Flower Preferences

Blue banded bees - known flower preferences.

The following is by no means an exhasutive list of flowers known to attract blue banded bees, there are many others. All additions for this list are most welcome. Some are visited for their nectar (carbohydrates) and others for their pollen.

Common names:
Tomatoes
Sweet Basil
Perennial Basil
Abelia
Verbena
Lavender
Flax lily
Myrtle
Mona Lavender
Blue-bell creeper
Hibbertia
Senna
Mountain devil or Honey flower
Spider-flower grevillea
Scarlet sage
Salvia
Duranta (thanks Beverly D.)
Rosemary (thanks Christine H.)
Pentas lanceolata (Red Pentas) (thanks Steve)
Lemon Balm & Passion Fruit flowers (thanks Felicity B.)

In your home garden, grow some of the plants listed above at the ends of the tomato rows to help the bees feed and gather pollen more efficiently. This will then improve your tomato crop.
Blue banded bees appear to collect the majority of their nectar from blue flowers, although they regularly visit others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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