Five Flowers That Feed the Bees (and Look Good Doing It)

If you’ve ever wanted to help bees but didn’t know where to start, here’s a secret: you can do it with something as simple as a flowerpot.

Bees don’t care how big your yard is — they care about the quality of the buffet you offer. And you don’t need to sacrifice aesthetics for function. The right plants can feed pollinators and make your garden (or balcony) gorgeous.

Here’s a breakdown of five bee-friendly flowers that will keep your space buzzing with life — and why each one matters.

Bee Balm (Monarda)

Picture a mini firework frozen mid-burst, only it’s covered in nectar. That’s bee balm. Bees love its tubular petals, which are perfect for sipping. It blooms from midsummer to fall, giving pollinators a reliable food source late in the season when many other flowers are fading.

For gardeners: It’s hardy, comes in bold reds, pinks, and purples, and smells faintly minty.

Lavender

Lavender is the pollinator’s spa resort — sunny, fragrant, and full of food. Bees can see purple more clearly than other colors, which might explain why they’re all over it. It’s also one of the most drought-tolerant plants, making it ideal for low-maintenance gardeners.

Extra benefit: Once cut and dried, you can use it for tea, baking, or homemade sachets.

Coneflower (Echinacea)

With its large, flat petals and raised centers, coneflower is basically an airport landing strip for bees. It blooms for weeks in summer, drawing in both native bees and honeybees. And when the flowers fade, birds swoop in to eat the seeds.

If you plant different colors (purple, white, yellow), you’ll have a patch that’s visually striking for months.

Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

These golden blooms are a late-summer hero. They’re tough enough to survive heat and drought, and they keep producing nectar even when other flowers have given up. They also attract a mix of pollinators, including butterflies and beetles.

Plus, they’re perennials — plant them once, and they’ll come back stronger every year.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers are bee banquets. Each big, bold bloom is made up of hundreds of tiny florets, each a nectar source. Bees swarm the central disk, working in concentric circles like clockwork.

When the flowers go to seed, birds take over — so your pollinator planting doubles as a wildlife feeder.

Putting It All Together

You don’t have to plant all five. Start with one, and aim for continuous blooms from spring through fall. The more variety you plant, the more pollinator species you’ll support — and the better your garden will look.

And here’s the thing: if you plant even one of these in a city where flowers are scarce, you’re not just gardening. You’re literally feeding the food system.