Crape Myrtle (sometimes also spelled Crepe Myrtle) is a southern staple exploding with soft flowers each summer. With all those blooms, you may be wondering if these ornamentals are good for bees and other pollinators visiting your garden.
Crape Myrtles are good for bees and other pollinators. In fact, Crape Myrtle flowers can produce two different kinds of bee-friendly pollen. One is false pollen which helps bees’ digestion, and the other is standard pollen for fertilization. Bees also visit for nectar and to feed on honeydew produced by aphids.
In this article, we’ll discuss this topic in more detail so you’ll know if your Crape Myrtle can help with the declining honeybee population, and we’ll explain which cultivars are best for bees. If you’re curious about butterflies and other pollinators, we’ll talk a little about those too.
Are Crape Myrtles Good for Pollinators?
Anyone with Crape Myrtles in their landscape knows how many blooms these trees can produce each summer. With all those flowers, you may be curious about whether Crape Myrtles attract bees and whether honey bees like Crape Myrtles.
The answer is yes on both – Crape Myrtles do help attract bees for a few reasons. First, many Crape Myrtles have brightly colored blooms in shades of red, pink, and purple. These colorful flowers help attract bees who are looking for somewhere to collect pollen. Even white blooms stand out against the backdrop of lush green foliage, making it easy for honeybees to spot flowers.
The flowers themselves are also large and are made up of large bloom clusters where bees can easily land and feed without having too much trouble. Many Crape Myrtles are very large, too, so there’s normally an abundance of blooms to collect pollen from.
Crape Myrtles are also good for honey bees because they produce two types of pollen. Blooms produce regular pollen for fertilization, and they also produce false pollen to help coax bees to visit. Since Crape Myrtle blooms don’t have the benefit of a strong, sweet smell to attract pollinators, they use this false pollen to coax bees to collect the grains and take them back to the colony. Meanwhile, the real pollen grains stick to the bees’ bodies and legs.
Even though this false pollen isn’t the same as standard pollen, it’s still easy to digest and beneficial to both the plant and the bee.
Bees also feed on nectar and honeydew on Crape Myrtle plants, adding to the benefits for pollinators. While Crape Myrtles don’t produce an abundance of nectar, bees can still get a meal. Plus, Crape Myrtle aphids are extremely common on these trees. The aphids, along with other bark-scale insects, produce a sweet, sticky substance known as honeydew. Honeybees will feed on honeydew throughout the summer, especially if they don’t find much nectar.
Do Crape Myrtles Produce Nectar?
So, we know Crape Myrtles produce pollen for bees, but what about nectar? Bees feed on nectar and use it to make honey, and other insects like butterflies and hummingbirds also like to feed on the sweet substance. So do bees get nectar from Crape Myrtles?
Bees can get nectar from Crape Myrtles, but it’s typically not very much. Crapes don’t produce an abundance of nectar, but they do produce enough for a visiting honeybee to have a sip. When bees don’t find enough nectar, they may feed on honeydew excretions left behind by aphids and other insects, which is beneficial for both the insect and the plant.
What Attracts Bees to Crape Myrtles?
When bees visit your garden, they’re looking for food and water. Nectar is where bees get most of their energy since it’s packed with sugars and simple carbohydrates. Bees are also looking for pollen which supplements their diet with proteins and fats.
Bees are attracted to bright colors and flowering shrubs, and other plants. They like to see variations in flower shapes and will visit multiple plants in your garden. Crape Myrtles offer an abundance of blooms, food, water, and shelter.
Interestingly, honey bees are most often attracted to brightly colored flowers, so they tend to prefer Crape Myrtles in shades of pink. Bumble bees, on the other hand, seem to prefer darker blooms like lavender and deep purple.
Which Crape Myrtle Varieties are Best for Bees?
You may be surprised to learn that not all Crape Myrtles are created equal when it comes to what bees prefer. Research has shown that bees do have some preferences for certain cultivars. So if you’re looking to have more bees in your garden, consider planting one of these.
The most popular cultivars among all bees included:
- Seminole
- Victor
- Apalachee
However, bumble bees specifically preferred Apalachee the most. So if you want to have a mix of bumble bees and honey bees visiting your garden, consider this large shrub with bright, lavender blossoms.
The Crape Myrtles visited least were:
- Biloxi
- Red Rocket
- Raspberry Sunday
So, if you’re not a fan of bees or don’t want to attract more to your landscape, consider planting one of those varieties.
In terms of the plant’s size, bees seem to prefer small shrubs over larger trees. Honeybees especially prefer smaller shrubs, while bumble bees tend to prefer medium-sized shrubs over other sizes.
Do Crape Myrtle Flowers Attract Butterflies?
There are other pollinators out there than just bees. If you’re looking to have more butterflies in your garden, a Crape Myrtle can certainly help. Just like bees, butterflies are attracted to bright and bold colors. So if you have a red, pink, or purple Crape Myrtle, it will likely draw the attention of nearby butterflies.
Butterflies can land on the large, dense blooms without trouble, and they can easily collect pollen from the abundance of flowers. Water droplets collect on foliage and in the soft, papery blooms, making it easy for butterflies and bees to get a drink without having to search too hard.
So if you add a Crape Myrtle to your landscape, you’ll most likely see more butterflies coming to visit the shrub or tree. If you plant other ground-covering flowers nearby, you can attract even more fluttering visitors to stop by.
What Do Crape Myrtles Attract?
In addition to bees and butterflies, there are plenty of other beneficial visitors that will love your Crape Myrtle. When your Crape is in bloom, be on the lookout for these stopping by to say hello and have a quick snack:
- Hummingbirds: These small birds are attracted to flowering plants in search of nectar. They’ll easily spot your Crape Myrtle’s large and showy blooms, and they’ll help pollinate your Crape as they move from one flower to the next.
- Ladybugs: You’ll normally find ladybugs in your garden whenever aphids are present. Since Crape Myrtles are susceptible to aphid infestations, you may see an increase in ladybugs during the summer when aphids are at their peak.
- Primrose flea beetles: These common insects like to feed and hide in large Crape Myrtle blooms.
Of course, not everything attracted to your Crape Myrtle will be a welcome visitor. Aphids, Japanese beetles, and scale insects also like to feed on your Crape and can cause a lot of problems if they get out of control.
The good news is that a lot of beneficial insects can help keep problem pest populations under control. That’s why we always recommend staying away from non-selective insecticides in favor of more natural remedies. That way, you won’t kill off wanted insects along with unwanted pests.
Putting It All Together
Many people consider honey bees visiting their gardens a welcome sight, especially with the alarming trends in decreasing bee populations. Even if you don’t have the time, space, or desire to grow a bee-friendly flower garden, you may be inviting them into your landscape with your existing plants.
Flowering shrubs and ornamentals like Crape Myrtles are great for pollinators. They provide food, shelter, landing spaces, and places to hide. In addition to pollen, they also produce nectar and honeydew from Crape Myrtle aphids may be a nectar replacement during certain times of the year.
So, help the bees and plant a Crape Myrtle! Just be sure to avoid non-selective pesticides in your garden to keep your pollinator population healthy.