Plants to attract pollinators: yellow 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>Erigeron karvinskianus</i> is long-flowering and excellent for pollinators
Erigeron karvinskianus is long-flowering and excellent for pollinators

Quick facts

  • Having a variety of flower types can attract more pollinators
  • Choosing plants that flower at different times of the year provides more opportunity for pollinators
  • Many insects are attracted to white and yellow colours

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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.

Yellow and white plants 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 can be bigger and better.

The Cota and Erigeron provide some groundcover and will help prevent erosion of bare soil. Groundcover plants can also help to reduce evaporation of moisture from the soil surface and suppress weed growth. 

Until the plants have filled out, an organic mulch, preferably homemade compost, can help to improve soil moisture retention and weed suppression. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer. 

1 - Berberis darwinii
2 - Berberis thunbergii ‘Maria’
3 - Cornus mas ‘Golden Glory’
4 - Cota tinctoria ‘EC Buxton’
5 - Potentilla fruticosa ‘Chelsea Star’
6 - Erigeron karvinskianus
1 - Berberis darwinii is an evergreen shrub with glossy dark green, sparsely-spined leaves, and drooping clusters of orange-yellow flowers in mid- and late-spring, sometimes repeated in autumn, followed by blue-black berries.

2 - Berberis thunbergii ‘Maria’ is a deciduous shrub that is one of the best columnar golden-leaved cultivars, keeping its colour and shape well all season and bearing pale yellow flowers in spring, tinged red in bud, followed by blue-black berries. 

3 - Cornus mas ‘Golden Glory’ is a spreading deciduous shrub or small tree, with profuse golden-yellow flowers before the leaves in late winter, followed by glossy red fruits in autumn.

4 - Cota (previously Anthemis) tinctoria ‘E.C. Buxton’ is a clump-forming perennial with finely dissected green leaves and a profusion of individual lemon-yellow daisy flowers.

5 - Potentilla fruticosa ‘Chelsea Star’ is a deciduous compact shrub with small grey-green leaves and light yellow flowers in summer and early autumn. 

6 - Erigeron karvinskianus, a small perennial that is excellent at self-seeding, continues the daisy theme at the border edge with flowers opening white but soon turning pinkish-purple.

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.