Please read the introductory page in the Real Botany of Desire for the background to why I’m listing the observed insect-friendly flowers that bloom during this month, and which seem to be the most popular with the different groups of insects which visit our garden. My top 3 favourite insect-friendly flowers this month are Dahlia merckii, Persicaria vaccinifolia, and Geranium procurrens

Many of September’s flowers continue into early October, so please see that month’s folder for more good plants.

 

If reading my introductory page is a click too far, then briefly, there’s a huge issue with the loss of wild flowers as agriculture intensifies and mono-cultures prevail. This impacts all the insects which rely on flowers as food sources. But all flowers aren’t equal in their appeal to insects, or particular groups of insects, (e.g. honey bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, moths, butterflies) and many nursery-bred plants have been designed to be attractive to our senses, not insects. Some flowers are useful as both pollen and nectar sources (P, N) whereas others just seem to provide one of these insect foodstuffs, and I’ll try to include this information with the images. So this simple record is to help gardeners think about this issue, and maybe plant more flowers to help our very diverse native insect groups. I’ve found that many of the best plants seem to be some of our native wildflowers which can in other respects have real garden merit. Equally, there are many plants from the other side of the globe which are preferentially favoured over native flowers at certain times of the year – there is no simple easy guide to their relative appeal. The positive spin-offs from incorporating more insect-friendly flowers in our gardens apart from the appeal of seeing the insects themselves will be better pollination of our crops, and more varied wildlife in our gardens, since insects are at the bottom of many animal food chains.

It’s certainly not exhaustive, and if you know other flowers which have equal appeal, which aren’t listed here, do please let me know, and I’ll trial them up here as well. This work started a couple of years before my blog began in March 2011, but previous to that I’d produced the UK’s first DVD-ROM guide to Garden Moths ” In A Different Light”. This project attempts to widen that work in a more general way.

By the end of October, the number of insects will be starting to decline in a normal year. However in early October on a sunny warm day, there may be more insects in the garden than at any other time of the year. And if we get more years like 2011 (the mildest autumn on record in our part of Wales) we may have to get used to flowers and insects being much more numerous in the last 3 months of the year. Many flowers which have bloomed in previous months will keep going through October and even November if frosts don’t materialise, and so will be around for those insects still about. But bumblebee colonies will be close to dying out, with the newly emerged mated queens finding spots to hibernate, and then begin new colonies in the spring. All the insects still around mean some dragonflies, bats, and in 2012 even swallows on 4/10/12, may still be active.

Finally, as I mention elsewhere, the actual number of flowers of a single plant type growing together, and their position in the garden (e.g. sun or shade), can also impact hugely on how favoured the flowers are by your garden’s insect population. Since sun and warmth can affect nectar and pollen production and release.

We grow masses of this stunning Saxifrage fortunei rubrifolia, which flowers for weeks in October. But like many Saxifrages (and Hydrangeas which are in the same plant family), despite producing thousands of these little flowers, few insects other than one or two species of fly, and our on-site honey bees ever seem to visit them, when they stack up on the red pollen.

We’ve grown a few forms of Asters over the years, since they seem to enjoy our wet climate, and are brilliant late-season flowers for us in a reasonable autumn, and many insects – bumblebees, honey bees, flies, moths and butterflies seem to enjoy a few of the cultivars, but many prove to be unattractive to most insects, and not that many have proved to be reliable in the very long term. They can also become very soggy in a poor autumn.

Fly on Aster. 10/12.

Most of our Buddleia davidii cultivars have finished flowering by October, but this self-sown cultivar flowers after all our others, and so is still attracting late season flies, honey bees, bumble bees and butterflies like this Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae, in the middle of the month – if the sun shines. I’ve called it ‘Bee Balm Beautiful’. Its other feature is that it continues to produce new panicles of flowers without dead heading, for weeks on end.

