral and dark green for alkaline soil. Most plants prefer a pH of 6.5 to 7 – the point where nutrients are most easily available.

Water retention

Clay and peat soils hold water better than sandy and chalk soils. This test will show if your soil will become waterlogged in wet weather, or dry out quickly in summer. 

To Test The Water Retention Of Your Soil: 

Fold a piece of kitchen paper into a funnel and place in a jar then fill a small measuring jug with a recorded amount of water. Place a tablespoon of dry soil in the funnel and add water to the centre of the soil. Stop adding water when the first drop falls into jar, noting how much water you have added. Wait until soil has drained. Measure the volume of drained water: if over half of the added water is recovered, your soil is well drained.

Soil test
Small tortoiseshell

Gardening for butterflies

Download our handy guide to gardening for butterflies to make your patch a haven for these important pollinators.

Download guide

Wildlife friendly plants by season

Choose a mixture of seasonal flowering plants, bulbs, herbs, fruits, shrubs and trees to ensure a year round food source in your garden.

A list of readily available insect pollinated plants available from your local garden centre can also be found here.

Spring (March-May

  • Barberry (shrub)
  • Marsh marigold
  • Cotoneaster (shrub)
  • Crocus (spring-flowering)
  • Erysimum ‘bowles mauve’ wallflower
  • Cranesbill
  • Hebes
  • Honesty
  • Oregon grape
  • Native cowslip
  • Native primrose
  • Skimmia japonica (shrub)
  • Forget-me-not

Spring bulbs

Plant in autumn

  • Lily of the Valley Convallaria majalis
  • Wild Garlic (Ramsons) Allium ursinum
  • Snakeshead Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris
  • Grape Hyacinth (native) Muscari neglectum
  • Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria
  • Wild Daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus
  • Snowdrops Galanthus nivalis
  • Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Forget-me-not

© Neil Wyatt

Summer (June-August)

  • Yarrow
  • Hollyhock
  • Alliums
  • Alkanet
  • Angelica
  • Poppy
  • Thrift
  • Borage
  • Buddleja davidii (shrub)
  • Common marigold
  • Vipers bugloss
  • Heather
  • Honeysuckle
  • Greater & lesser knapweed
  • Cornflower
  • Red valerian
  • Cosmos
  • Ice plant
  • Sweet william
  • Foxglove
  • Common teasel
  • Coneflower
  • Blue eryngo
  • Hemp agrimony
  • Fuchsia
  • Corn marigold
  • Sunflower
  • Hydrangea
  • Jasmine
  • Feld scabious
  • Ox-eye daisy
  • Ragged robin
  • Evening primrose
  • Jacob’s ladder
  • Firethorn (shrub)
  • Coneflower
  • Salvia species
  • Lamb’s ear
  • Verbena bonariensis
Bumble bee on poppy

© Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

Autumn (September-November)

Autumn flowering plants

  • Japanese anemone

  • Michaelmas daisy
  • Clematis
  • Common ivy
  • Salvia species
  • Cyclamen
  • Ivy

Spring bulbs to plant in autumn

  • Lily of the Valley Convallaria majalis
  • Wild Garlic (Ramsons) Allium ursinum
  • Snake's-head Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris
  • Grape Hyacinth (native) Muscari neglectum
  • Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria
  • Wild Daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus
  • Snowdrops Galanthus nivalis
  • Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta
  • Crocus
Ivy

© Philip Precey

Winter (December-February)

  • Crocus (winter flowering)
  • Snowdrop
  • Hellebores
  • Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle

© Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

Wildflower Seeds

© Marcus Wehrle

Grow a wild patch

Spread wildflower seeds in autumn to create a wild area the following year

Find out more

Top tips

Grow a range of plants with different flowering times to ensure a year round food source for pollinators.
Avoid plants with double or multi-petalled flowers, which are hard for insects to access.
After annuals and perennials have died off,  leave the seed heads throughout the winter to provide food and shelter for wildlife.
Never use pesticides on plants in flower - these will harm visiting pollinators.