Flowers To Plant For Australian Native Bees In Brisbane, Each Season

An Australian native bee and much larger honeybee zooming toward this flower in my Brisbane backyard

One of the biggest upshots I’ve found since I started growing my own veggies and flowers in my backyard is just how much it attracts beautiful bees and butterflies. Last summer I felt like I had every bee from teeny tiny Australian native bees to the blue banded bee to honeybees in the neighbourhood in my garden - they were scores of them zooming through all the plants.

I’ve noticed that bees like to get up early and fossick for pollen and nectar and then knock off as the sun is going down, while butterflies love to flit in and out of the garden and rest on the round flowers in particular!

The key to bringing in the bees is really quite simple: grow flowers (or flowering herbs) and they will come. I’ve included the exact flowers that I grow each season in Brisbane below to attract and provide food for Australian native bees and all their bee pals below so that you can feel like you are doing you bit for our fantastic pollinators.

The white cosmos, pink zinnia, yellow Black-eyed Susans and bright sunflowers (above) I grew in my garden to bring in scores of Australian Native Bees and Honeybees over the last few years

Australian Native Bee Flowers Brisbane | Seasonal Guide

I grow all the flowers that I mention below from seed. If you’re wondering how to do that, check out my YouTube videos for a simple guide.

• Summer: heat loving flowers like zinnia, cosmos, basil, echinacea, dahlias and dandelion.

• Autumn: sweet peas, bells of Ireland, chamomile and flowering herbs like coriander and parsley.

• Winter: sunflowers work well in Brisbane and Australian native bees love them!

• Spring: most flowers grow in spring and I love to grow sunflowers, marigolds, cosmos and celosia in Brisbane.

These zinnia flowers also bring in lots of other beautiful pollinators beyond just bees, like my adored Blue Triangle Butterfly above

Looking for more information? Check out my take on What Veggies To Grow Now In Brisbane, By The Seasons and David Beckham’s Iconic Bee Garden!