My home has a large Lavender plant on the pathway to the front door. It encroaches a little onto the path, but in spite of the typical British summer it flowered beautifully.

There is a trend in the UK to re-develop and build houses on land previously used for a different purpose than property. The majority of the ground is heavy clay, and when we bought the house, we had a rotivated garden with pieces of brick, jars, old foundations, etc. A lot of work to clear!

I've spent the last twoc years re-developing the land, laying quality organic ground soil, proper drainage, top soil, seed, and after a lot of hard work -everything is starting to come together.

Back to bees - my Lavender plant with it's beautifully fragrant flowers leaking their nectar, we constantly had 15-20 bees on just the one bush.

Alas today, the bees have moved on to pastures new, so I've trimmed the bush back from the path, and pruned the tips for a bushier plant next year. I've got plenty of space in the back garden. None of the bees gave us any trouble - I think they were just well fed on the nectar, so I plan to plant more Lavender around the house.

Can anyone recommend any other shrubs/bushes or even flowers that bees absolutely love? As long as they're happy, well fed, producing local honey (apparently essential remedy) for hay fever, I'm happy to give them a home!