Finding and Sourcing Plants and Seeds Favourable to Bumblebees

 

Making your garden favourable to Bumblebees can be a pleasant activity applicable on any budget

You can, if you wish, source your plants from a garden centre. Plants from garden centres will typically be sizeable and well established although more expensive than other options. It is common practice among garden centres to display plants for sale when they are flowering. This approach to marketing the plants enables you to judge which flowering plants are favourable to bumblebees – the bumblebees will be present at the flowers of their choosing: job done.

Increasingly online shops are selling mail-order plug plants. Usually, these come in trays of multiple plants, including wildflowers and garden favourites. Although such plants are small, they are well established with strong root systems. Patience is the requisite virtue in the case of this option – in many cases you will have to wait for a year until they flower. Nevertheless, this method is cost-effective.

Even more cost effective than this option is that of purchasing seed packets. They are available in garden centres, via catalogues and can be ordered online. Again, in most cases, you will have to wait a year until the plants flower, unless they are categorised as ‘annuals’.

Another option, ideal for more experienced gardeners, is propagation. A very broad range of bee-friendly plants can be split at the roots or will continue and take well from cuttings. If you favour this option, it would be worth your while making friends and acquaintances with other gardeners with an interest in promoting the interests and survival of bumblebees. You are likely to find such people in gardening clubs, community groups, or facebook groups. If you cannot find a related facebook group relevant to your geographical area, why not start one?

 

A further option is to gather a wild seed collection. There are many native bee-friendly plants that will make your borders look splendid. The wild plants that are best adapted to your soil type and regional climate are those found locally to your garden. These will be the most resistant to pests. At Key West Pest Control we would urge you not to dig up the plants themselves by way of propagation. Our advice is to mark or remember the location of such plants and return to gather seed later in the year. We would also advise avoiding plants found on private land, but to favour those growing on riverbanks and road verges. Furthermore, we would urge you to refrain from collecting seed from rare plants or from places where the given species is scarce.

 

A garden that is favourable to the survival of bumblebees should provide bee-friendly flowers that are rich in pollen and nectar, which are easily accessible from the spring until the late summer. The aim should be to ensure a good supply pollen at all of the crucial times:-

(A)When the queens are establishing nests; (B) When nests are growing; (C) When nests are producing new queens and males; (D) When queens are trying to fatten up in preparation for hibernation.

The higher the number of suitable flowering plants in your garden the better. Aim for at least two kinds of bee-friendly plant for each period of flowering.

 

What to avoid.

While certain plants bring real aesthetic beauty a garden, some ought to be avoided in the interest of the local habitat. Some species tend to ‘escape’ from gardens can invade nearby wild habitats. We would, therefore, urge you to avoid Rhododendron ponticum and Himalyan balsam.

 

Certain flowering plants produce flowers with shapes that cannot be used by bumblebees. Some flowers consist of petals that form long tunnels. Such tunnels are too long and narrow for the bees to gain access and feed. The reverse physical characteristic also causes problems for bumblebees. Some plants produce flowers with multiple tightly packed heads offering very little access to the bumblebee

Certain plants offer too little pollen and nectar to bumblebees. Typically, these plants have been selectively bred by horticulturalists in order to produce flowers that are very pleasing in appearance. Pansies and double begonias are examples of this phenomenon. We would advise avoiding these

Key West Pest Control would also urge you to avoid using any pesticides in your garden. Such pesticides are often given the retail label of ‘bug killers’ etc. The vast majority of these domestic pesticides are harmful to bumblebees.

Interesting others

If you have succeeded in making your garden a haven for bumblebees, well done! – you should tell others about it. Why not gain the interest of others in preserving the bumblebee? We would suggest holding an open garden day. You might charge an entrance fee and direct the funds towards bumblebee conservation. You might request a guest speaker to pass on expertise to your guests. Again, why not organise such an event with an event page on facebook?