Are there any flowers that don't attract wasps/bees?

[GrowingInGrace]

I know, kinda defeats natures purpose, but I'd really like to have flowers in the backyard. But we get lots of wasps even without having flowers to attract them. Are there any flower types out there that we can plant that don't attract wasp and bees or that even repels them?

Right now we have zero landscaping in the backyard, aside from a wooden swingset/slide. I'd like to start some plants and flowers this spring, but haven't a clue what to plant that won't attract too many bees.

Any ideas?

[SueQ]

I don't know of any. :think :scratch

[Close2MyHeart]

:no Me either.

[Lady TS]

http://georgiafaces.caes.uga.edu/getstory.cfm?storyid=2208
The 'wrong stuff' to bees

Plants that don't attract bees are less common. They include cultivars of dianthus, geraniums, chrysanthemums, marigolds, strawflowers, some zinnias and many roses.


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pests/msg0316153926806.html?7
I'm afraid that you're going to be disappointed with what you can grow, if colorful flowers are what you really and truly want. All those kinds of plants are insect pollinated. The grasses (there are some interesting ornamental grasses) are wind pollinated.
You'll have to think in terms of colorful foliage, ornamental grasses, or cool plants that don't flower.


feverfew

Bees are not attracted to red flowers, however, if they are perfumed they may find them. A lot of very ruffled double flowers are not very attractive to bees either because they can't find their way in.
So, if you can find a red, double, non-perfumed flower, you are in business!!

They are not particularly attracted to geraniums and dianthus either.


I was thinking of red flowers also. Long-tubed red flowers typically are pollinated by hummingbirds, not bees. Scarlet gilia and some of the Penstemons would be good, such as P. barbatus, P. eatonii.



http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hudval/msg051754548074.html?2
There are quite a few flowers that never attract bees - zinnias, for example or marigolds. I've never seen them on lilacs or mountain laurel. Or hostas. Or....? Most double flowers don't attract bees because they don't have pollen. Bees don't visit lobelias, fuchsias, penstemon - the plants that hummingbirds love because of their tubular flowers.
I used to be extremely allergic to bees, hornets and wasps and went through a long series of shots before becoming fairly tolerant of them. But I gardened all through that and never got stung in the flower garden - it was working in the vegetable garden with nothing flowering where I usually got zapped.
When bees are working on flowers they are generally too busy to notice people. Each fall I go picking raspberries that are crowded with bees but they are so full of raspberry pollen, nectar and juice that they can't be bothered with people.
And it isn't the bees that visit flowers that cause the problem - it's those hornets and yellow-jackets and they don't visit flowers.

[Lady TS]

I also wanted to add that you can get things at the store to direct the wasps away from certain areas. I am far more afraid of a wasp than I am of a bee. The wasps can get so aggressive, especially in the fall and the heat! In the fall, most of their food is scarce and that is why they go for your soda or anything sweet. In the spring, they tend towards protein.

We have the things that hook to the top of a soda bottle and you hang them and they attract the wasps and they go in and can't get out.

Here is one(of many) sources of wasp stuff(but I got our thing from Tractor Supply. I'm sure they have similar stuff in other stores)

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2614&ss=wasp

I tend toward the soda bottle because I can just toss it out and not deal with dumping/cleaning out a container. :shifty

[GrowingInGrace]

Ooh, thank you for the ideas. It didn't even occur to me to think that the bees will be too busy with the flowers to bother with people. And we do have 2 wasp traps, though I'd like to get more. They tend to build their nests on anything wooden and once they built a nest on the inside of the dc's plastic telescope, we had to throw it out.

We rarely see bees over here, mostly just the icky wasps.

Is there anything that's a predator of wasps? Maybe we can attract something that'll eat the wasps. Though probably not...

[mom2threegirls]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry much about the bees. If you don't bother them they don't bother you. The wasps OTOH are a different story... I despise wasps. I got stung by 2 of them late last summer while mowing the lawn and it hurt a LOT (they flew in under my skirt and I didn't even know they were there until they stung me!). We set up a wasp trap in the far end of the front yard where the kids don't go and it got quite a few of them, and it attracted the others so there weren't nearly as many where we were hanging out/ kids were playing. A big thing that I've found helps a lot is knocking the nests down- we always get a ton of them under the eves of our house and I just stick a pole up there and knock them down and squish them. It's very satisfying :giggle. You just have to watch out for the mad wasps flying out :shifty