Flowers for Bees Week is a national event organized by Val'hor, the French Interprofessional Association for Horticulture, Floristry and Landscaping, and the French Observatory of Apidology. It takes place every year in mid-June. The aim is to raise public awareness and enable gardeners to take action at their level, thanks to the presence in points of sale of a range of honey-producing plants, i.e. trees, shrubs and flowers that are attractive to pollinators (bees, bumblebees, butterflies, etc.). The aim is to strengthen the diet of these insects whose populations have been declining for several years. In this context, Patrick Mioulane and Roland Motte, the gardening, naturalist and passionate journalists from NewsJardinTV, invite you to learn more about the essential role of pollinators. They also offer you their "favorite" plants to play an effective attractive role. 84% of cultivated species in Europe depend directly on pollination by insects… Without them, there would be no sunflowers, rapeseed, zucchini, tomatoes, apples! However, there has been an overall decrease in the number of pollinators. In just 15 years, the drop in honeybee populations has reached 30%! Pollinating insects need to forage on a wide variety of floral species for their nutritional balance. However, the uniformization of landscapes, climate change, intensive agriculture and the artificialization of territories have contributed to a reduction in the resources available in time and space. Bees feed mainly on the nectar and pollen of flowers, while butterflies are more nectarivorous. Nectar is a sweet liquid secreted by nectaries, glands most often located in the heart of the flower. Pollen comes in the form of small grains arranged at the end of the stamens (on the anthers). Of the approximately four thousand plants referenced in the French herbarium, approximately six hundred are foraged daily by bees. The tansy-leaved phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) is considered one of the plants with the greatest beekeeping value, because it produces the most nectar. Next come: the white sweet clover (Melilotus albus), ahead of the cultivated sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) and the clover (Trifolium repens). As for garden plants that attract bees, Patrick and Roland suggest: Borage, Heather, Cherry, Chestnut, Raspberry, Lavender, Ivy, Nepeta, Hollyhock, Goldenrod (Solidago) as well as all aromatic plants (especially rosemary and thyme). Due to their often large wingspan and long proboscis, butterflies visit a more limited number of plants. The following plants are very popular with lepidopterans: Abelia (Abelia chinensis), Agastache, Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush), Joe Pye Weed, Wallflower (Erysimum cheirii), Lantana camara, Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), Sedum spectabile (great stonecrop), Pink Valerian (Centranthus ruber). To be attractive to pollinators, you should avoid overly sophisticated flowers (very double) whose stamens have been transformed into petals and which do not produce nectar (for example, some Indian roses or marigolds). To find out more, you can obtain a detailed list of attractive plants for free online at: http://agriculture.gouv.fr/decouvrez-... It was produced by a working group formed around FranceAgriMer, with the assistance of technical organizations such as Val'Hor, Astredhor, the Société nationale d'horticulture de France, the Institut de l'abeille, and of course the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. With this video, illustrated with numerous images of various varieties of peonies, you have the entire file presented in issue 58 of the major weekly program "Bienvenue au Jardin!" offered by NewsJardinTV. This very varied program offers you an hour of plants, nature, gardens, botany and gardening. A new program is put online every Saturday morning at 8 a.m., with the possibility of chatting between garden enthusiasts from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. We hope you have a pleasant, relaxing time with this video. Thank you all for your loyalty to our channel and for your kind comments. These are great encouragements! The whole team hopes to see you again very soon for new gardening adventures, and will see you next Saturday for a new issue of "Bienvenue au Jardin!", on NewsJardinTV of course!