The bumblebee is the largest and gentlest of bees—and a pollination champ! We answer some common questions about bumblebees—and find out which flowers can attract (and help) our fuzzy friends.
After reading last fall about the drastic decline in bumblebee populations in my state, I feared I would not see the black-and-yellow bombers this spring, so I was greatly relieved when they visited my early-blossoming ‘Purple Gem’ and ‘Olga Mezitt’ rhododendrons last week.
There were so many bumblebees and they moved so fast from flower to flower in search of pollen and nectar that it was hard to get one to stand still long enough to get a good picture. They are fast workers and, because of their larger bodies, can carry larger loads.
1. Are Bumblebees Good Pollinators?
Yes! Bumblebees are excellent pollinators—much more efficient pollinators than honeybees, in fact. They mainly forage for pollen rather than nectar, and transfer more pollen to the pistils of the flowers with each visit.
Many crops are well suited to natural pollination by bumblebees, including cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, seed crops, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melons, and squash. They are especially attracted to tube-shaped flowers.
Female worker bees do the collecting of nectar and pollen. They perform a unique service called “buzz pollination” by grabbing the pollen producing part of the plant in their jaws and vibrating their wing muscles to loosen trapped pollen. Bumblebees’ wings beat more than 130 times per second!
If you can get one to hold still long enough, look closely and you’ll notice the pollen basket (or “corbicula”) on its rear legs where it stashes a load of pollen to carry back to the nest. Crops such as tomatoes, peppers, berries, and cranberries bear better fruits if they are buzz pollinated. The flowers on berries are enclosed, so it takes a bumblebee’s long “tongue” to get to the plant’s nectar.
2. Which Flowers Attract Bumblebees?
Bumblebees have to work harder than ever to find food and shelter due to habitat loss and the overuse of pesticides.
To attract bumblebees and other native bee species, consider native plants—such as asters, coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), lupines, bee balm (Monarda spp.), and spring ephemerals. However, bumblebees are not fussy; anything that produces nectar and pollen works for them! If you plant even a small area or a few containers with flowering plants, the bees will find them.
Plan your garden to have a long season of bloom. Bumblebees are able to fly in cooler temperatures and lower light conditions than other bees, making them among the first pollinators you’ll see in the spring and the last ones flying in the fall. Unfortunately, this ability also makes them more vulnerable to agricultural pesticides and herbicides, which are usually sprayed in early morning and later in the day to avoid harming the honeybees that are active during the middle of the day.
- For spring, try planting crocuses, Virginia bluebells, lungwort, comfrey, hellebore, California poppies, columbine, low-growing phlox, or spring ephemerals.
- For early and late summer, plant coneflowers, sunflowers, black-eyed susans, bee balm, gentian, larkspur, or tall phlox.
- For fall, when it gets harder to find nectar, try planting fall bloomers such as salvia, wild geranium, anemone, basil, chives, cilantro, and parsley.
3. How Do Bumblebees Fly?
There are about 45 species of bumblebees (Bombus) in the United States alone. These large bees are round and fuzzy with short, stubby wings.
You have to wonder how these big round bees fly so well. A recent study showed how the tiny wings keep the bees aloft: Bumblebees flap their wings back and forth rather than up and down. Apparently, bumblebees’ wings are more similar to a helicopter propellor than an airplane.
4. Do Bumblebees Make Honey?
Yes, but not enough to be a source for human consumption. Bumblebees make a small amount of honey, just enough to tide them over a few days of bad weather. They can maintain about a week’s worth of food in their bodies, so they need to forage regularly to survive. Early-blooming trees and shrubs, like fruit trees, pussy willows, and serviceberry, are especially necessary to give the newly emerging queens some nourishment as they wake up and start their new colonies. The whole hive dies off in late fall, leaving just new, mated queens to start new colonies in the spring. If even one new queen dies, a whole potential colony will be lost.
Despite the fact that they don’t produce much honey, the pollination service that bumblebees provide is worth far more than any amount of honey!
5. Do Bumblebees Sting?
Bumblebees rarely string, though they are able. They are generally very docile. They do not form swarms like other communal bees and they only sting when truly provoked.
Only female bumble bees have stingers. But they are so good-natured that getting a female to sting you is a major undertaking.
According to BumbleBee.org, a bumblebee will even warn you before it stings. It will stick up a middle leg if it’s annoyed by your presence, which means “back off!”.
They will really only become aggressive if you are bothering their nest. Bumbles can sting more than once, however, their sting lacks barbs and a stinger is not left behind.
Ever noticed how bumblebees just “bumble around” in the early morning, moving slowly? Their Teddy-bear fur and their ability to regulate body temperature allows bumble bees to be out and about on cold mornings, but they can’t fly until they have warmed up.
