Top Native Plants to Attract Pollinators in the UK
The RHS now endorses over 10,000 plants for pollinators. Here's a shorter, practical list of what actually works, when each one blooms, and how to avoid the most common planting mistakes.
Most “plants for pollinators” lists repeat the same six flowers and stop there. The reality is more specific than that, different pollinators need different plants at different times of year, and getting the sequencing right matters more than just picking pretty flowers.
Why Plant Choice Is the Highest-Leverage Decision
Wild bee and pollinator populations across the UK are in measurable decline, and the RHS has spent years building an evidence-based list of exactly which garden plants provide the most reliable forage. As of the July 2025 update, that list now covers more than 10,000 plants, reviewed by RHS scientists rather than assembled from folklore.
Plant for the Whole Year, Not Just Summer
The single biggest mistake in pollinator gardening is planting only summer bloomers, then leaving nothing flowering in early spring or autumn, exactly when many species are most vulnerable to going hungry.
| Season | What to plant | Who benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter (Nov–Feb) | Winter aconite, hardy heaths, winter-flowering crocus | Early-emerging queen bumblebees |
| Spring | Lungwort, flowering currant, crab apple | Solitary bees, early butterflies |
| Summer | Lavender, scabious, verbena, foxglove | Honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies |
| Autumn | Ivy, sedum, Michaelmas daisy | Ivy bees, late-season wasps and hoverflies |
Specialist Plants for Specialist Bees
Not every bee visits every flower. The RHS highlights several UK bee species with very narrow diets, meaning the right plant can support a species that generalist flowers simply can’t.
- Scabious (Knautia arvensis, Scabiosa columbaria) — the exclusive food source for both the small and large scabious mining bees, alongside many other pollinators.
- Ivy (Hedera helix) — timed almost perfectly to the September emergence of the ivy bee, a species first recorded in Britain only in 2001.
Common Mistakes
- Choosing double or multi-petalled flower varieties. These are bred for showy looks but often have reduced or completely inaccessible pollen and nectar, the RHS explicitly excludes most doubles from its pollinator-endorsed list.
- Using pesticides on anything in flower. Even products marketed as garden-safe can harm visiting pollinators directly.
- Planting only for summer. A garden that peaks in July and offers nothing in March or October leaves a real gap for species active outside peak summer.
Small Spaces and Pots
A lack of a full garden isn’t a real barrier. Compact varieties bred specifically for pots, including shorter cosmos varieties from the British-bred Apollo Series, flower from June through autumn and work well in patio containers where taller varieties wouldn’t be practical.
Expert Tips
- Leave a patch of ivy to flower rather than trimming it back before September, it’s one of the last reliable food sources before winter.
- Group plants of the same species together rather than scattering single specimens, pollinators forage more efficiently on clustered blooms.
- If space allows, combine pollinator planting with a small garden pond — many pollinators also need a reliable water source, not just flowers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are native plants always better than non-native ones for pollinators? RHS research found that a mix of both often outperforms a native-only approach, provided non-native choices are non-invasive and genuinely rich in pollen and nectar. The RHS-endorsed list includes both.
What’s the single best plant to start with if I only have room for one? Lavender is a reliable, low-maintenance choice that flowers for a long stretch in summer and is heavily used by bees and butterflies, but ivy arguably offers the best value for the space it takes given how many species rely on it.
Getting pollinator planting right isn’t really about finding one perfect flower, it’s about making sure something is in bloom in every season, since a single gap in the calendar can matter as much as what you plant at all.
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