Do you wonder what flower colours do bees love the most? Bees are most attracted to blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow flowers. So, if you’re about to plant a bare border with flowers, choose ones that the bees will love!

We all know that bees and pollinators need our support to increase the dwindling numbers so in light of the annual Pershore Plum Festival in August, here’s a mini border that you can plant now for late summer ‘plum’ colour that butterflies and bees will thank you for, which are also suitable for container gardens.

When I’m creating a planting plan, I always choose flowers with different heights. Something tall for the back of the design, around 1.5-2m high. A medium height around 1m tall and a ground cover plant 30-45cm.

This tiered effect makes it easy on the eye, so the garden feels more restful to relax in.

Here’s my top three plants to use right now (August):

Tall:

Verbena bonariensis which grows to around 2m tall. The stems are really thin and wiry which makes them ideal for narrow spaces or filling gaps in a sunny border. The flowers are bobble-like which enables the bees to land easily. They flower from June to October.

Medium:

Cosmos ‘Candy Stripe’ have white petals with deep magenta edges/stripes and a bright yellow centre. They will grow to around 1m tall and if you dead-head them regularly they will flower from June to first frosts. They’re easy to grow from seed, which makes them great value for money! You’ll find them in the bedding section of the garden centre at the moment, so it’s instant gardening at its best.

Low:

Geranium Rozanne. No wonder this won the RHS ‘Plant of the Century’ as it flowers from early summer to late autumn. The flowers are lavender-blue, saucer-shaped which are 5cm in diameter approx, and has a white eye with purple veining. It looks wonderful in cottage style planting schemes, where it provides fast-growing ground cover but without being invasive.

If you have more space to fill, there are many more beautiful plum coloured flower choices for your garden you can enjoy this month and well into Autumn, such as:

Heuchera’s – so many colours to choose from but one of my favourites is ‘Plum Pudding’ with dark purple leaves and a dusting of silver. They’re semi evergreen but I find they only last a few years, and they’re susceptible to vine weevil bugs. But don’t let that deter you as they’re gorgeous. They’re low growing and have insignificant but attractive flowers on long wiry stems.

And if you need a shrub, I can recommend Sambucus ‘Black Lace’ which has beautiful plum coloured foliage and in June it has clusters of light pink flowers – you can use these to make pink elderflower cordial. It grows to around 3m tall, but if you remove the lower branches, it makes a beautiful small tree.  In autumn it has black berries which are attractive to birds and apparently makes excellent wine!

In addition to these, you could try:

Dahlias are a must for the summer border and make excellent, dramatic cut flowers. They come in a huge array of colours and shapes, including cactus types like ‘Rev P Holian’, which has spiky crimson blooms. You can also find dahlias with plum-coloured petals and yellow centres, such as ‘Purple Flame’ or ‘Chat Noir’. Dahlias need a sunny spot and well-drained soil, and you can lift the tubers in autumn or protect them with mulch.

**TOP TIP** If your dahlias get earwigs, get an upturned flowerpot, fill it with straw and place it on a stick (you might need to do several), and place throughout your borders. You can then release them back in to the wild away from your dahlias!

Zinnias are colourful, easy to grow annuals that combine beautifully with other ‘hot’ coloured plants such as sunflowers and rudbeckias, in borders and in pots. They also do well in a vase along with Cosmos. Choose plum-coloured flowers, such as ‘Queen Red Lime’ or ‘Purple Prince’. Zinnias love a sunny, well drained spot and you can sow them directly in the ground in May or buy them in a pot ready-grown from your local garden centre.

Salvias are attractive perennials with fragrant foliage, bearing masses of nectar-rich flowers in summer. Purple-flowered salvias like Salvia ‘Amistad’ and ‘Ostfriesland’ look fantastic growing in a mixed border with other bright coloured flowers such as Cannas. Salvias prefer a sunny, well drained spot and you can cut them back after flowering to encourage new growth.

They will need protecting from frost during the winter months – simply cut them back and apply a mulch over the top and they should start growing again in the spring.

Flowers with ‘Plum’ in their name:

Plumbago auriculata, Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, Dianthus ‘Sugar Plum’ and Papaver ‘Patty’s Plum’ to name four gorgeous plumtastic flowers.

Mini Planting Plan with Plumtastic Flowers

So what looks good together that you can easily create in your own garden borders or containers? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I love these combo’s…

Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’ – pretty blue flowers in June to July. Low growing to around 30cm tall, semi-evergreen and prefers partial shade (avoid mid-day sun). Goes well with

Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ – I do love Heucheras but they are also loved by vine weevils too, so check your pots regularly and remove any grubs as they will destroy your plants. This variety has dark purple leaves, with a dusting of silver. They’re also semi-evergreen and although the leaves are mound forming, they have delicate stems of tiny flowers to around 55cm. Goes well with

Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ with its almost black square stems of purple flowers. Long flowering during the summer, cut back any dying/dead flowers to encourage new flowers. Prefers full sun, so plant this to provide shade to the phlox.

Another option using a plum coloured Heuchera:

This is a small container I created using ‘container plants’ from St Peters Garden Centre – they have a section of plants that are in small pots which are ideal for containers, that you can then pot on into your borders afterwards.

In this arrangement I’ve used Thyme, Eucalyptus, Convolvulus and Euonymus which are all evergreen so are lovely to use for your winter containers – just add some pansies and spring bulbs to create more colour.

So I hope this has given you some inspiration to create a plum inspired flower border for the bees, and if you want to treat yourself to the best gardening gloves, I can recommend these plum coloured ones. I find them so comfortable and they don’t go crispy and grim after use either. Available from my online store now https://borderinabox.com/product/ladies-gardening-gloves/

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