At this point, they may even sit quietly in your hand and let you gently pet their furry bodies.
6. So, Are Bumblebees Friendly?
We can’t speak to human-bee friendships, but bumblebees are a naturally social bee, living together in groups called colonies. Colonies may contain between 50 and 500 individuals, according to the National Wildlife Federation, whereas honeybee hives may have 50,000!
7. Where do Bumblebees Live?
Bumblebees have small nests, between the size of a baseball and a softball. Unlike a honeybee hive, bumblebees usually nest close to the ground or even underground, in stone walls, under clumps of grass, or in hollow trees and stumps. Abandoned mouse holes are a favorite since they come complete with a warm fur lining.
Bumbles stay close to home. After foraging at various flowers, they carry their collected pollen and nectar back to the nest to feed.
Unlike honeybees, the bumblebee colony dies in late fall. The queen (who rules the colony) is the only member of a bumblebee colony to survive the winter! She hibernates during the winter months underground and starts a new colony in the spring.
8. Do Bumblebees Sleep?
Yes, of course! Male bees will also sleep outside, after they leave the nest (never to return). Sometimes, it’s the female who’s caught outside the nest because the temperature cooled so rapidly that she couldn’t fly back; she’ll wait until morning to bring her pollen back to the nest. Usually, you’ll find resting bumblebees under flowers or even inside them!
9. Bee Populations Are in Decline. Are Bumblebees in Trouble, Too?
Yes. Many bumblebees are listed as endangered, vulnerable, or near threatened.
Last year, the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis) was the first bee listed as an endangered species in the continental U.S., and it is thought to be extinct here in New Hampshire—the last recorded sighting of it being in 1993! According to the Dept. of Agriculture, the decline in bumblebee populations can be blamed on the 5 “P’s”—parasites, pests, pathogens, poor nutrition, and pesticides.
10. How Do I Attract Bumblebees to My Yard?
If you notice a lack of bees in your yard, consider whether your neighborhood uses a lot of pesticides in their lawns and gardens. You may have your answer!
At minimum, try to eliminate pesticides from your garden. A group of insecticides called neonicotinoids have been shown to have a devastating effect on all types of bees. It is a systemic insecticide that can come from pre-treated seeds or sprays applied to bedding plants. The chemical is present in every part of the treated plant—flowers, stems, leaves, etc. Buy organic whenever possible or ask your local nursery to make sure that no systemics were used on the plants you are purchasing.
To provide nesting sites, leave some part of your yard a little wild and brushy. Don’t mow or rake there, and leave some plant stems standing over the winter to give the new queens places to hibernate and spots to establish new colonies in the spring.
See our video showing easy ways to attract bees to the garden for more flowers and food!
Reader Comments
Leave a Comment
Bumblebee
I sit outside a lot and the bumblebees take turn flying a few feet in front of me and almost dive bomb towards my head but not actually touch me but scares my grandchildren a lot! She’s afraid to sit outside. So there must be a nest by my back porch.
How do I get them to quit stalking me and to understand I won’t hurt them?
Thanks, carol kelly
BUMBLEBEES
Thank you for this terrific article, it answered a couple of points I was curious about.
I currently live in a semi-rural area in New Zealand. Each day I am delighted to see an abundance of these adorable and industrious girls gracefully touring the garden.
It is so refreshing as we just do not see them in Sydney (my home town).
They are interested in the majority of the flowering plants, including fruit and vegetables. They appear to be attracted to my lavender bushes located around the garden and on either side of the stairs to my door.
It is pure joy to watch them going about their daily activities. My darling little Burmese girl has taken to laying within one of the lavender bushes so she can observe them ‘up close and personal’! The butterflies fascinate her also, for hours she spends with them. Never harming or worrying them, simply just observing.
Is it true that bees are attracted to flowers that are in the blue/purple spectrum? In addition to the plethora of bumblebees, I’m also host to a couple of colonies of honeybees.
We have a birdbath water feature driven by a water pump that floods the bath allowing the overflow to run down the sides in a thin layer. The honeybees LOVE it, there are hundreds each hour that come to rehydrate in the summer heat whole also carrying a little surface tension ball of water back to the hive to refresh to queen and her ‘court’. Occasionally there have been so many they a practically swarming. It’s a genuine thrill to contribute to their welfare and comfort. They facilitate our survival more than most realise. So if you live in a warm locale and have a garden, the bees will be grateful if you wish to invest in something similar.
Sadly there are a number of bees at the end stage of their incredible dear little lives that stay at the birdbath to rest eternally. Too exhausted they remain cool, hydrated and I hope, comfortable until the end. That even is fulfilling, knowing many of them can meet their natural end rested and not overheating and thirsty.
