Gardening for Bees - Seasonal Recommended Plant Lists:

The following lists are based on several years of evaluation and survey work done in Northern and Southern California by our UC research group. Plants are presented seasonally, and in alphabetical order, based on the same scheme used in Sunset Magazine's Western Garden Book (2007), edited by Brenzel. Some information on California native plants is also found in Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region by Beidleman and Kosloff (University of California Press, 2003) and in Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains by McAuley (Canyon Publications Co. CA, 1996).

Below you will find seperate lists for Spring plants and Summer plants, as well as a key to the shorthand used for bee groups/species in the tables. If you have trouble printing this page, or if your browser is having trouble displaying it properly, there is an unstyled set of lists available. Finally, if you would like to have a portable copy of the lists, or perhaps send them to a friend, we have a nicely formatted PDF version available for download (Latest revision: December 2007). For more information, see the additional text at the bottom of this page.

Additional Information on the Seasonal Recommended Plant Lists 

Additional information used to create these lists (For example; plant form, flower color, soil and cultivation requirements) can be found in the Sunset Garden Book. Local nurseries can also be helpful with specific information. All plants listed here flower within one or two years; most during first year of planting. Other evaluated plants (for example, large shrubs and trees) known to be attractive to bees can be found in our Complete Plant List [PDF] (last compiled December 2003).

For best results in bee gardening, we recommend that advanced planning takes place to insure that continual bee floral food will be available for both Spring and Summer seasons. There are distinct groups of bees present in Spring and in Summer; some groups can also be observed year round. In our experimental gardens in the Bay Area we always plant a minimum of 10-15 diverse bee plants each season. Higher bee diversity and abundance occurs when gardens have a rich assortment of bee plants. It also appears that bees remain longer in a garden if plant diversity is high. Finally, we find that patch size of about 1 meter in diameter or larger is best for keeping foraging bees visiting a given plant species or cultivar. Smaller patch sizes, of usually attractive plants, will often be ignored.

Once your bee garden is established, be sure to take time to closely observe the different bee groups/species that will visit your plants. Each bee species behaves slightly differently than all others, which helps in identification. Bee watching can be as enjoyable as bird watching once your eyes get adjusted to their movements. Note also that certain bee groups/species will be predictably found on certain plant types.