Garden Plan to Attract Wisconsin Native Bees

This guide features regional native plants for the Great Lakes that are highly attractive to pollinators and are well-suited to small-scale plantings in gardens, on business and school campuses, in urban greenspaces and farm field borders. These plants are particularly attractive to native bees and honey bees.

In planning your garden, be sure to have something blooming all season so there is always a food source for bees. Dandelions and clover provide early sources for bees if you don’t mind having them in your greenspace.

See the KEY at the bottom for details on the 'Soil' and 'Moisture' codes.

Bloom	Common Name	Scientific Name	Color	Height	Light	Soil	Moisture
EARLY	Black Cherry Tree	Elymus virginicus	White	50-80'		L	M
	Downy Serviceberry	Amelanchier arborea	White	15-25'		L	M
	Lanceleaf Coreopsis	Coreopsis Lancelata	Yellow	3'		L,S	D,M
	Lupine	Lupinis perennis	Blue	3'		S	D
	Pussy Willow Tree	Salix discolor	White	10-20'		L,S,C	O,W
	Smooth Penstemon	Penstemon digitalis	White	3'		L,C S	M,O
	Shooting Star	Dodecatheon meadia	Pink, Violet	2'		L,C,S	D
MID	Common Milkweed	Asclepias syriaca	Purple	2-4'		L,S,C	D, M
	False Indigo	Baptisia australis	Blue	3-5'		L,S,C	D,M
	Great Blue Lobelia	Lobelia siphilitica	Blue	1-3'		L,S,C	M,O
	Leadplant	Amorpha canescens	Purple	2-3'		L,S	D,M
	Pale Purple Coneflower	Echinacea pallida	Purple	3-5'		D,M	L,C, S
	Swamp Milkweed	Asclepias incarnata	Red, Pink	3-5'		L,S,C	M,O
	Wild Blue Phlox	Phlox divaricata	Blue	1-2'		L,C,S	M,O
	Wild Geranium	Geranium maculatum	Lavender	1-2'		L,S	D,M
MID-LATE	Bergamot	Mondarda fistulosa	Purple	4'		L,S,C	D,M,O
	Black-eyed Susan	Rudbeckia hirta	Yellow	3'		L,S,C	D,M,O
	Butterflyweed	Ascelepias tuberosa	Orange	2-3'		L,S	D,M
	Cupplant	Silphium perfoliatum	Yellow	5-10'		L,C,S	M,O,W
	Dogtooth Daisy	Helenium autumnale	Yellow	4-5'		L,C,S	O,W
	Spotted Beebalm	Monarda punctata	Purple	1-2'		S,R	D
	Lavender Hyssop	Agastache foeniculum	Purple	1-3'		L,S	D,M
	Prairie Blazing Star	Liatris pycnostachya	Purple	3-5'		L,S,C	M,O
	Purple Prairie Clover	Dalea purpurea	Purple	1-2'		L,C,S	D,M
	Rattlesnake Master	Eryngium yucciforium	White	4'		L, S	D,M
	Sweet Joe Pye Weed	Eupatorium purpureum	Pink	7'		L,C,S	D,M
	Wingstem	Verbesina alternifolia	Yellow	6'		L	M
LATE	Closed Bottle Gentian	Gentiana andrewsii	Blue	2'		L,C,S	O,W
	Calico Aster	Symphyotrichum lateriflorium	White	2-3'		L,C,S	M,O
	Field thistle	Cirsium discolor	Purple	6'		L	D,M
	New England Aster	Symphyotrichum novae-angliae	Purple	6'		L,C,S	M,O
	Showy Goldenrod	Solidago speciosa	Yellow	5'		L,S	D,M

SOIL:   L = Loam       C = Clay       S = Sandy       R = Rocky
MOISTURE:   D = Dry       M = Medium       O = Moist       W = Wet