Grow These Herbs Along With Lavender To Attract More Pollinators To Your Garden

Lavender is a real showstopper in the garden, with its aromatic green leaves and lovely purple flowers. It’s a magnet for pollinators like native bees, honeybees, and butterflies. But to really attract a ton of pollinators, you’ll want to plant lavender alongside some other herbs that thrive in the same conditions.

Lavender is pretty tough – it’s drought-tolerant and can handle the cold, as long as it has well-draining soil. There are a few different lavender varieties, with English lavender being the hardier option for Zones 5-9. Spanish lavender does best in Zones 8-9.

When choosing other herbs to grow with your lavender, look for drought-tolerant, sun-loving plants that complement lavender’s mounding growth habit. Things like rosemary, yarrow, and purple coneflower are all great options. These partner plants will lure pollinators with their own pollen and nectar. And by choosing native herbs, you’ll be helping out the local pollinator species that need it most.

Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and oregano are perfect companions for lavender. Planting them together creates a beautiful display of ornamental blooms that will attract pollinators all season long. Rosemary, for example, often starts flowering at the end of summer, providing a late-season pollen and nectar source when other plants are winding down. And bees love the white, pink, or purple flowers of oregano.

Start by giving rosemary plenty of room to spread out, then plant a patch of oregano in between the rosemary and lavender. Oregano stays low in spring, then sends up tall flowering stems in summer. If it gets out of control, just divide or prune it to keep it in check. This trio of fragrant, drought-tolerant herbs will give you tons of color and scent, plus provide a feast for pollinators.

Native herbs like yarrow, anise hyssop, and purple coneflower are also great choices to plant alongside lavender. These tough, hardy plants thrive in similar conditions to lavender and will attract all kinds of pollinators.

Yarrow is a real workhorse – it spreads easily and can handle harsh winters, so it’ll come back year after year. Its flower heads are like landing pads for bees and butterflies. Anise hyssop is a fragrant, mint-like plant with upright stems and clusters of lilac-blue blooms that hummingbirds and insects love. And purple coneflower has those big, showy flowers with spiky centers that pollinators can’t resist.

Just be mindful that some of these native herbs can be a bit aggressive, so you may need to contain them a bit by planting them alongside other plants like your lavender. Make sure the soil drains well, and add some compost or other amendments if it’s on the soggy side.