We love Persicaria vaccinifolia as a late-season flower. It’s a great plant for tubs or pots, requiring minimal watering, and once the flowers finish, turns a lovely bronze colour for the winter, before the leaves are eventually shed. And it’s really popular with huge numbers of flies, late-season moths, a few bumblebee species and especially our honey bees. Clouds of insects carpet the plants in early October, and they can buzz with noise.

Plus a single tub or half barrel can produce thousands of individual flowers over many weeks until frosts bring the show to an end.

Still flowering into October, and attracting now just a few small bumblebee species,  some flies, and again lots of honey bees even early in the morning and after rain is the strongly coloured and taller Persicaria amplexicaulis var. pendula.

The white flower clusters of Lysimachia clethroides have now straightened from their gooseneck form earlier in August, but they still attract lots of flies, moths and butterflies into early October, but hardly ever any bees.

Eryngium alpinum has been one of the more successful Eryngium species which we have trialled, and is a popular nectar flower for late season butterflies.

And the pollen appeals to many of the flies still about on sunny days.

Most Geranium cultivars (Cranesbills) have largely finished flowering, but Geranium procurrens, a vigorously trailing species from the Himalayas, remains a mass of flowers through October, and of all the Geraniums we grow, it is one of those with the widest insect appeal – to flies, bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies, day-flying moths, like the Silver Y,  and honey bees. Along with the Persicaria, yet another plant from mountainous regions of S.E.Asia, which flowers for a very long time, and produces masses of flowers. Is this the only reason it attracts so many insects, or is its nectar particularly nutritious?

The lovely Stork’s bill, Erodium manescavii, flowers into October, its’ sixth month of flowering, and still attracts small numbers of flies and occasionally solitary and honey bees and bumblebees.

Japanese anemones, Anemone japonica, continue to be covered in flies through October and occasionally get bumblebee, and in sunshine honey bee visits, which collect masses of pollen from it.

We don’t find it easy to grow Achilleas in our wet soil, but they are popular with late-season flies.

The annual Borage, Borago officinalis, in white or blue forms is one of the most popular late-season bumblebee flowers for smaller species, and honey bees right through until frosts kill it off.

And the related Echium ‘Blue Bedder’- an annual we grew for the first time in 2012, continues to flower profusely into October, but now without the same appeal of the borage flowers.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, a perennial sunflower, not only lights up the garden in October, but has proved to be one of the top 3 or 4 flowers for fly and bumblebee appeal, as well as attracting honey bees, but it suffers a bit in very dry spells – not a frequent problem here!

Although the flowers of Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’/ ‘Herbstfreude’ deepen and intensify in colour, their huge insect appeal has largely finished in most years, by October, although this bumblebee was clearly still finding some nectar.

All of our Dahlia cultivars, like the ‘Bishop of Auckland’ above, have died out over the years, in marked contrast to Dahlia merckii below, which thrives, left in the ground all year with minimal attention, comes true from seed and is very attractive to honey bees, bumblebees and flies for months on end. Until either the frosts or I cut it down, to make way for the snowdrops and other spring bulbs.

Annual Cosmos, like other daisy-type flowers, continues to produce new blooms until the first frosts, and these are visited by many different flies, honey bees and occasionally bumblebees.

A few flowers are still produced on the native Welsh poppy, Meconopsis cambrica, throughout the garden, and you can see it still has pollen of interest to huge numbers of flies, though there don’t seem to be enough flowers to grab the attention of other insects.

The masses of native Sea Campion, Silene uniflora, which we grow still get insect visits, but now just a few flies and bumblebees on all these flowers – nothing like the numbers it receives earlier in the year in May and June when flowering begins.

Another insect friendly native flower which did still produce the odd flower into October. Flavium glaucum, the Yellow-Horned Poppy, is always attracting flies to the pollen in its big golden blooms. Sadly this hasn’t survived long term with us, getting crowded out.

Another perennial which flowers profusely for nearly 6 months is Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’. Through the year it has attracted flies, bumblebees, many butterflies and here in October this lingering immigrant, day-feeding Silver Y moth. Another plant which is short-lived, and we haven’t bothered to keep going with fresh cuttings.

