Bees and flowers have a lovely symbiotic relationship.  This means the relationship mutually beneficial for both parties involved.

The bees and flowers begin their bonding in late spring into the summer. This is when the bees are most active and the flowers start to bloom. As the bees travel from flower to flower, they pollinate each one. Their body picks up the pollen from each bloom which is then dropped onto each flower that it lands on after that. The bees do not intend to leave any of pollen behind because they are trying to get as much pollen back to their hives.  Pollen is the bee’s food source.

Bees also collect the nectar from the flowers. The nectar is a mixture of the plant sugar and water. This nectar provides the bee with energy to help them continue on their journey to collect pollen. Pollination of the flowers is very important. When a female flower is pollinated it helps process of making seeds.

Here is a list of ten flowers (according to Fafard: Science behind the art’s blog) that are best for bees.

• Pale Purple Coneflower (early summer)
• Common Yarrow (early summer)
• Sunflower (summer)
• Blue Giant Hyssop (summer)
• Horsemint (summer)
• Purple Coneflower (summer)
• Black-eyed Susan (summer)
• Aster (late summer early fall)
• Joe-Pye Weeds (late summer early fall)
• Golden Rod (late summer early fall)

Extra fun fact: Bees cannot see the color red, they tend to avoid red colored flowers.