Since not all species of flowers aren’t capable of attracting butterflies and less effectively, thereby, it can lead you to think about the geraniums in your garden that whether or not geraniums attract bees and butterflies.
Therefore, let’s find out how capable geraniums are in attracting bees and butterflies through the segments explained in detail ahead.
Do Geraniums Attract Bees?
Geraniums aren’t strongly enticing to bees as bees don’t really like the fragrance released by geraniums, particularly the red geraniums, so they avoid these flowers which means geraniums don’t attract bees. However, geranium species with purple or blue petals and a long blooming time attract bees.
Among all gereniums the red geraniums, geranium Rozanne, wild geranium, and zonal geraniums are the commonly known ones. So, if you have geraniums in your yard and simultaneously you want to attract bees in your garden then certainly you would want to know their ability to attract bees.
Therefore, below each of them is separately explained to let you know whether they attract bees or not
Red Geraniums:
Among all geranium species, the red geraniums are the one particular species that seems the most troublesome to bees because less can’t see the red color which simply means they can’t see the red-colored geranium flowers too.
Besides, bees don’t even prefer the smell that geraniums release. So there isn’t any apparent reason for bees to take them as attractive flowers. And this simply indicates that the red geraniums can’t attract bees in your garden.
Geranium Rozanne:
Unlike the red geraniums, these gorgeous purple-colored geranium Rozanne flowers incredibly attract bees in the garden from near or far.
Bees just get captivated with the bright purple petals and white center of germanium Rozanne, so until the blooming season is over, bees keep visiting these flowers to drink the sweet nectar. Besides, geranium Rozanne has a long blossoming period and bees love long-lasting flowers, thereby, bees find germanium Rozanne more attractive.
Honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees are particularly attracted to geranium Rozanne flowers.
Wild Geraniums:
Wild geraniums also do attract bees as bees quite a lot prefer their presence as well. Particularly to say, larger bees such as mason bees and bumblebees mostly find wild geraniums really attractive. Therefore, these two bees are considered the most beneficial pollinators for wild geraniums as wild geraniums highly attract them and they actively collect pollen.
Zonal Geraniums:
Zonal geraniums attract bees as well. However, there is an argument that zonal geraniums attract bees relatively less rather than the geranium Rozanne or wild geraniums. It’s because some geranium plant owners stated they saw wild geraniums do attract bees and some said, they attract hummingbirds than bees.
Does Geranium Oil Attract Bees?
Geranium oil doesn’t attract bees, rather it repels bees.
Geranium oil is basically an essential oil just like lavender, peppermint, etc. essential oils. This oil is extracted from the geranium species named rose geranium’s (Pelargonium graveolens) leaves which is a South African native plant. As bees don’t really prefer the scent of geranium flowers, they are more prone to not like the smell of geranium oil as well.
Thus, geranium oil works as an effective natural bee repellent and instead of finding the geranium oil’s smell attractive, bees avoid the nearby areas where they can sense the smell of geranium oil.
Which Geranium Do Bees Like?
There are a few particular geranium species that bees mostly like. So in case, you don’t know those exact geranium species, read the points below to find out those particular geranium species that are especially liked by bees.
Cranesbill:
Cranesbill which is also known as geranium Johnson’s Blue is one of the mostly liked geranium species that bees really do like.
Cranesbill has stunning blueish petals that captivate almost all species of bees greatly, therefore, bees love their presence in gardens and tend to go to these flowers to drink nectar and collect pollen. Besides, bees find blue color flowers appealing which is another reason why bees like Cranesbill.
Geranium Rozanne:
Geranium Rozanne is the other most appealing geranium species to bees because these flowers have gorgeous purple petals, a white center, and red veins which seem highly captivating to bees.
Moreover, geranium Rozanne blooms for a long time, so bees get the facility of collecting pollen and drinking nectar for a long time which makes bees like this geranium even more. Besides, bees are known for loving purplish flowers.
Stripped Body Cranesbill:
Stripped Body Cranesbill is also a geranium species that has pale pink petals. And this geranium attracts bees effectively as well.
