The truth is there are hundreds of plants that attract bees. How much or how little depends on the individual plant and possibly factors such as other nearby pollination sources for the bees.

Bees prefer blue, purple, white, orange and yellow flowers, and sweet fragrances. They see ultraviolet colors, invisible to the human eye, found on the flowers like buttercup and black-eyed Susan.

Some herbs tend to attract bees, although some don’t.  Here are a few more suggestions on what to use and what not to use. 

Don’t like:

Aquilegia (columbines)
Fuchsia
Hyssopus officinalis (hyssop)
Nicotiana (flowering tobacco)
Pelargonium (geraniums)
Petunia
Salvia splendens (red salvias)

Do like:
Caryopteris (blue mist shrub)
Centaurea (bachelor's button)
Chelone (turtlehead)
Cimicifuga racemosa (black snakeroot)
Echinacea (cone flower)
Gaillardia (blanket flower)
Gaura lindheimeri (wand flower)
Heuchera (coral bells)
Hosta (plantain lily) 
Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower)
Monarda didyma (bee balm)
Penstemon (beardtongue)
Phlox paniculata (tall garden phlox)
Rudbeckia hirta (gloriosa daisy or black-eyed Susan)
Sedum (stonecrop)

You may also be interested in attracting butterflies and birds to your garden. See link here. 

For tips on a variety of gardening topics, see our Plant Information Guides.
- Courtesy of NYBG Plant Information Service