Athena Rayne Anderson

This post was originally published in February 24, 2012, on my blog “Pollinators Info” (no longer online).

It turns out, it’s more complicated than we used to think. The idea of pollination syndromes came about decades ago, and suggested that there were set characteristics among flowers that attracted certain pollinators. This is useful when you’re first learning about pollinators and their interactions with plants. But the idea of pollination syndromes should be viewed as more of a guide than a set of rules.

Having said that, here are some general guidelines for choosing flower colors to attract common groups of pollinators:

• Bees: white, yellow, blue, purple
• Hummingbirds: red and orange
• Flies: no significant color preference
• Beetles: no significant color preference
• Butterflies: no significant color preference
• Day-flying moths: no significant color preference
• Night-flying moths: white and pale shades

Don’t be surprised if you see bees drinking nectar from red flowers, or hummingbirds visiting white blossoms. Our brains like to “pigeon-hole” the natural world into tidy categories that help us make sense of the complexity. But, the bees don’t know that they’re not “supposed” to visit your red bee-balm flowers, so try to forgive them if they do! 🙂

Featured image from pxhere.com, Creative Commons license CCO.