Plants to attract pollinators: blue and white

Choosing plants for our gardens that attract pollinating insects through the seasons is good for biodiversity and fascinating to watch

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<i>Eryngium giganteum</i> ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ attracts pollinators and adds structure to the border
Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ attracts pollinators and adds structure to the border

Quick facts

  • Choose plants that flower for long periods over spring and summer
  • Shades of blue and white are attractive to a variety of insects
  • Choose a diversity of flower shapes to encourage a wide range of insects

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The planting plan

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive, and most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together.

Blue and white flowers to attract pollinators

© James Lawrence

Choosing plants for pollinators

Pollinating insects are in decline, but there are plenty of flowering plants to help them. Increasing flowering plants in our gardens can also improve fruit and vegetables: with more pollinating insects around, harvests will be bigger and better.

The Ajuga provides some groundcover and will help prevent erosion of bare soil. Groundcover can also help to reduce moisture evaporation from the soil surface and suppress weed growth. Additional organic mulching can further improve soil moisture retention and weed suppression.

1 - Olearia macrodonta
2 -  Jasminum officinale f. affine
3 - Salvia rosmarinus ‘Severn Sea’
4 - Veronica ‘Midsummer Beauty’
5 - Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’ 
6 - Ajuga reptans ‘Catlin’s Giant’
1 - Olearia macrodonta is a bushy evergreen shrub with narrow grey-green leaves and many large clusters of white daisy flowers in late spring.

2 - Jasminum officinale f. affine is a scented flowering climber needing support on a trellis or frame. It has a hint of pink in the bud and white fragrant flowers.

3 - Salvia rosmarinus ‘Severn Sea’ provides aromatic dark green leaves and small, two-lipped light blue flowers through late spring and summer.

4 - Veronica ‘Midsummer Beauty’ is a rounded evergreen shrub, with long, narrow leaves tinged purple when young. Lilac-mauve flowers, fading to white, are borne in summer and autumn.

5 - Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott's Ghost’ has silvery, heart-shaped lower leaves and spiny leaves up the stems. Cone-like heads of silver-blue flowers sit within rosettes of spiny silvery-grey bracts. The faded flower heads provide autumn and winter interest. 

6 - Ajuga reptans 'Catlin's Giant' is a low-growing semi-evergreen perennial forming a mat of large, glossy purple-brown leaves and spikes of blue flowers up to 30cm tall.

About plants for pollinators

Using scientific evidence, our extensive experience and the records of gardeners and beekeepers, we’ve selected a range of year-round flowering Plants for Pollinators to tackle the decline in pollinator numbers. Visit our Plants For Pollinators page to discover more of the best plants for attracting pollinators.
 

Growing plants for pollinators

​Many insects are suffering from a lack of pollinator-friendly plants in the countryside to provide nectar and pollen. By offering a good range of pollinator friendly plants in our gardens, we can help these essential creatures to thrive. Increasing biodiversity is also benefical for encouraging a healthy garden ecosystem in general.

Choose plants with a variety of different flower types and structures in order to attract a wider range of pollinators across the seasons. A succession of overlapping flowering times ensures there is always something available.
 

Why choose a sustainable planting combination?

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps to avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as applying fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity.

Additionally, this combination will also attract more pollinating insects into the garden, creating better diversity by in turn encouraging birds and other wildlife into the garden.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.