Stripped Body Cranesbill has a long blooming period that lasts from June-August every year, as a result, bees can get nectar for a long time which makes this geranium flower attractive to many varieties of bees.
Geranium Splish-Splash:
The beautiful geranium Splish-Splash flowers are really liked by bees due to their soothing white petals with lilac or mauve blue splashes as such petals attract bees. This geranium flower is particularly famous among red-tailed bumblebees.
Are Geraniums Good For Bees? Do Geraniums Keep Bees Away?
Whether geraniums are good for bees or not depends on the species of geranium. If you have planted red geraniums in your garden then it’s actually not suitable for bees, as bees can’t see the color red, thus, they will not get attracted to red geraniums at all. So, if you want to attract bees through geraniums, red geraniums aren’t good for bees.
Apart from red geraniums, geranium Rozanne, Cranesbill, Striped Body Cranesbill, geranium Splish-Splash, and wild geraniums are considerably better for bees, as bees prefer and get attracted to these geraniums.
Besides, know that the red geraniums do work in keeping bees away because red geraniums contain very little pollen and the scent of red geraniums isn’t really liked by bees. And the geranium oil will also help in keeping bees away.
Do Geraniums Attract Butterflies?
Butterflies are attracted to bright colored flowers and almost all geraniums have bright petals, thereby, geraniums greatly attract butterflies. Besides, geraniums have a long blooming time and they produce mass blooms which attract butterflies more as they can drink sweet nectar for a long time.
As geraniums have over 200+ species, it’s understandable if you don’t know if red geranium, geranium Rozanne, wild geraniums, and zonal geraniums attract butterflies or not. So to you know the facts, the below explanations are added.
Red Geranium:
Like the bees, butterflies don’t face any problem in seeing red-colored flowers, neither they do dislike the scent released by red butterflies, thus, butterflies easily get captivated by the bright red color of the red geranium flowers.
Geranium Rozanne:
If you love watching beautiful butterflies dancing in your garden and do pollinating actively then geranium Rozanne should be a top choice because these rich purple flowers with red veins and a whitish center greatly enchant butterflies with their beauty. Besides, a mass flock of geranium Rozanne grows together which allows butterflies to drink nectar and collect pollen from one place for a prolonged period.
Wild Geraniums:
Wild geraniums are no less than other species of geraniums, they highly attract butterflies to their sweet nectar. And butterflies are also their one of the main pollinators as they collect pollen from wild geraniums often.
Zonal Geraniums:
All most types of geraniums more or less attract butterflies which already makes enough sense that zonal geraniums will attract butterflies. Butterflies will surely love their presence in your garden and will fly from one zonal geranium to another to drink nectar.
Do Butterflies Like Geraniums? Are Geraniums Good For Butterflies?
Butterflies undoubtedly like all species of geraniums equally. It’s because butterflies naturally get attracted to bright and colorful flowers and geraniums grow with very rich colored petals such as blue, purple, red, etc. which gives enough reason to butterflies to like them.
And be sure about one thing that geraniums regardless of the species are good for butterflies as many of the geraniums come back every year, so they offer butterflies to have nectar every year for many months.
Which Geraniums Attract Butterflies Most?
Any specific species of geraniums aren’t listed there that define which geraniums especially attract butterflies. And the reason being that is almost all geranium species more or less look appealing to butterflies, as a result, if butterflies spot geranium’s presence in any garden, they quickly get attracted to the flowers and fly over them to drink sweet nectar.
However, if you still want to know some geranium species that works good at captivating butterflies, know that geranium Rozanne, Cranesbill, red geranium, Stripped Body Cranesbill, wild geraniums, hardy geranium, Wood Cranesbill, Ivy geranium, Hedgerow Cranesbill, etc. would help highly in attracting butterflies.
Final Thoughts
Geraniums will both attract and repel bees depending on their species, like the red geraniums will not attract bees as bees dislike their scent but geraniums with purple and blue petals will highly attract bees. On the opposite, butterflies will greatly get attracted to all species of geraniums.