Please help the humble bumblebee

[Johnny Appleseed]

Source:- Daily Telegraph

Britain's bumblebees are in trouble. All 25 species are in danger, some bordering on extinction. Gardeners can play a key role in saving these important pollinators.

Bumblebees need nectar earlier in the year than other bees because the queens emerge from hibernation in February. When planning your garden, please think about early flowering plants such as clematis, crocus, rosemary and fruit tree blossom.

In the summer they will benefit greatly from cottage garden flowers and native wildflowers. Sages, foxgloves and thymes are all suitable. Most bedding plants have little to offer bumblebees.

Single and semi-doubles are much preferred by bumblebees to petal packed double flowers.

If you can provide bumblebees with a refuge it will help them survive. Bumblebee nesters are available for about £20

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/insect-box.asp

There is a Bumblebee Conservation Trust for £1 a month - which might make a great Christmas present for any wildlife lover.

We have certainly noticed a big drop in the numbers of bees in our garden over the last few years.

Mrs A and I are going to plant a wildflower garden this year and see what happens. The neighbours are in shock that I've rotovated a big part of the front lawn and told them that is where our wildflower garden will be in the spring / summer of 2009.

If they keep on making comments - I'll rotovate all of it

Who says front gardens have to be perfectly manicured, stripey, weed free, bowling greens anyway? Pah!

[lynda66]

i've had a patch of wildflowers this year, and it's been covered in bumble bees, they loved the borage, and they also loved the nasturtiums ...... gonna also spread a load of wildflowers out the back, when they've finished building stuff ..... maybe i should get a bumble bee nester, but i haven't seen any since the bad frost we had, which killed off the flowers they were munching on so might be a waste of time now.

[Two_Sheds]

One of the best early nectar plants is the dandelion.

Now, ask yourself how much you love the bee?

Limnanthes are good too, if you plant them in the autumn they will flower very early.

[lynda66]

my grandads favourite flower was a dandelion ........ he had always said, don't cover my coffin with fancy flowers, i just want a dandelion ........ have you ever tried to find a flowering dandelion in wales in november ...... not an easy task, but after walking for miles we found 3

[Rhona]

Our garden is too tiny for wildflowers, but there is a small wildflower meadow just across the road! We've got two little bee hotels for them, so hopefully, we're doing our little bit.

[Oolalula]

I didn't realise that bumble bees emerged that early. I'll definitely be putting in some early flowering plants this year. Over the past few years I've been putting in more wildflowers and longer flowering plants to help the bees and butterflies. Buddleias, cosmos, borage aplenty, poppies, rosemary, hyssop, sedums, verbena bonariensis (goldfinches love to snack on the seeds come autumn), nasturtiums, achillea, lavender, toadflax, white clover...the list goes on. Love to see them busily buzzing about. Also got a bee habitat for solitary bees.

We've been thinking about beekeeping - apparently honey bees are in great danger too. Thing is, not sure I could bring myself to destroy the colony if there was an outbreak of varroa mites...

[BrideXIII]

I already have loads of rosemary, its one thing i can grow well, will add some borage and nasturtiums again this year, seeing as they are good companion plants for my new veggies., i have a buddleia or two, and lavender also, and i think i have some poppy seeds for next year.

we do get a fair few bees in the garden already, they are a bit dim, they keep flying in through the patio door.

my mum had a bee nester, and her garden is full of bees, but they never used it

[Polly Fouracre]

I have Mahonia, Rosemary and winter flowering Honeysuckle(which I shall be taking cuttings of if anyone interested)I saw an enormous bumblebee on the very last Zephrine Drouen rose yesterday and it seemed so frantic that I put a little bit of honey on a saucer and put that underneath the rose, good move or not, do you think?!

[BrideXIII]

I have Mahonia, Rosemary and winter flowering Honeysuckle(which I shall be taking cuttings of if anyone interested)I saw an enormous bumblebee on the very last Zephrine Drouen rose yesterday and it seemed so frantic that I put a little bit of honey on a saucer and put that underneath the rose, good move or not, do you think?!

do they eat honey?
maybe sugar water is closer to nectar?

[Oolalula]

You can make up sugar solutions from water and sugar...not sure how well they go down though.

[BrideXIII]

something else missing this year, wasps, not that i mind cos i don't like them, but on reflection we have had NONE come in the house this year. even when the big apple tree two doors down had fruit rotting on the branches ( such a waste)

[Pumpkin Becki]

We bought a bumble bee box and put it in the 'garden' at the self-build house. About two months later our builder asked us why we'd got a plastic box with two mice nesting in it in our new garden...things often don't go to plan do they!

[Johnny Appleseed]

Lack of bumblebee visitors

Normally our buddleia's and lavender are covered with these busy little bee's but this year was a disaster - we saw the odd one and that was it.

Thanks for all the comments and feedback - perhaps Mrs A would like a nester in her Xmas stocking............

[FB.]

I'm keen to support the bee populations. As an amateur apple/pear/plum grower, I am also aware of the benefits of solitary orchard bees that prefer to live in holes in wood or walls, a few feet above ground.

Many of our garden flowers have been planted specifically for bees and other beneficial insects, although some were planted for their beauty.
Of the flowers mentioned in the thread, we have:


Chives (very popular)
Clover (very popular)
Foxgloves (very popular)
Lavender (very popular)
Poppy - wild one's that self-seeded (sometimes very popular, sometimes not)
Limnanthes (bees don't seem interested)
Clematis (bees don't seem interested)
Honeysuckle
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Buddleia
Crocus
Dandelion
Fruit trees
Strawberries

oops...almost forgot the runner beans. Extremely popular with the honey bees.

The homes for my solitary orchard bees were made simply by drilling various sized holes in old logs and lumps of wood - and then placing them a couple of feet above ground level.

I'd like to help bumblebees. Is there a minimum spacing requirement between bumblebee nests?
Can I make some nests out of cheap materials and garden junk, rather than paying out lots of £££ for ready-made nest boxes?
What size/specification is best?
Where should I put one?
What height and sun aspect is preferred?

[Johnny Appleseed]

Great post FB

now I've got my thinking cap on with all the old wood lying around.....