Beautiful bumblebees, we can help

This post focuses on the beautiful bumblebees that share our gardens, wild spaces and parks.

March is the time that I usually see some fabulous queen bumblebees in my garden as they emerge from hibernation.

Thankfully, this year has brought me three beautiful buzzing bumblebees already. In fact, they appeared a week ago, in late February.

Great news to see them coming out, searching for a nesting site and sampling my garden blooms. Unfortunately though, the beautiful bumblebees are facing a crisis.

So, here is the bad news. The latest findings from BeeWalk, the national bumblebee monitoring scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, have revealed that 2024 was the worst year for bumblebees since records began.

I have added a link below if you would like more information.

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/

However, we can help bumblebees in our gardens and make a real difference.

Bumblebees in March

The photo above shows one to the beautiful buff tailed bumblebees visiting my garden. I have plenty of crocus in flower for them and as you can see, they can get a good supply of nectar from a bloom.

I also provide iris reticulata for colour in February and also for the bumblebees. My photo at the top of this post shows a beautiful bumblebee head first in an iris bloom, having a feed.

As well as food, these bumblebees need nesting sites. I have some logs with spaces underneath that they may wish to use. Other options are bird boxes that are not used, tall grass areas and compost piles. Thankfully, I have all of these so am hoping the bumblebees set up home in my garden.

If you have the space, any of these options can help them to build their nests.

Food for bumblebees

This photo shows some fantastic wildflowers that my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen sowed in a large trough in her garden.

Wildflowers add such a wonderful variety of colour to our gardens and will grow in troughs, pots and window boxes if you do not have a large space. But, even more importantly, wildflowers provide bumblebees and other insects with food, plus some welcome shelter and habitat.

Sadly, 97% of wildflower meadows in the UK have been lost since the nineteen thirties. So, if we can all grow some wildflowers in our gardens, we are helping to provide a tapestry of mini meadows.

Adding wildflowers into a small area of your garden will provide food for pollinators like bumblebees, other bees, hoverflies, beetles and butterflies.

I will be sowing some wildflower seeds in the next couple of weeks in my garden borders and a few pots. They do not like a rich soil, so no need to use compost.

Sowing the seeds, watering the area, and covering with a little more soil is as hard as it gets. And that is all you need to do, unless there is no rain. If the soil gets dry, give it a sprinkle of water and then wait for your flowers to grow and bloom.

If you would like to see more of the fabulous Cosmos Queen’s garden, including her wildflowers, I have added some links to some earlier posts below.

The Cosmos Queen and her beautiful garden

The Cosmos Queen’s beautiful dahlias

More flowers for our bees

My next photo is the fabulous cosmos which if you sow some in the next couple of weeks, will flower from June until the first frosts.

I cannot recommend cosmos heartily enough. It is a fantastic flower that gives and gives and then keeps on giving!

Now is the time to get those seeds and get sowing in seed trays. However, if you do not have a greenhouse or sunny windowsill, you can direct sow in May.

The cosmos in my photo, with a beautiful bumblebee is called Snow Puff White. Naturally, I will sow many varieties and look forward to colourful blooms in white, purple, pink. red, orange, yellow and my favourite dark burgundy.

I am sure the Cosmos Queen is rooting through her seed box as well, getting ready to sow some too. I hope you will join us and sow some in your garden too.

There is, of course, plenty more flowers we can grow to help our bumblebees, but here are a couple more for this post.

Alliums for bumblebees

My next photo is allium Sphaerocephalon with some bees. These alliums have a small dense green drumstick-style flower which matures to a blackcurrant colour, fading as the flower ages.

In addition, this is a long flowering allium which is later flowering than most, which extends the allium season up to the end of July and beyond.

Alliums have a long flowering season, they bloom for weeks on end, bridging the gap between spring and summer.

In addition, if you choose different varieties, you can have alliums in flower from May right up to the end of July, or even into August.

I have added one of my earlier allium posts if you would like more information.

Wonderful alliums for beauty and the bees

Dahlias for our bees

My final photo for this post just has to be a dahlia.

Fashion Monger is a fantastic dahlia to bring colour to the garden and to feed the bumblebees and other pollinators. These are collarette dahlias, and a firm favourite with pollinators.

I have two of these dahlias in my garden and about four hundred others as well. Furthermore, I have another eighty five new dahlia tubers to start off in pots soon too.

And, of course, I am growing some from seed as well. No wonder I am known as the Dahlia Queen!

I have added a link below to one of my earlier posts on some of the dahlias for bumblebees and other pollinators.

10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators

If you want some dahlias, it is not too late to get some tubers or sow some seeds.

Link below for some fantastic varieties to order. I can thoroughly recommend them and have just received a large box full.

https://www.peternyssen.com/spring-planting/dahlia-tubers.html

I hope that you have enjoyed my bumblebee post and will do all you can to help them thrive in your gardens.

See you next time.

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