10 Best Wildflowers to Grow to Help Insects

Insect Week (19th–25th June) is a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the tiny creatures that help our natural world thrive. Run by the Royal Entomological Society, Insect Week encourages people of all ages to discover more about insects, from buzzing bees and colourful butterflies to fascinating beetles, moths and hoverflies.

And what better way to welcome more of these wonderful mini-beasts into your garden than by growing some beautiful wildflowers?

Birdsfoot Trefoil

White Campion

With its pretty white, starry flowers and lovely evening scent, White Campion is a wildflower that really comes into its own after dark. As the sun starts to set, its flowers open up and release their sweet, clove-like fragrance, attracting moths and other night-flying insects looking for a tasty nectar treat. Keep an eye out at dusk and you might spot an Elephant Hawkmoth fluttering from flower to flower – one of the beautiful nocturnal visitors that White Campion helps to support. Its flowers can also attract bees and butterflies during the day, making it a useful all-rounder for a wildlife-friendly garden.

White Campion flowers from around May through to September, giving insects plenty of opportunities to stop by. And because it’s native to the UK, it makes a lovely addition to a wildflower patch, meadow or even a slightly untamed corner of the garden.

Little explorer challenge: Head outside just as the sun is going down and see what you can spot visiting your White Campion. You might discover that while we’re getting ready for bed, the garden is only just waking up! 🌙🦋

Cornflower

With its brilliant blue, starry blooms, Cornflower is a real showstopper in the wildflower patch – and it’s a big hit with insects too! These iconic British flowers are packed with nectar and pollen, making them a welcome pit stop for bees, beetles, butterflies and moths.

Cornflowers are particularly lovely for little wildlife watchers because their bright blue flowers are easy to spot amongst the grasses. Look closely when they’re in bloom and you might see all sorts of tiny visitors stopping by for a snack. They’re also a great choice for a wildlife-friendly garden, whether you have a whole meadow or just a few pots on a patio.

And there’s a fun fact for your little gardeners: Cornflower petals are edible and have a mild, cucumber-like taste. They can be used to add a splash of colour to salads or as a pretty garnish – although we think they look rather lovely left for the bees!

Little explorer challenge: Find a patch of Cornflowers and sit quietly nearby for a few minutes. How many different insects can you spot buzzing, fluttering and crawling amongst those beautiful blue blooms? 🔎🦋🐝

Poppy

Few wildflowers are quite as cheerful as the bright red poppy! These delicate, open-faced blooms are a familiar sight in fields and meadows, but did you know they’re also a fantastic source of food for hungry insects?

Poppies don’t produce nectar, but their large, pollen-filled stamens are a brilliant food source for bees. Bumblebees in particular love to visit poppies, collecting their plentiful pollen to take back to their nests to feed their growing babies. Keep an eye out on a sunny day and you might see one giving the flower a good shake as it gathers its pollen. This is known as buzz pollination, where some bees vibrate their flight muscles to help release pollen from the flower – a rather clever trick!

Poppies are also a lovely choice for gardens, window boxes and pots, so you don't need a huge meadow to enjoy their splash of summer colour. Scatter a few seeds, give them some sunshine and see who comes to visit.

Little explorer challenge: Find a poppy in bloom and watch it for five minutes. How many different insects can you spot stopping by? And can you spot a bumblebee covered in a little dusting of pollen? 🔎🐝🌺

Vipers Bugloss

With its tall spikes of vivid blue flowers, Viper’s Bugloss is a real showstopper – and when it comes to attracting insects, it’s something of a superstar! This native wildflower is a firm favourite with bees, earning itself the rather brilliant nickname of ‘bee magnet’.

From big, fluffy Buff-tailed Bumblebees to smaller Common Carder Bees and honeybees, all sorts of buzzy visitors come to feast on its nectar. Butterflies are fans too, with the beautiful Painted Lady among the species that enjoy stopping by for a snack.

Viper’s Bugloss flowers between June and August, producing plenty of those gorgeous blue blooms for insects to enjoy. Look closely and you’ll notice its flowers start out pinkish-red before changing to their striking blue colour – nature’s very own colour-changing trick!

Little explorer challenge: Find a patch of Viper’s Bugloss on a sunny day and see how many different types of bee you can spot. Can you find a Buff-tailed Bumblebee buzzing amongst the brilliant blue flowers? 🔎🐝💙

Oxeye daisy

With its bright white petals and sunny yellow centre, the Oxeye Daisy is one of those cheerful wildflowers that instantly makes a meadow feel like summer. And while it might look like one big flower, that golden centre is actually made up of lots of tiny flowers – each one offering a little helping hand to visiting insects!

Oxeye Daisies are a brilliant source of food for all sorts of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, hoverflies and beetles. Their wide, open flower heads make it easy for insects to land and tuck into the nectar and pollen. Look closely and you might spot a tiny hoverfly resting amongst the petals, or a busy bee collecting its next snack. They can be found growing in meadows, grasslands and even roadside verges, and they flower from around May through to September, providing insects with plenty of opportunities to stop by during the warmer months.

