// SPECIES PROFILE · ANNUAL · NATIVE

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

Cleome serrulata

Rocky Mountain bee plant is a tall, airy native annual that produces continuous loose pink-purple cleome blooms from June through frost. Historic Indigenous food and dye plant; profoundly attractive to native bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Self-seeds gently in disturbed sunny ground.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Cleomaceae
Group: annual
Native range: Western North America incl. western OK
USDA hardiness: Zones 2–10 (annual)
Mature size: 2–4 ft
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Wildlife value: Native bee superfood; hummingbird nectar source
Ecological role: native annual · pollinator nectar · long-bloom

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata) — *Cleome serrulata*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Why it's on this list: native annual · pollinator nectar · long-bloom. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a tallgrass prairie or pollinator meadow, rocky mountain bee plant pairs naturally with: american persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), american beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), maypop / passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), cowpea / black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata), and black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta).

Combine rocky mountain bee plant with the warm-season grasses listed above for a self-sustaining matrix.

Photo Reference

// Cleome serrulata — Rocky Mountain Beeplant
Photo: mlodinow (iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)