A balcony for bees: plants for wild bees in a small space

How it works

1. Choose a month at the top.
2. Look under “Flowering now” and “Sow or plant now” to see what fits right now.
3. For each plant, read the care note and labels such as “full sun” or “partial shade ok”.

20 plants, almost all year round

Balkon für Bienen shows 20 plants that feed wild bees, bumblebees and butterflies on a balcony in Bern, for example crocus, chives, thyme, phacelia, lavender and ivy. Each one is listed with its German and botanical name and its flowering months. Something should always be in flower, from February with the crocus to October with ivy and stonecrop.

Simple rules

Choose single, unfilled flowers. Do without pesticides, including “organic” sprays. Use poor soil without fertiliser. Put out a bowl of water with stones as a landing place. In autumn, leave dead stems standing as winter shelter and hang up a nesting block. If nothing flowers in a month, the page reminds you of the winter rest.

Where the selection comes from

From Bioterra, Pro Natura and experience on a Bern balcony in the Mittelland at about 550 m. The flowering months are guide values, a warm spring shifts them. There is no guarantee for any single balcony.