I’ve included this image of a couple of flies on Cyclamen hederifolium flowers. We have masses of these in the garden in October, but it’s quite rare to see any insects on the flowers at all. I used to hand pollinate to ensure a good seed set. However, in more recent times, the very occasional honey bee will visit, as well as, more often, Bombus pascuorum bumblebees, so pollination is now assured, naturally.

In 2012  Allium tuberosum, which we acquired from another garden as Garlic Chives, seemed worth a try They flower really late with us in September and October and seem to be very attractive to flies, bumblebees and butterflies. But like most Alliums, they don’t survive long-term with us.

Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’ is a very pretty late flowering and strongly scented shrub, which is unusual in that its scent also appeals to many insects’ senses. Lots of flies and moths visit its clusters of small white flowers, but hardly ever any bees.

One of the last Hydrangeas to flower with us is the gorgeously coloured species, Hydrangea aspera villosa, and it’s visited by a wide variety of flies as well as pollen-collecting honey bees.

The tiny white flowers of the shrub Ageratina ligustrina have struggled to open before the frosts arrive in the last 2 poor years, and we then have to move the flowers inside for some greenhouse winter protection – the only flowers in our garden that get cosseted in this way. But they are attractive late-season flowers for moths, butterflies and many flies. Another failed plant over the longer term.

The small flowers of Actea ‘Brunette’ seem to be very popular with flies, and even a tiny unknown day-flying moth, even though the young plant has very few flower spikes on it.

Still flowering into October in some years, Eupatorium maculatum ‘Atropurpureum’ is another late season flower which appeals to many butterflies, flies, and less often, a few bees, in a sunny month.

Native honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum, is now into its sixth month of flowering, and still gets visits from many flies, moths and bumblebees, and notice this bumblebee, like many early-in-the-year specimens, is also carrying a significant mite burden.

There are also still quite a lot of flowers on self-sown marjoram and oregano plants around the garden, and as in September, these are attractive flowers for many flies and bees.

Late-season single roses are also popular with many flies and bees in sunny weather in October, as pollen sources, including Rosa ‘Grouse’ above, and Rosa rugosa ‘Frau Dagmar Hartopp’ below.

In more recent years we’ve established a reliable, hardy Salvia which we think is a form of Salvia forsskaolii (Indigo Wood Sage) from a local friend’s garden. It flowers right to the end of October, and often attracts larger bumblebees and Hummingbird Hawk moths to its deep flowers.

Eleagnus x ebbingei ‘Limelight’, is a lovely vigorous evergreen shrub producing small clusters of fragrant flowers. In 2025 these appeared in mid-October and attracted both a few honey bees and smaller bumblebees, in milder spells:

The three Fuchsia magellanica cultivars ‘Purple Mountain’, ‘Duchy of Cornwall seedling’ and ‘Alba’ which we grow, and which flower well into October in most years, attract honey bees and late flying small bumblebees. Of these, ‘Alba’ seems the least appealing to bees. Looking at the claw induced damage on the base of the flower tube, shows how often bees must visit.

Wild native ivy flowers, Hedera helix, may not seem much to our eyes, or have much of a detectable scent, but they are highly valued late-season nectar and pollen sources for moths, butterflies, flies, wasps and bees in mild and sunny conditions.

In early October 2012, our ivy and ‘Kiftsgate’ rose-covered tall spruce stump caught some midday sunshine and the flowers were swarming with hundreds of flies and the odd honey bee. There are over a dozen flies in this image of just a few of the hundreds of ivy flowers on this large plant. It’s difficult for a still image to capture the extraordinary activity focused on this one part of the garden. Like many gardeners, we cut ivy down in our early days of managing Gelli Uchaf, but now we value its late-season nectar and pollen source for native insect life and leave it alone in a few wilder spots in the garden. Sadly, by 2025, the ivy had all died on this stump, but there are many other ivy covered trees in the locality.

Last updated 12/10/2025