Norton’s Florist is pleased to highlight bees and the flowers they know and love. As maybe the most important creatures on earth, these insect powerhouses are responsible for pollinating over 80% of all flowering plants and 90 commercially-grown crops. Every third bite of food you eat comes from a bee-pollinated plant. Bees give us flowers, sure, but also avocados, apples, coffee, carrots, cherries, onions, oranges, pumpkins and much, much, much more. Simply put, bees are essential to the health and well being of our planet. So, how do flowers charm the bees?

Millions of years ago, bees and flowers adapted to the benefit of the other. Flowers, which used to be green and white, got colorful. And the most successful ones (that is, the ones that attracted the most bees) understood how bees see, evolving into colors that would appeal to them. Since bees can’t register red but do see ultraviolet light, purple, blue, white and yellow flowers were at an advantage. Some flowers, like the sunflower, even offer bees a visual guide straight to the pollen they’re after. That deep brown center is a kind of beacon. Flowers also use fragrance to entice bees toward them, and the ones with the most nectar are, of course, the sweetest-smelling. Our Sunflowers and More design is a who’s who of bee-friendly flowers.

Celebrate the diligence of bees by bringing some of their favorite flowers into your home; they’ll give you a constant connection to nature and encourage you to preserve it. You can also support local beekeepers by buying their honey. What’s good for the bees is good for the rest of us.