Bees pollinate many flowers, and the many fruits we eat and the pretty flowers we have in our gardens exist because of bees. Bees pollinate a variety of flowers but do bees like daisies too?
Bees love daisies as they provide nectar like most other flowers but also because they have a lot of pollen.
Bees are the primary pollinators of many flowers. Among the many flowers bees pollinate, they love daisies as daisies give them nectar like most flowers but also they give bees lots of pollen.
The one ring of petals of daisy flowers has more nectar and pollen than most flowers with double ring petals.
Pollen is a vital source of fats and protein, which is required for them to feed their larvae, and daisies have a lot of it. Getting lots of pollen early is very helpful for bees, especially for bumble bee queens who need it before hibernation in the winters.
Why Do Bees Like Daisies?
Bees like daisies a lot. Ultimately, if you want to see them in your garden, you can plant daisies, and they will start coming. Daisies go in the box with lavender and alliums.
The main reason why bees love them is that they offer huge levels of pollen, and they are loaded with nectar too.
As mentioned above, pollen is a vital source of fats and proteins, making them very healthy for bees. The amount of pollen daisies have is more compared to many other flowers.
Nectar is also necessary to make honey which makes daisies even more important. Nectar also has other nutrients and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, and sodium. All these nutrients are necessary nutritional requirements for a bee.
Minerals such as lipids, fats, and vitamins are all found in pollen. Protein, especially necessary for bees, is also present in pollen. Pollen is the main source of protein for bees.
Many flowers fall into the daisy category, but daisies are specifically plants with white petals and yellow centres. Leucanthemum vulgare, Oxeye daisy, and Leucanthemum are some examples.
Apart from the high levels of pollen and nectar that bees like to feed on, there are other beneficial traits that bees love.
A healthy bee needs amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, water and sugar. Bees get these nutrients from nectar, water and pollen.
Bees like the petals, in particular, a lot apart because these flowers can hold water. The petals of daisies hold rainwater which they can then easily drink from.
Do Bees Pollinate Daisies?
Bees pollinate daisies like other plants as they move from blossom to blossom, carrying pollen between the plants’ male and female reproductive organs.
Bees love daisies as they have nectar but also as they have lots of pollen in them. Daisies are also good at pollinating flowers as the bee doesn’t have to do much either as the nectar and pollen are found in the central disc of the flower, making it easy for bees to locate them.
Daisies are yellow and white, which are the colors that attract bees, allowing bees to spot a daisy from far. Bees are fluffy insects; all their fluff helps them carry lots of pollen to other flowers, and the rest of the pollen goes with them in the hive.
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 Daisy Varieties are Best for Bees?
If you want to put daisies in your garden to attract bees, then there are several types of daisies you can add that’ll attract bees and many other pollinating insects.
Common daisies
Common daisies are good for bees, and their white and yellow colours attract bees a lot. The colours are helpful as bees can spot them from far and as they depend on bees for their pollination, their attraction helps them to be pollinated.
Oxeye Daisies
Oxeye daisies are a beautiful white species of daisies that have around 30 pretty white petals surrounding them.
However, there is one drawback of this plant; it’ll be hard to keep it in a compact space as these daisies spread quickly by producing seeds and spreading through rhizomes underground, eventually making their way into areas where they don’t belong.
English Daisies
Bees love English daisies too. Honeybees especially love English daisies because of their pretty vibrant colours and beautiful fragrance. They also have a lot of pollen. Like oxeye daisies, these daisies can also be invasive.
Daisies have beautiful vibrant white and yellow colours and a nice smell adored by bees, but butterflies and hoverflies also pollinate daisies.
Yes, if you leave your lawn to allow daisies and other wildflowers to bloom then bees will love you for it. They love all forms of native lawn flowers including daisies.
Summary
Bees are necessary for the environment; these stinging fluffy flying insects are responsible for many of the pretty flowers in our gardens and the fruits we eat.
If you want to see bees in your garden, planting daisies is a good option as bees love them and like pollinating them because of their vibrant colours, sweet scent and also as it has a lot of pollen.
