One of the things that surprized me when I started keeping bees was thir preferences in flowers. Finsky in my opinion, you are correct in your assesment, they seem to prefer native wild plants over most cultivated species. I had never really noticed before I had bees what drew them in. A real shocker for me was how they go for sumac(rhus),when it is in bloom the shrubs are just loaded with bees. Another big surprize was how they love onions(alliums) of any kind. Some of the plants they prefer really dont have flowers as I typically think of flowers,like willow(salix) or filbert((corylus)and maple(acer). Lots of fun to watch them work.