I make a concerted effort to attract bees and other pollinators to our garden. This year, I spent a little more time trying to entice bumblebees to nest in the yard. I already supply a continuous food source during the growing season but I read up on what a bumblebee needs for a nest.I saved dried leaves and grass, and in a corner behind a fence where the soil is dry and shady, I piled the grass clippings and leaves early in the spring. And, lo and behold, one day I watched a large bumblebee arrive, zigging here and there, flying around and around the leaves and fence for a couple of days in the cool spring. At first I thought it may be a carpenter bee attracted to the wood fence but, no, this plump bumblebee was eventually crawling around the leaves. She was a bumblebee queen!
She liked the site I prepared and she proceeded to build a nest, lay eggs and, raise her young. Now, late summer, we have a population explosion of beautiful bumblebees that forage from dawn to dusk. We watch them fly in and out of their cavities in the ground. The nest has been enlarged and there are different entrances now… the main entrance now just a foot from the faucet and hose, but they are unconcerned by my presence. I never bother the nest and they just buzz around me and on to the garden. In and out, in and out, all day long.
I work along side the bees in the garden. They fly around me, move when I’m tending to a plant, land on me, rest a bit, then fly to the next flower. No stings!
Bumblebees need a continuous food source and we supplied a gap-free nectar source in our bee friendly garden. Bumblebees do have a preference for certain flowers and we took notice and made sure we had enough of their pesticide-free favorites all growing season.
The bumblebees pollinated our blueberries, were all over the clover, and the only pollinators I saw on our tomatoes. They loved the early crabapple and rhododendren blossoms, the summersweet, the allium, hosta blooms, hydrangea, and all the herbs in bloom. Right now it’s all about the garlic chives and Russian sage, but any moment, the showy flowers of Aralia ‘Sun King’ will open and it’s goodbye chives!
It’s been a “buzzy” summer garden but the season is winding down and changes will be taking place. Only the newly mated females will survive the winter, usually beneath ground. The rest of the colony will die later this fall. Next spring, I’ll try again to encourage another queen bumblebee. It’s been an adventure and it feels right to give a helping hand to a bee that is facing many threats… from habitat loss, pesticides, climate change and disease.
What a beautiful post, Annie!
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Thank you. I’m happy to see so many different bees in the garden this year.
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I love Bumblebees too! 🙂 We have a lot of them around! Bees are bringing up their populations in our area, which is great!
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I notice it, too. Bees seem to be rebounding. 🐝
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The photos are wonderful, and I’m sure you’ve had a smile on while working around all those bumblebees knowing that you have provided them with a welcoming home. 🙂
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Yes, I’ve been captivated by bumblebees since I was a kid. Not sure why…
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Reblogged this on Strafford County Master Gardeners Association and commented:
Advice for gardening with pollinators from a fellow MG in Exeter.
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Thank you! 😊
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I found you on the Strafford County MG website. Your photos are beautiful and solid evidence of what a good idea you had. We gardeners are such a creative lot, aren’t we?
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Ha! I like to think gardeners are a creative lot. I’m always assessing and analyzing my small landscape… then digging, transplanting, and recreating the garden terrain. It never ends. 😊
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Bumblebees adore my hostas here in central VA. They straddle the large flowers and shimmy down the flower to the base where they tap the nectar through the flower itself. Very entertaining. They also adore sunflowers. Check out my hostas at https://dianelasauce.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/what-blooms-here-this-week/
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Diane, your hostas are spectacular! My little bumblebees also find the hosta nectar that way. So much fun to watch….
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Thank you Annie. These hostas are really huge this year and give long bloom! Big job to cut down/bag at season’s end too. Do not compost these here. Too many fungal issues already! Happy fall!
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Wow! That is quite an interesting story! It reminds me of when I was young, my mother who loved gardening set up a bee hive on our small city lot. She originally was from Germany where she spent 2 years as a professional bee-keeper. She used to give me some drones to let crawl around on my hands – no stingers. And we had plenty of honey. But alas, some of the neighbors freaked out when we had a big swarm as well the bees regularly cleaning themselves on the newly washed sheets hanging on their clothesline. So we were ordered to remove the hive.
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Love reading this! I have a feeling that your mother and I could have been friends. 😊Thankfully the atmosphere around beekeeping has improved in recent years with colony collapse disorder in the headlines.
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Yes. Folks need to realize how important those furry little ones are. Btw – Here’s my favourite bee photo … https://michaelhoffmannphotography.com/2017/08/05/thistle-bee/
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Oh wow! Fantastic!
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