Gardening for bumblebees

Whether you have a window box, allotment or large garden, planting bee-friendly flowers can help boost your local bumblebee population. In return, they will dutifully pollinate our flowers, crops, fruits and vegetables.

No matter what size garden you have, you can do your bit for bumblebees by planting at least two kinds of bee-friendly flower for every flowering period. Bee-friendly flowers are rich in pollen and nectar which bees can easily access throughout the year.

The best habitats for bumblebees are those that offer plenty of flowers to feed on during the entire active phase of the bees’ lifecycle (from March until October). This will ensure that there is a good supply of pollen.

You can also try out the Bee kind tool to see how your garden scores so far and to receive guidance on the best flowers to plant to make your garden even more bee-friendly.