There’s something rather magical about a whole patch of Oxeye Daisies bobbing in the breeze. They’re a lovely choice for a wildlife-friendly garden too, whether you have a big garden, a small flower bed or a few pots.

Little explorer challenge: Pick a sunny day, find an Oxeye Daisy and have a really close look at its yellow centre. How many different insects can you spot visiting this tiny flower buffet? 🔎🌼🐝

Wild Carrot

With its delicate, lacy leaves and pretty white flower heads, Wild Carrot is a wonderful wildflower for bringing a little extra life to your garden. Don’t be fooled by its dainty appearance – these flat, umbrella-shaped blooms are a fantastic landing spot for all sorts of tiny visitors!

Wild Carrot is a valuable source of nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. Look closely and you might spot bees, hoverflies, beetles and other mini-beasts busily exploring the flowers. It’s also a lovely plant for little nature detectives to get to know. The flowers begin life tinged with pink before opening into creamy-white clusters, and once flowering is over, the flower heads curl inwards to form curious bird’s-nest-shaped seed heads.

And here’s a fun fact: Wild Carrot is actually a wild relative of the carrot we know and eat, although its small, woody root is very different from the chunky orange carrots you might find in the veg patch!

Little explorer challenge: Find a patch of Wild Carrot and take a close look at one of its flower heads. How many different insects can you spot using it as a tiny landing pad? 🔎🌿🐝

Red Campion

With its pretty pinky-red flowers and softly hairy stems, Red Campion brings a lovely splash of colour to woodland edges, hedgerows and wildflower patches. It’s also a real wildlife favourite, with its open flowers providing nectar for a whole host of bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths.

Red Campion has a wonderfully long flowering season, usually blooming from May through to September, so there are plenty of opportunities for hungry insects to stop by for a snack. But the wildlife fun doesn't stop when the flowers fade! The plant's seed capsules provide food for the caterpillars of moths such as the Campion moth and Lychnis moth, which tuck themselves inside the seed capsules to feast on the developing seeds.

Red Campion is also wonderfully easy-going and can happily grow in shady corners, woodland edges, hedgerows and grassy areas. So, if you have a slightly wild patch of garden that could use a splash of colour, this pretty native wildflower could be just the thing.

Little explorer challenge: Find some Red Campion in flower and sit quietly nearby for five minutes. How many different insects can you spot visiting? And can you find one of the tiny moth caterpillars hiding amongst the seed pods? 🔎🐛🌸

Toadflax

With its cheery yellow and orange, snapdragon-like flowers, Toadflax is a little wildflower with a clever trick up its sleeve. The flowers are shaped like tiny mouths, and when a bumblebee lands on the lower lip, its weight helps open the flower and reveals the nectar hidden inside. Nature really is full of clever little surprises!

The orange markings on the flower act like a honey guide, helping visiting bees find their way to the nectar. This makes Toadflax a useful plant for pollinators, particularly bumblebees, which are strong enough to open the flowers. But bees aren't the only visitors that benefit from Toadflax. The plant is also an important food source for the colourful Toadflax Brocade moth caterpillar. Look closely amongst the leaves and flowers and you might be lucky enough to spot one – although these little caterpillars are rather good at hiding!

Toadflax is a late-blooming wildflower, flowering from around July into autumn and sometimes as late as November. Its cheerful yellow blooms can therefore provide a splash of colour – and a useful food source for insects – just when many other wildflowers are beginning to fade.

Little explorer challenge: Find some Toadflax in flower and watch carefully as a bumblebee lands. Can you see the flower opening under its weight? And can you spot a tiny Toadflax Brocade caterpillar hiding amongst the leaves? 🔎🐛🐝

Cowslip

With its cheerful golden-yellow flowers hanging in little clusters, Cowslip is one of those lovely wildflowers that signals that spring has arrived. You’ll often find it brightening up meadows, grasslands, woodland edges and verges from April to May, where its sweet, apricot-like scent adds to the springtime magic.

But Cowslip isn't just pretty to look at – it’s an important source of early-season nectar for insects, including bees, beetles and butterflies. Its long, tubular flowers are particularly well suited to long-tongued bumblebees, making it a valuable pit stop when insects are just beginning to emerge and get busy in spring. Cowslip is also an important food plant for the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly. Its caterpillars rely on Cowslip and Primrose for food, so growing these beautiful native flowers can help provide a helping hand to one of Britain's most threatened butterflies.

And there's a lovely bit of folklore attached to this sunny little flower. Its nodding clusters are said to look like a tiny bunch of keys, giving Cowslip the charming old names ‘St Peter's Keys’ and ‘Keys of Heaven’. 🔑

Little explorer challenge: Head outside and find a patch of Cowslip in bloom. Can you spot a busy bee stopping by for some nectar? Take a close look at the golden flowers – how many can you count on one plant? And can you see why Cowslip is sometimes called ‘St Peter’s Keys’? 🔎🌼🐝