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Attracting bumblebees to your garden


Bumblebees are in decline, but you can help boost their numbers by planting bumblebee-friendly flowers in your garden. Wherever you live in the UK, you should be able to attract at least six bumblebee species into your garden – and maybe as many as ten.

What sort of flowers should I plant for bumblebees?

Bumblebees like traditional cottage garden flowers and native wildflowers best – and these have the added advantage of being hardy and easy to grow. Different species of bumblebee have different length tongues and consequently prefer different plants and flowers. If you can plant more than one type of wildflower in your garden you’ll be helping many bumblebees.

Plants flower at different times of year. To obtain best bumblebee-friendly results, plant a range which ensures your garden blooms from Spring to Autumn.

March to April
Apple
Bluebell
Cherry
Pear
Plum
Pussy Willow
Rosemary

May to June
Chive
Comfrey
Cotoneaster
Foxglove
Honeysuckle
Lupin
Poppy
Sage
Thyme
Wisteria

July to August
Bramble
Catmint
Cornflower
Hollyhock
Lavender
Mint
Sea Holly
Snapdragon
Sunflower
Viper’s Bugloss

Find out more about the flowers that will attract bumblebees at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Help bumblebees, leave the lawn uncut

Even the distinctly un-green-fingered can help bumblebees by…doing absolutely nothing. If you leave your lawn uncut over the summer months, wildflowers such as clover and birdsfoot trefoil will soon take root. And you can sit back, relax and watch your bumblebees enjoy the spoils.

Find out how to build a home for bumblebees

Bumblebee-friendly flowers by the canal

Look out for the following plants and flowers as you walk along the towpath. These blooms flourish in the wetland environment around the canal - and you're likely to spot a busy bumblebee buzzing around them.

Yellow Flag Iris
Gypsywort
Pruple Loosetrife
Watermint
Flowering Rush
Marsh Marigold
Meadowsweet
Arrowhead
Water Lilly
Marsh Woundwort
Brooklime
Fools Watercress

The bumblebee is the star of this year’s national wildlife survey – take part and help support waterway-loving wildlife. Report a sighting for the British Waterways Wildlife Survey 2009

Last updated: 07/04/2009