Gardens are so very important for bumble bees and, of course, vice versa. Bees need our flowers for sustenance and our flowers need bees for their pollination. So it’s important that the flowers you grow provide the food that bees need.

Preferred flowers

The majority of double flowers are of no use, they’re too elaborate. Some double flowers are bred without their male and female parts whilst others have too many petals and the bees can’t get to the nectar or pollen to collect it. So, this is the main reason why the single dahlias are very popular with most bees, whilst the flower doubles are usually ignored.
In the single flowered rose family there are; crab apple, potentilla and hawthorn and they seem to be irresistible to the bumble bee, along with the flowers of angelica, fennel, cow parsley and sedums.
The flower family that have tubular shaped flowers are foxgloves, heathers, snapdragons and penstemons and these are also favourite feeding places for the bumble bee.

Plants for life

It is so vital that you provide flowers throughout the life cycle of the bumble bee which is from March to September. It is also a good idea to have a minimum of two nectar or pollen rich flowers and plants in flower during any one time during bumble bee’s life period. Nectar will feed the adult bee whilst the pollen is further collected to feed their young. As you would expect, the more flowers you have in your garden, the more likely you are to attract bumble bees to your garden, so you can never have too many nectar rich flowers!

The following flowers will attract more bumble bees into your garden throughout various seasons:

Spring flowers
Crab Apple, Daffodil, Forget Me Not, Hawthorn, Rosemary, Bluebell, Bugle, Flowering cherry and currant, Hellebore, Pussy Willow, Pulmonaria, Rhododendron, Viburnum, Thrift (Armeria maritima).

Early-summer flowers
Fennel, Geranium, Snapdragon, Thyme, Aquilegia, Astilbe, Campanula, Comfrey, Everlasting Sweet Pea, Foxglove, Potentilla, Stachys, Teasel,Verbascum.

Late-summer flowers
Heather, Ivy, Angelica, Aster, Buddleia, Cardoon, Cornflower , Dahlia (single-flowered), Lavender, Delphinium, Eryngium, Fuchsia, Globe Thistle, Penstemon, Scabious, Sedum.