READ: “The Beautiful Flowers That Bees Can't Use ” (BBC)
This recent and trending article by Emmanuelle Picaud is a thought-provoking piece on the common horticultural plants we see and use in the landscape:
We're often tempted to add flowers to our gardens to attract bees and promote biodiversity. But what if this is sometimes a bad idea?
To decorate green spaces, most cities and amateur gardeners rely on horticultural plants – those that have been selectively bred for certain qualities, such as their ornamental value. With their flashy colours, unusual shapes and larger proportions, they may be attractive to the human eye. But they are not necessarily useful for bees and other pollinators.
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"We love big, puffy, and flashy flowers. To make flowers more attractive, we selected some double-petal species. It gives the impression that the flower is bigger. But, in reality, the nectar part, which is vital for pollinators, might not exist anymore because of this selection. In other cases, it may be hidden by the petals," explains Stephanie Frischie, native plant materials specialist at Xerces Society, a non-profit organisation based in Portland, Oregon.