Want bees? Plant Comfrey! All Symphytums are bee magnets including the one above which is Symphytum 'Hidcote'. It is said to have originated in the gardens of Hidcote Manor sometime in the first half of the twentieth century, reputedly a cross of three wild species: S. officinale x asperum x grandiflorum.

 Comfreys hybridize readily. Perhaps the gardeners at Hidcote took advantage of this and transferred the pollen from the flowers of one to another in order to create a cultivar. Then again it might well have been a naturally occurring hybrid. No doubt the three species were growing in fairly close proximity and the bees would have done the rest.