veggie garden are n’t just for vegetables anymore . With the current pressure on pollinator population due to habitat loss , pesticide exposure , pathogens and forage scarcity , it ’s more important than ever to include flowers in your vegetable - garden programme . Without pollinators , your harvest time suffers . There ’s no dubiousness about it — deliver pile of bloom plant in your garden entail increase pollinator numbers and improve pollenation . But , not just any efflorescence will do . To harvest the maximal welfare , deform to some of the good flowers for a vegetable garden before deciding which blossom to plant .
In addition to the European honeybee , there are more than 4,000 metal money of bees aboriginal to North America , and there ’s a great diversity in forcible traits and forage use among all those different bees . roll in the hay the good flowers for a vegetable garden means knowing which sort of cross-pollinate bees you ’re desire to appeal . Jessica Walliser
Here are a few good example of how to partner your efflorescence choice with the veggies you plan to spring up .
Jessica Walliser
The Best Flowers For Beans
If you ’re appear to better return of pea , bush , rod and ball carrier beans , whose flowers are ego - fertile but their enclosed nature means they need a heavier bee to pop them open to knock the pollen onto the stigma , target your efforts toward attracting humblebee and other larger bee species . These big bees need large landing stamp pad and uncompromising flower stems to support them . Plants like coneflower , sunflowersand tithonia are the better flowers for a vegetable garden that grows these crops .
The Best Flowers For Tomatoes
If you want to a lot of good , risque tomatoes , again , you ’ll need a band ofbumblebees . Tomato flower are self - fertile , but they need a good bumblebee buzz to hover their pollen loose and fertilise the flower . Sometimes the twist does this , but often it ’s the job of bumblebees who vibrate their flight muscles at the perfect frequency for optimum tomato pollination . As observe above , peak with orotund landing pads and sturdy root are big at attracting bumblebees . A few more flowers to include for these pollinators let in bee balm , zinnias , black - eyed Susans and helenium .
The Best Flowers For Blueberries
If blueberries are part of your veg garden , then you ’ll want to attract lashings of little aboriginal bees that can easily cower up into the bell - shaped blooming of the blueberries ( see TV ) . Each flower needs to be visited by a pollinator many meter for good fruit production . While dearest bees and bumble bee are also good blueberry bush pollinators , smaller solitary bee specie do a great job of moving pollen from flower to flower . To appeal these diminished bee , include anise Hyssopus officinalis , oregano , dill and Florence fennel flowers in your vegetable garden . For more on blueberry bush pollination , see outthis articlefrom NC State Extension .
The Best Flowers For Squash, Cucumbers & Melons
To maximise pollenation of members of the squash and cucumber syndicate , you ’ll necessitate as many busy bee as potential because in order for a squash vine , pumpkin vine or Cucumis sativus to form , the blossom needs to be visited by dozens of bees . Members of this works family have separate male and distaff heyday , and effective pollinators need to channel pollen from male prime to female flower over and over again .
Our nativesquash beelooks a lot like a European honeybee ( the squash bee has lighter stripes on its venter and small comb - comparable structures on its back legs ) , but it ’s more in effect at go this pollen . The squash bee feeds exclusively on the pollen of the squash family , and the female bee build sole nest chambers right under the leaves of their innkeeper flora . Squash bee are gentle and very authoritative for near product , and they do not emerge from overwintering until the early summer , when their host plants are in bloom . They also sleep inside of the spent efflorescence at night . To further squash bees , there are no special flowers to set . Instead , just plant lots and destiny of curcurbits for them , and change over squash , pumpkin , and cuke field to no - money box methods so you do n’t disturb their nesting home ground .
The Best Flowers For Seed Saving
If you plan tosave your own vegetable seeds , you ’ll need bee , too . Greens , such as lettuce , kale and mustards ; herbs such as cilantro , chives and winter sweet ; and settle down crop like parsnips , rutabagas and Japanese radish , all postulate to be pollenate in purchase order to produce seeds . In ordering to for this to happen , you ’ll need to have as many small , aboriginal bee species around as possible . These tiny bee relish the nectar from the tiny heyday these plant produce . To increase the identification number of these bees , the best blossom for a vegetable garden include oxeye daisies , cosmos , fennel , muffin marigolds and mountain mint .
As you may see , the best efflorescence for a vegetable garden are not just planted for their undecomposed expression , but rather for their unbelievable pollination power .
