For daily wit & wisdom, sign up for the Almanac newsletter.
Become a better gardener! Discover our new Almanac Garden Planner features for 2024. It’s easy, fun, and free to try!
You’ll want to make a beeline to the garden after you read these fun facts about bees! The American 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 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.
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. Learn the difference between bees, wasps, and hornets.
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, and some flowers have evolved to be pollinated almost exclusively by these beefy bees.
The bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), for example, has developed bottle-shaped flowers that never open fully, which means that a strong bee must pry its way into the flower to pollinate it.
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 the early morning and later in the day to avoid harming the honeybees that are active during the middle of the day. See the best flowers for bees.
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 propeller 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!
Bumblebees rarely string, though they are able to. 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 naturally social bees, living together in groups called colonies. According to the National Wildlife Federation, colonies may contain between 50 and 500 individuals, 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 who can survive the winter! She hibernates underground during the winter months 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.
A few years ago, 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 was 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 a 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.
What a terrific article! I have had many misconceptions about bumblebees all my life. I knew I could pet them when they slept in Russian sage flowers. But i had no idea what they did with all that pollen on their legs! I didn't know they had actual nests. I thought they all hibernated and welcomed them back every spring. Now I know more! FYI, if you can plant milkweed in your yard, they will love it! The wild milkweed with large broad leaves and balls of fragrant flowers is the most attractive. If you are lucky (which we aren't any more here in Baltimore), monarch butterflies will lay eggs on your milkweed and their life cycle will continue as well.
MANY years ago as I was sitting on the grass, enjoying my lunch hour in a rather warm-but-not-hot courtyard (end of summer) - WHAT did I espy but a fuzzy bumblebee with its tongue/proboscis out, panting, walking in the grass towards me. Realizing that end of summer means - them bumbles will eventually diiie, (😰boohoo!!). I gently picked it up and put it under the shade of a nearby bush -- I poured a little water on top of the nearby grass so it could drink if it wanted too. ***THEN -- my lunch hour was almost over and I had to get back to my authoritarian boss -so- wishing Sir B. Bee the best, I got up to leave...and I saw...yes!! ANOTHER bumblebee in the Same Predicament staggering my way in the grass-- perhaps that bush area was near/at their underground home? So I did the same with this bee and, sad to part with them, I wished them the best. Yet Another time I was enjoying the serene flowery beauty of my bldg's rooftop garden when a Monarch Butterfly madly sped from behind a rose bush with a Bumble Bee chasing after it ("get away from my pollen!" ???)
I love bumble bees,(Mr Bumbly),many times I have held a bumble bee in my hand and strokes it,s soft furry body,I am now 81 and I brought up all my younger family members to also respect bees.But I told them if it,s a wasp or a yellow jacket not to swipe just get out the way fast because they can,t win against them. Bees are gentle.
N
Nanking Cherries & Rose of Sharon! Each year I see Bumbles loaded with pollen on ours. The Nanking is an early Spring bloomer & all types of bees are attracted to them. The Rose of Sharon however gives them so much more pollen that they look more like "Flying Yellow Cheese Balls." I walk right up to them. They could care less about me being there as long as I am simply observing them.
Beware of coming unexpectedly to a bumblebee nest. One day I went into my rabbitry and noticed all the rabbits were sitting way back in their cages and being quiet. I walked thru the aisle and discovered at the end on the sliding doors that under the insulation was a bumblebee nest, and part of it had fallen to the ground due to weight. The bees were swarming one in particular, a very large bee came straight at me. I ran back thru the aisle and out the side door. The bee followed me clear out to the front yard. It stung me 5 times on my arms before it flew off. I am afraid I had to spray and destroy the nest as it was presenting a danger to people and the rabbits. I felt bad about this, but there was nothing else that I could do that I knew of at the time.
I always had bumble bees around the house until we had vinal siding put on.
Also I notice wood peckers drilling out their homes in the garage wood over hang. That they used for years. There are not as many as there use to be here.
I think you are talking about carpenter bees which bore a hole in wood to lay eggs inside .
These are solitary bees.
Bumble bees nest together with a queen and workers.