How to Attract (And Keep) Bumblebees in the Garden

Spring is a great time to begin to learn how to attract bumblebees in the garden. Bumblebees are incredible pollinators and can help your plants grow healthy and vibrant flowers.

Attracting and keeping bumblebee populations in your garden requires some effort on your part, but it’s well worth the work for all the benefits they bring to the health of your garden and for biodiversity. 

Here are some plants that can help you attract bumblebees in your garden:

1.Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are a fantastic plant to grow for attracting and keeping bumble bees in your garden. 

Their colourful flowers have sweet nectar and peppery taste, and are also useful to other insects. These flowers are great for adding colour to your garden and are a very popular choice for window boxes.

Nasturtiums can be planted as a single stem or as a clump, and they will produce multiple flower heads. They are easy to grow and self-seed. It is a good idea to overwinter your nasturtium seeds in a frost free area. 

Bumblebees are attracted to nasturtiums because of their attractive shape. The flowers are usually orange, yellow, or red, and have a sweet, peppery flavour. This makes them a tasty addition to salads.

They are also known to be a source of pollen. They are a good companion plant to other plants because they act as a living mulch and they help to repel common pests.

Nasturtiums are excellent ground cover. Unlike many vegetables, they do not require soil that is rich in nutrients. They will grow well in poor soil as long as you provide them with plenty of water. They are not as hardy as some plants and are vulnerable to frost.

2.Dame’s Rocket

Dame’s rocket also attracts bumble bees. It is a plant that is grown for its attractive flowers and foliage. The blooms of dame’s rocket are small, but they come in a wide variety of colours such as white, purple, pink and blue. 

It is an excellent choice for adding colour to any garden or landscape. Dame’s rocket grows best in moist soil that has good drainage and plenty of sunlight. Bumblebees love it because of its sweet nectar and abundant pollen. 

Dame’s rocket is an excellent choice for cut flowers as well, because of its long vase life and will reseed itself if left in the garden during the winter months. This makes it a great choice for people who want to save money by having annuals that come back year after year. 

3.Lawn Clovers

These are leguminous plants that release nitrogen slowly into the soil. 

The bees love clover because it is rich in nectar. It can also help reduce your environmental impact by reducing the need to mow grass.

When you first plant a clover patch, you will need to keep the area free of weeds. After you have cleared the weeds, you should sow the seeds. Make sure to water them well. Watering them daily will ensure a good start for your clover seedlings.

4.Borage

Borage is another plant that will draw and retain bumblebees. Borage flowers have a lot of nectar. Borage also provides a good natural fertiliser for the soil.

It has deep roots, therefore, it can be cultivated in areas with well-drained soil.

In addition, borage is an edible plant. The leaves are used in many culinary recipes. 

5. Monarda

Monarda is a lovely aromatic summer flowering herbaceous perennial which is irresistible to bees… and to lots of gardeners too!  The most widely available varieties are the perennial forms which come back each year.

Monarda’s common names are Bee Balm, and Bergamot because when rubbed the leaves are said to smell similar to Bergamot oranges.

6. Phacelia

Phacelia, a blue perennial flower, is another great choice for attracting bees. It grows in full sun or partial shade and can be planted in raised beds and thrives in virtually any well-drained, fertile soil.  

It is very attractive to short-tongued Bumblebees such as Bombus terrestris and B. lucorum and is often used in bee regeneration programmes in the UK.  It is possible to have an autumn sowing standing over winter (as often done for a green-manure.)

7. Coneflowers

Coneflowers are also good for bees. Their large flowers are perfect for keeping bumble bees busy. Unlike many flowers for bees, purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, produces as much nectar during the midday and afternoon hours as it does during the morning, so it is perhaps more useful to bumblebees than many other flowers on a hot summer day.

How to Attract Bumblebees in the Garden With All-Season-Flowering Plants

If you want to attract and keep Bumble Bees in your garden, you need to plant plants that flower all seasons, but particularly in autumn and early spring when nectar is scarce. Early flowering bulbs include snowdrops and crocus, which are excellent for feeding bumblebees in winter. Japanese anemones, salvias, sedum, goldenrod, tansy-leaf aster (Machaeranthera tanacetifolia) and Verbena bonariensis are perfect choices for extending the flowering season until the first frosts.   

You can even grow some of them in containers to provide a safe haven for these beneficial insects.

 

How to Attract Bumblebees in the Garden with a Buffet!

Bumble bees are an essential part of your garden ecosystem. These insects help to pollinate and control pests in your garden. 

A bumblebee buffet provides the perfect opportunity to encourage bumblebees to come to your garden. These bees are hardy, low-maintenance insects and can live in different landscapes. They are especially important in pollinating agricultural crops.

A bumblebee buffet involves planting different flowers and herbs that provide nectar for the bumblebees, as well as other sources of food such as pollen, nectar-filled fruits, and bee-friendly shrubs.

 

When selecting plants for your bumblebee buffet, you’ll want to pick flowers with a variety of shapes and sizes so that all types of bumblebees can access the nectar. 

Plant nectar and pollen rich flowers, provide shallow water sources for drinking, avoid using harmful pesticides, and provide a safe nesting site for them to call home.

Attracting and keeping bumble bees in your garden is a rewarding experience that will benefit both you and the environment. With a few simple techniques, you can create a bee-friendly habitat for these beneficial pollinators to thrive in.  For more ideas on how to attract bumblebees in the garden see our page on honey bees.