When you go through all the trouble of planting a vegetable garden, weeding it, watering it, and basically tending to its every need, you expect that said vegetable garden will provide you with a lot of vegetables. But what happens when you do everything right, the weather co-operates for the most part, but you still don’t end up with a big harvest?

Chances are, you don’t have enough pollinators in your space. Sure, you can hand pollinate your tomatoes, cucumbers, and more, but it’s not sustainable. Instead, you need to get more bees in your vegetable garden–stat!!

In this blog post, I’ll give you 5 of the best strategies to both encourage pollinators, especially bees, to visit your vegetable garden, as well as how to make your garden more bee friendly in general.

This post is sponsored by Kind Bee Farms. I’ll be testing out their pollinator kit with leafcutter bees in the Spring/Summer of 2021 and updating this post to report on how it goes. I grew up on a farm that had leafcutter bees nearby, and reaped the benefits, so I’m confident that the Kind Bee Farms bee hotel will make a difference in my yard this summer.

1. Plant Flowers

The easiest and prettiest way to attract pollinators to your vegetable garden is to plant flowers. Bees especially love flowers in blue, purple, yellow, and white, but you don’t have to exclusively plant those colours to be bee-friendly. In my garden, the bees really love sleeping in my yellow and pink Zowie Flame zinnias, and tucked up in the folds of my dahlias.

They also love my sunflowers and bee balm too. Check out this post for 44 pollinator friendly flowers that you can grow.

Unfortunately, most of the flowers I mentioned all flower at the same time. But the bees need food during the entire warm part of the year–not just July and August. Which brings us to our next strategy. . .

2. Leave dandelions and clover in your lawn

I like a pristine lawn as much as the next person, but if you’re serious about bringing bees to your backyard, you’ll leave at least the first few dandelions and clover bloom to help out the bees. Once some of your spring perennials start blooming, then you can mow down those weeds as you please.

If you can’t bear to have dandelions blooming on your lawn, then at least consider leaving some areas of your yard a bit untidy with dried up leaves and last year’s perennial husks so the bees have some places to live.

3. Avoid using pesticides

In a home gardening situation, it’s usually pretty easy to avoid pesticide use and stick to organic pest remedies. However, if you have a really bad infestation and need to use a pesticide, here’s the best way to do it to avoid harming bees:

• Avoid using pesticides on flowering plants and weeds
• Apply pesticides only to the affected area in question, in as small an area as possible.
• Apply pesticides from 8pm to 8am when bees are less likely to be moving around
• Apply pesticides when the temperature is warmer. Residues remain on plants for a longer time when the weather is cool.

4. Make a Bee Bath

On your path to making your yard more bee-friendly, consider making a little bee bath–a place similar to a bird bath where bees can grab a drink. Place a saucer in a low lying, sunny area, fill it with water, and set a few flat rocks in it where bees can land. The bees will thank you for the drink and hopefully reward your vegetable garden with increased pollination.

5. Provide Shelter

Finally, one of the best ways to encourage pollinators in your vegetable garden is to provide shelter for them by building a bee hotel. But not just any bee hotel will do. Many bee houses on the market actually do more harm than good. You need to look for one with smooth insides on the cylinders and some overhang to provide shelter from the wind.

The frustrating thing is, that sometimes you can put up a bee hotel, but the bees don’t come. You can eliminate this problem by getting a bee house that comes included with the bees–therefore practically guaranteeing that you’ll have pollination in your vegetable garden.

Why You Should Get a Leafcutter Bee House

Honey bees and mason bees get all the glory, but there’s actually a much better pollinator out there–leaf cutter bees. Leaf cutter bees have fuzzy bellies (not sticky bellies like honeybees) so they spread more pollen. Meaning, your vegetables have an increased chance of pollination, because leafcutter bees can pollinate more plants in a day.

I get my pollinator kit from Kind Bees. They ship to both Canada and the US, and the house actually comes with the bees–no buying a bee house only to be disappointed with bees that never show up.

Finally, leafcutter bees are low flying and tend to stick to a smaller area, so they won’t just fly away and leave your yard.

If you’re struggling with pollination, grab your pollinator kit here. You can order now, and it will be delivered to you at the perfect time for your area in the Spring.

P.S. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook so you can see how the leaf cutter bees improve pollination in my yard in real time in Spring/Summer 2021.

You want a cut flower garden, but unfortunately your yard isn’t blessed with a lot of full sun. While full sun is the best for cut flowers, there’s a surprising amount of annual and perennial flowers you can grow that will work in part shade, and give you some additional options.

However, growing a cut flower garden in shade has some serious downsides that you should know. Let’s discuss these first before we get into the flowers you can grow.

Do you prefer your content in video form? You can watch this video below. Otherwise, keep scrolling for the flowers & issues to be aware of with a part shade cutting garden.

Limitations of growing cut flowers in part shade

First up, is the stem length and strength. I find that a lot of the flowers I list in this post don’t have as strong of stems as I would like–especially the ones on this list that do better in full sun, but will tolerate part shade.