Thank you again for your wonderful article. Best regards from the antipodes ü
bumble bees
A plant my son planted in my front yard (full sun exposure) that attracts bumble bees and honey bees and different types of wasps in mountain mint. It's a lovely plant growing to 3 feet, with lower green leaves topped by a layer of silvery leaves. The tiny flowers grow on top in circles, attracting crowds of pollinators.
The plants have a strong pleasant minty fragrance. My son warned me against making tea from the plants.
good information. Thank you
good information. Thank you
Bumble bees
I planted a zinnia garden this year and the bumble bees just love them. I was so excited to see them and there are quiet a few steady at it . I can water and it doesnt phase them at all. Very nice ladie bees they are for sure. And so busy . I dont use pesticides ever.
Bumble Bee nest
I live near cranberry bogs in Mass. We have a section of porch that has dropped down. Bumble Bees have made their nest in it. Is there a way to have them safely removed? I am sure they are Bumble bees. I like them but I have dogs and they keep trying to catch them. I am afraid one of them is going to get hurt. If you give me someone to contact I would be grateful. Thank you.
Attracting bumblebees
Aside from butterfly bush and coneflowers, the plants that attract the most bumblebees in my Michigan yard are gayfeather and the floral spikes of coral bells! I often see four or five bumblebees on the tiny coral bell flowers at the same time. They also like veronica.
Bees and sunflowers
This is the first year I have planted sunflowers to a large degree. One of the surprise pleasures has been the bees resting in the flowers. It is now my favourite sight in the garden.
Bumble bees
If you have an effective method to eradicate the bees that are destroying my house and out buildings please share. I have noticed a decline in bumble bees around here. Gentle; however, they are not. Especially, after running a bush hog over a bumble bee nest.
Bumblebees
Other than the ones we call Wood (Carpenter) Bees, this has been the first spring in a very long time that I've had Bumblebees, little baby ones too, here in LeFlore County SE. OK. That is, until our June humidity heat temps began hitting 110 degrees F. then, they disappeared. Along with Junebugs, Lighteningbugs, Tree frogs, Toads, Wild Bees, Hummingbirds, Butterflies, Walkingsticks (Praying Mantis), various bird species, even Daddy Longlegs All once so plentiful having all but disappeared over the years beginning around 1997. That's when humidity heat temps to current 115 degrees F. and drought conditions by each January began what has been referred to as the worst Dust Bowl since the 30s and getting worst every year. From time to time any of these attempt come backs that are, unfortunately and sadly, short lived. Because we do not have the type of winters experienced as a kid, the warmer temps periodically bring out the wild honey bees December-February. For this reason I keep my Hummingbird feeders filled year round using just one type feeder from which these bees appear to easily access juice and quickly drain. I can hope that, although gone now that humidity heat temps are so high, the Bumblebees will re-appear at some point and take advantage of the feeders also; as an incentive to stay.
Getting Bumblebees
Is it possible to buy some?
Where would I look...?
Please don’t buy them.
Please don’t buy them. Bumblebees that have been commercially raised have been shown to introduce parasites, viruses, and other diseases not only to native bumblebees but to honeybees as well. Penn State has done extensive testing of commercial bees and found most of them to be infected even though the companies selling them claim that they are disease-free. Better to make your yard enticing to bumblebees by providing the habitat and food sources they prefer. It may take some time but if you plant it they will come.
Bumble Bees
I walk a lot and as I'm walking I see a lot of dead Bumble Bees on the road. It makes me feel sad for the bees and I wonder what is killing them. I'm not sure that it's pesticides, as far as I know no one in my neighborhood is using them, perhaps professional lawn care people are.
Worker bees live for just a
Worker bees live for just a few weeks so you may be seeing some of those that have died. When fall approaches the males leave the nest looking to mate and many of those die as well. Not to diss the lawn care pros but they do spray a lot of chemicals around to make the grass look perfect. It might be worth asking them exactly what chemicals they are using.
Bumble Bees
The carpenter bees, of this species, are runing my shed and drill holes in many pieces
of wood.
Hard to have compassion for them.
Carpenter Bees;do not like Citrus OIl;
Get some Citrus Oil then mix that with water; spray into the holes; then paint the shed; Praying Mantis eats Carpenter Bee;
Carpenter bees
Love bees but not the destructive ones. Love to drill holes in my log home. Sorry. If I can’t persuade them to go elsewhere I NEED to dispatch them.
Got a remedy for us?
Carpenter bee solution
Hang a brown grocery freezer bag up in the rafters shape like a wasp nest ,they don't like wasp n leave. Can't tell the difference between a real nest n the bag.
Carpenter Bees
I have heard of the bag solution as well. Much better than having the bees. They will relocate!
Carpenter bees look like
Carpenter bees look like bumblebees but are from a different genus Xylocopinae, not Bombus. Bumblebees nest in the ground not in wood.