Gardens - Ten Flowering Plants That Attract Bumblebees
The Bumblebee is a wild relative of the honey bee.
There are currently 25 species of Bumblebee in the United Kingdom, all on the decline.
Not only do they pollinate a wide variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables, they play a key part in pollinating rare plants that other insects do not, or cannot pollinate.
Bumblebees pollinate plants using a method called 'buzz pollination', which means they vibrate their wings to shake the pollen of the flowers.
Bumblebees need pollen and nectar to feed the colony; they also return the favour by pollinating the flowers later in the season, benefiting us and the other wildlife that feed on the fruit and seeds that grow as a result.
Bumblebees have different lengths of tongue, so they will need different types of plants, including wildflowers and garden flowers.
They will also attract other beneficial insects including butterflies and honeybees.
Native plants, like wildflowers and traditional cottage flowers with single flowers are most likely to attract Bumblebees.
These native plants are hardy, resilient and easy to grow.
To help stop the decline in Bumblebee species, planting Bumblebee friendly plants can help, with the added benefit of attracting up to 10 different species of Bumblebee into your garden.
There are currently 25 species of Bumblebee in the United Kingdom, all on the decline.
Not only do they pollinate a wide variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables, they play a key part in pollinating rare plants that other insects do not, or cannot pollinate.
Bumblebees pollinate plants using a method called 'buzz pollination', which means they vibrate their wings to shake the pollen of the flowers.
Bumblebees need pollen and nectar to feed the colony; they also return the favour by pollinating the flowers later in the season, benefiting us and the other wildlife that feed on the fruit and seeds that grow as a result.
Bumblebees have different lengths of tongue, so they will need different types of plants, including wildflowers and garden flowers.
They will also attract other beneficial insects including butterflies and honeybees.
Native plants, like wildflowers and traditional cottage flowers with single flowers are most likely to attract Bumblebees.
These native plants are hardy, resilient and easy to grow.
To help stop the decline in Bumblebee species, planting Bumblebee friendly plants can help, with the added benefit of attracting up to 10 different species of Bumblebee into your garden.
- The Common Honeysuckle is a climber that has deep flowers so is beneficial to those Bumblebees with longer tongues.
Honeysuckle flowers for most of the summer. - Foxgloves have deep flowers too.
They can be pink, white or purple.
Again, it is hardy plant and flowers between July and August. - Aquilegias are considered as deep flowers, available in a wide variety of colours.
They easily self seed themselves each year and flower between April and June. - Viper's Bugloss is an excellent plant for attracting Bumblebees.
This has blue flowers and can grow up to 2 foot.
It attracts masses of Bumblebee species and will flowers between June through to August. - The wildflower Comfrey grows almost anywhere.
The shorter tongued bees may even bite through the flowers to get to the pollen.
It has white flowers that appear between April through to August. - Tufted Vetch is a lovely climber that produces purple spikes of flowers between June and July.
- Sunflowers attract a variety of bees, including the Bumblebee.
They flower between July and August. - Lupin flower between May and June.
It is said there are approximately 600 species worldwide.
It has dense flowers on a dense stalk. - Salvia Officinalis also flowers anywhere between May and June through to the autumn.
It is part of the mint family and has a wide variety of colours, depending on the species. - The Ice Plant flowers from summer right through to late autumn.
It prefers full sun and produces tiny pink flowers.
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