Some of these flowers, like lily of the valley, have such short stems that I wouldn’t use them for anything other than boutonnieres and arrangements in teacups and other short vessels.

The hallmark of a good cut flower garden, is that it has enough of the different types of flowers that make up a bouquet, blooming at the same time. For example, it would be frustrating to have all your focal flowers bloom in June, and all your supporting flowers bloom in July. Or, have all your blooms in late July, then have nothing else available for the rest of the season.

Related: How to Start a Cut Flower Garden

The amount of cut flowers you can reasonably grow in the shade, coupled with the bloom times these particular flowers have, means that it would be extremely difficult to operate any sort of cut flower farm or related business with these flowers. However, if you’re growing these flowers for your own personal enjoyment, then it’s not really an issue.

I don’t want to mislead you into thinking that you’ll be okay to grow cut flowers on a large scale if all you have is part shade.

Another unfortunate thing, is that you’ll probably get less blooms in general–especially from those aforementioned flowers like calendula or larkspur that tolerate shade, but would do better in full sun.

So now that I’ve been a complete Debbie Downer and you understand the inherent limitations, on to the fun stuff–the flowers!!

P.S. I garden in zone 3 on the Canadian Prairies, so I only list flowers that I know and can grow. If you live somewhere warmer, you probably have more choices available to you!

Perennial Cut Flowers for Part Shade

In my cut flower garden, the perennials are just part of my landscape, instead of in structured rows like my annuals. That way, I can snip what I please, but still leave a few to enjoy while I’m outside in my yard.

Here’s a few shade perennials that work well in both a landscape and a cut flower garden. Many of these can also be used in a garden underneath a tree.

1. Astible

A perfect spiky flower to add some texture to a bouquet. Grow shades of white, pink, purple, and red.

2. Bleeding Heart

One of the easiest to grow shade perennials when you live on the Prairies. It’s not traditionally used for bouquets, but would be a stunning and unexpected element.

3. Columbines

Columbines have thin stems, but they can hold up in a bouquet. They come in almost every imaginable colour combination and are extremely easy to grow.

4. Coral Bells

While the flowers (shown below) are nice, I would plant coral bells for their different coloured leaves. The shades of green, lime, orange, red, and burgundy would add a lot of interest to a bouquet.

5. Golden Rod

This fall-blooming perennial prefers the sun, but you’ll still get blooms in the shade.

6. Hydrangea

All hydrangeas are not created equal. Unfortunately for those of us in zone three, only a few certain varieties will actually survive. Try Limelight or Annabelle.

7. Japanese Anemone

A gorgeous perennial on woody stems. Not to be confused with the woodland anemone which is often used as a ground cover, but has thin, short stems.

8. Lady’s Mantle

Long stems and a beautiful hit of chartreuse.

9. Lily of the Valley

Lily of the valley are a ground cover, and have a beautiful scent. The stems will be too short for most bouquets, but would work in a boutonniere or a bouquet in a teacup or other short vessel.

10. Lilies

Asiatic lilies will do a lot better in full sun, but they will still bloom in part shade, giving you more options for cut flowers.

11. Solomon’s Seal

The graceful arc of solomon’s seal will add an unexpected and airy element to an arrangement.

Annual Cut flowers for Part Shade

Well I love using perennials for cut flowers, growing annuals adds so many more options to my bouquets.

12. Asters

Look for china asters, which come in better colours and are preferred by farmer florists.

13. Calendula

Calendula is a great companion plant in the vegetable garden, and the leaves can also be dried and used in soaps and lotions.

14. Chrysanthemums

A classic fall favourite, chrysanthemums are cold tolerant too.

15. Dianthus

Carnations or any type of dianthus are cold tolerant and can be found in many colours.

16. Dusty Miller

Dusty miller (in the front row) will grow slightly longer stems if grown in the shade. I find the stems too small for most arrangements, but I love them as a dried flower in fall and winter wreaths.

17. Foxgloves

Don’t grow fox gloves if you have pets or kids who tend to eat and get into things, as they are poisonous. But if you can grow them, they are a beautiful spiky flower that comes in a multitude of colours and variations.

18. Larkspur

Very similar in looks and colour to a delphinium, but tolerates shade (where a delphinium will not).

19. Pansies

Pansies will grow practically anywhere, and in recent years, growers have been developing varieties with longer stems that work better in bouquets.

20. Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia are easy to grow and start from seed. I love the prairie sun (pictured below) and sahara varieties.

21. Salvia

Salvia can be both a perennial and annual, depending on the variety. The purple ones are most common, but these pink ones would be stunning.

Any cut flowers that I missed? I’d love to know about them in the comments!

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The Ultimate Cut Flower Bundle has everything you need! Learn exactly which flowers to grow for blooms all season long, get done-for-you plans and a system to create your own so you can grow exactly what works for you. You’ll get Cut Flowers Made Simple, Bouquets Made Beautiful, The Frost Proof Flower Garden (to extend your fall growing season) and Savvy Seed Saving, so you can save some serious money on seeds.

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