Native Plants for Bees in Texas

The native flowers that feed honey bees, bumblebees, and the hundreds of solitary native bees most gardeners never notice. Texas sits in a landscape of Hill Country, Blackland Prairie & Gulf Coast, and the natives that thrive here are the ones built for its hot, dry west to humid east character. The list below — led by Crossvine and Prairie Blazing Star — is filtered to species genuinely native to Texas and the wider flora of the South-Central region and hardy through zones 6–9. Most of our native bees are solitary and unfussy, but they depend on a steady supply of pollen-rich, single (not double) flowers. Open daisy and umbel shapes are easiest for short-tongued bees, while tubular flowers reward the long-tongued bumblebees. Skip pesticides entirely and leave some bare, undisturbed ground and pithy stems where ground- and stem-nesting bees raise their young.

67 native species for Texas

Each one native to your region and hardy in zones 6–9 · see this collection in other states.