Glossary
A garden intentionally designed to provide food, water, and habitat for bees and other pollinators. Bee-friendly gardens include a diversity of flowering plants that bloom across multiple seasons, avoid pesticide use, and may include nesting sites for native bees and water sources.
The most important principle in pollinator garden design is continuous bloom: having something flowering from early spring through late fall. Bees need food throughout the active season, and gaps in forage availability can stress both honey bee colonies and native bee populations. Plan for overlapping bloom times with a mix of spring bulbs, summer perennials, and fall-blooming plants.
Plant in clusters rather than single specimens. Bees are more efficient when they can work a dense patch of one flower type rather than flying between scattered individual plants. A block of lavender, a row of sunflowers, or a mass planting of native wildflowers will attract far more pollinators than the same plants spread across a large garden.
In Florida, excellent bee-friendly plants include firebush, saw palmetto, Spanish needle, scorpion tail, sunshine mimosa, beautyberry, and citrus trees. Native wildflowers like blanket flower, coreopsis, and black-eyed Susan also provide reliable nectar sources through the warm months.
Herbs are often overlooked as bee plants, but flowering basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and mint are outstanding nectar sources. Allowing a few herbs to bolt and flower rather than constantly harvesting them provides valuable forage for bees with minimal effort from the gardener.
Honey bees favor flowers with open or shallow shapes that allow easy access to nectar. Top choices include lavender, sunflowers, borage, clover, cosmos, zinnias, and most flowering herbs. Native wildflowers adapted to your region are always excellent choices.
For a truly bee-friendly garden, avoid systemic pesticides (especially neonicotinoids) and broad-spectrum insecticides entirely. If pest control is necessary, use targeted methods like hand-picking, neem oil (applied in evening when bees are not active), or biological controls.
Leave areas of bare soil for ground-nesting bees, provide hollow stems and bee hotels for cavity nesters, reduce lawn area in favor of flowering plants, and avoid excessive mulching in garden beds. Native bees need nesting habitat as much as they need flowers.
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