Just like humans, healthy bees require a balanced diet. You may think bees have better access to food on farms than in the city but the truth is, bees that live in urban areas yield more honey than those in rural environments!

Why? Because many farms are monocultures: giant fields of one plant. On the other hand, cities have a larger variety of flowers.

If you want to support honeybees, creating a wildflower-rich garden with plenty for them to eat is one of the most impactful things you can do. In this article, we go through seven plants you can grow to support honeybees.

When you see a bee on a flower, it’s not because it’s actively trying to pollinate the plant. That’s just a happy accident. What’s actually happening is that the bee—and its colony—are hungry!

Bees use pollen and nectar as food. Nectar provides them with carbohydrates, and pollen is their source of protein and fat.

Honeybees stuff pollen into baskets on their legs and use their tongues to suck up nectar. Think of this as them collecting raw ingredients. Back at the hive, the pollen and nectar are put into cells where it will be processed into honey and a substance called “bee bread” which they feed to their young.

Around 35% of crops rely to some extent on bees. That said, they’re far from being the only pollinators we should care about. In North Carolina alone, there are over 500 species of native bees. And that number doesn’t include other beneficial insects like butterflies and moths!

When you plant a garden full of native flowers, you help both honeybees and native pollinators. The more forage that’s available, the less these species have to compete.

You wouldn’t want your favorite grocery store to only be open for one month of the year. In the same way, a good pollinator garden has flowers that bloom throughout the seasons. Some in spring, others in summer and fall.

Please note that our home state is New Jersey. In this guide, we selected plants that are native to our area, as they’re easier to maintain and provide forage for both honeybees and native pollinators.

If you’re in a different state, we encourage you to seek out other guides. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has a helpful resource center that’s organized by location.