If you want bees in your garden, you must plant flowers they love. Many flowering plants attract bees whilst others have been cultivated solely for our enjoyment. Agapanthus might be stunning but do bees like agapanthus or not?
Yes, Agapanthus attracts bees, and bees love it because of the vibrant colours of its flowers and the abundance of pollen the flower makes.
Agapanthus are beautiful plants that brighten the garden and attract many pollinating insects including butterflies and bees.
Their flowers have a nice colour and a soothing fragrance. They produce a lot of pollen which bees require.
Bees like agapanthus for several reasons, such as for their colours which are visible to bees, they have a beautiful fragrance, and they have a lot of pollen which is nutritionally beneficial for bees.
Why Do Bees Like Agapanthus?
Agapanthus are a very good flowering plant for the garden to attract many insects of varying species and brighten up your yard.
The main reason why bees love agapanthus is because of its soothing aroma and pretty vibrant colour. The flowering plant also has a lot of pollen for the bees. Pollen is very nutritionally beneficial for bees and many other insects.
Here’s a complete breakdown on why they love these plants so much:
Colours
Pollinating insects, such as bees and butterflies, are attracted to vibrant coloured flowers they can spot from far away.
Bees are attracted to agapanthus plants because of their white, blue, and violet flowers. Blue, violet, and white are some of the colours most visible to a bee’s eyes, so it’s more appealing to them than most other coloured plants.
They prioritize these colours more than some other coloured plants.
Pollen and Nectar
Agapanthus has two things that bees adore and require and are a part of their daily duties: pollen and nectar.
At the same time, bees play a major role in facilitating pollination among agapanthus plants. They’re beneficially dependent on each other as the bees need the flowering plants for nectar and pollen and the flowering plants need the bees to pollinate them.
Flowering Timeline
Another reason why you’ll find a swarm of honey bees whenever your agapanthus plants start to show their flowers is because of its flowering timeline.
The time that agapanthus plants flower is also when honey bees have their breeding season. This is very convenient for bees as they can collect a lot of pollen easily to feed their young.
This is also a reason why they favour agapanthus flowers a lot more than other flowers in a garden.
Do Bees Pollinate Agapanthus?
Yes, bees pollinate agapanthus plants. Agapanthus provide bees with pollen and nectar and is appealing to a bee’s eyes as their colours which are blue-violet and white, are easily visible to a bee.
Agapanthus only flowers one month a year, conveniently the same time as the bee breeding season mentioned previously.
They flower in the early summers and provide a very necessary food source for the bees when their numbers are growing in the hive and the bees are foraging to get food for their offspring.
Want to Attract Bees to Your Garden?
We’ve Put Together a Complete Guide to Attracting Bees to Your Garden Including Our Top 14 Plants You NEED to Have in Your Garden:
Which Agapanthus Varieties are Best for Bees?
Agapanthus plants come in many varieties, all having pretty colours and strong aromas perfect to attract many bees to your garden. But which varieties work best?
Queen Mum
Queen mum is a variety of agapanthus plants that are relatively new and very large.
It has white flowers with a little tint of blue. It can grow up to two metres high and has green leaves that can reach one metre. It’s a very unique-looking and eye-catching plant that’ll appeal to not only bees but also people.
Black Panther
Black panthers are a type of agapanthus, they do not look anything similar to a black panther, but they look very beautiful.
They’re not even black; it has deep purple flower buds with almost blackish flowers. The beautiful dark purple colour can attract many bees to your garden.
Purple Cloud
Purple clouds are another big purple flowering plant in the agapanthus family. These flowers have an amethyst purple colour and greyish green foliage.
The foliage can reach one metre high, and the flowers can grow two meters high and 30cm in diameter. They’re beautiful plants, and bees will love them.
White Orb
White orbs are a type of agapanthus plant that have big white free flowering flower heads. Some reach 25cms while their stems reach a meter in height.
It attracts pollinating insects, mainly bees, but it can also attract other pollinating insects such as butterflies and can even attract hummingbirds.
The nectar and pollen from these flowers bring lots of insects and animals from the vicinity. However, these flowers not only attract pollinators but also pests such as snails and slugs that may eat it whole slowly if not taken care of.
Summary
If you want to see bees hovering around your garden, the best way to attract them is by planting flowering plants that bees pollinate. Plants such as agapanthus appeal to bees because of their vibrant colours, fragrance, nectar, and pollen.
Bees love to pollinate agapanthus also because they conveniently bloom flowers when bees have their breeding season.
There are many varying types of agapanthus that bees find appealing. Almost all the agapanthus types are white, purple, and violet colours, which are visible to bees making these flowering plants attractive to bees.
