A great option for yards of all sizes, shrubs can provide food and shelter for native bees throughout the year. As most shrubs offer an abundance of flowers in one location, they provide an efficient pollen and nectar source for wild bees. Increasing the layers and types of plants in your garden also increases the available habitat and food sources which can result in increased bee (and bio) diversity!
When trying to make your garden bee-utiful, it is important that you consider the flowering season of each plant. Ideally, you want to provide food sources for our native bees throughout the year. Below are four lovely native shrub species that flower in different seasons, to keep your garden buzzing:
St. John’s wort (Hypericum kalmianum)- This a small growing deciduous shrub that has a rounded, upright, dense crown. Narrow, oblong, bluish-green leaves appear in pairs and turn a yellowish-green colour in the fall. Small, golden yellow flowers appear in mid to late summer which give way to small, oval, brown seed capsules that mature in the fall and often persist through the winter.
Common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) - This is a beautiful, small-growing shrub that is loved by gardeners and bees alike. The pretty little flowers provide a summer nectar and pollen source for bees and other insects. A great bonus is that snowberries also provide food for birds and wildlife.
Common ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) - This medium growing shrub has an upright, spreading form. The ovate to rounded, three to five-lobed leaves turn a yellow colour in the fall. Small, dense, rounded clusters of white flowers develop in the late spring and give way to drooping clusters of red fruit in the fall. Mature bark exfoliates and peels off in strips to reveal layers of reddish-brown inner bark.
Grey dogwood (Cornus racemosa)- This is a large growing deciduous shrub that has an upright, spreading canopy. The grey-green leaves are smooth and narrow in form and turn a red to purple colour in the fall. Clusters of creamy white flowers develop in the spring and give way to clusters of white berries in late summer, which provide food for birds. The terminal stems holding the flowers and berries are bright red in colour and often persist into the winter.
While they don’t often get the credit they deserve, shrubs are a vital component of the urban forest. In addition to providing for our native bees, native shrubs also offer food and shelter to butterflies and songbirds.
This fall, a bundle of these four shrubs, delivered to your door along with a planting and care guide, costs just $100 + HST (that’s like four shrubs for the price of three!). Supplies are limited and bundles are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Keep the bee love going all year round by planting flowering shrubs this fall. Contact LEAF to order your ShruBEE Bundle today!
Update: We've had a great response to this offer - thank you to everyone who has ordered ShruBEE bundles! Due to the high demand, we have sold out of common snowberry shrubs - not to fear, you can still get a ShruBEE Bundle for your home! We've replaced the snowberry in this bundle with meadowsweet, a lovely shrub with fragrant white and pink flowers that attract both butterflies and bees.
Jacqueline Hamilton is LEAF’s Residential Planting Program Coordinator.
The Backyard Tree Planting Program is supported by York Region, the City of Toronto, Toronto Hydro, the City of Markham and theTown of Ajax.