7 Ways to Attract More Bumblebees to Your Garden

Spread the love

Bumblebees are starting to become threatened, just like many other species, and they need our help! Join Melissa Strauss, a beekeeper and pollinator lover, as she shares tips on making your garden a safe and welcoming space for these fuzzy friends.

A bumblebee collects nectar from the bright purple, spiky flowers of a milk thistle. These insects are fascinating—while smaller, faster bees might seem better at pollination, bumblebees are surprisingly efficient. They use a special method called buzz pollination, vibrating their bodies to shake loose pollen, which is especially helpful for plants with hard-to-reach pollen.

Their big, fuzzy bodies are perfect for holding and spreading pollen. With their long tongues, they can access nectar in tricky spots, and they even regulate their body temperature, allowing them to work in cooler weather than other bees. This means they start pollinating earlier in the year.

These amazing traits, along with their adorable looks, make bumblebees my favorite pollinators. (Don’t tell my honeybees, but they just don’t have the same charm!) Here’s how I make my garden a bumblebee hotspot.

Provide Nectar and Pollen Plants

A bumblebee with fuzzy black and yellow fur dusted in golden pollen clings to the velvety petals of a vivid red flower in bright sunlight. Blossoms burst with everything winged foragers crave daily

A fuzzy black-and-yellow bumblebee, covered in golden pollen, clings to a bright red flower in the sunlight. Blooms bursting with nectar and pollen are exactly what winged foragers need daily.

The best way to attract bumblebees (and pollinators in general) is to offer them food—both nectar and pollen. Nectar is the sweet liquid inside flowers, which draws insects in. Bees use it to make honey, feeding themselves and their young. In return, they pick up pollen and spread it to other flowers, helping plants grow.

Pollen is just as important—think of nectar as carbs (energy) and pollen as protein (essential for their larvae and adult bees). Not all plants produce the same amount of these resources, so bees prefer flowers that give the most nectar and pollen for the least effort.

African Blue Basil

Upright stems bear clusters of small tubular flowers in shades of purple with delicate blue overtones, surrounded by elongated green leaves with purple veins and a faint fuzzy texture. It keeps blooming long after others call it quits.

Botanical Name: Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Height: 2–3 feet
Hardiness Zones: 10–11

This basil is grown for its flowers, not its leaves (which lose flavor after blooming). Its fragrant purple spikes are a bee favorite, blooming for a long season. In zones 9 and colder, keep it in a pot and bring it inside for winter.

Anise Hyssop

Tall square stems hold spiky purple flower clusters with tiny petals, visited by fuzzy bumblebees collecting pollen among soft green, toothed leaves. Native beauty shows up early and stays late.

Botanical Name: Agastache foeniculum
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Height: 2–3 feet
Hardiness Zones: 4–8

A mint-family herb with lavender flower spikes, loved by bumblebees. It blooms from summer through fall and is a perennial in zones 4–8 (or self-seeds in warmer areas).

Goldenrod

Tall stems topped with feathery golden plumes sway above slender green leaves, as a bumblebee clings to the densely packed blossoms. It says busy with visitors until the frost rolls in.

Botanical Name: Solidago spp.
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Height: Up to 7 feet
Hardiness Zones: 3–10

A North American native that bumblebees adore, especially in fall when they’re preparing for hibernation. It’s packed with pollen and nectar—my goldenrod is always buzzing with bees!

Spanish Needles

Bright white daisy-like flowers with sunny yellow centers bloom atop slender green stems with small, toothed leaves. It has modest blooms, but the pollinators throw a constant party.

Botanical Name: Bidens alba
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Height: 1–3 feet
Hardiness Zones: 8–11

This aggressive spreader (with sticky seeds!) isn’t the most ornamental, but bumblebees love its long blooming season. Common in the Southeast, it’s a roadside weed turned pollinator magnet.

Salvia

Woody stems support narrow gray-green leaves with a soft, pebbly texture, and small two-lipped lavender flowers emerge at the tip in clusters. They are long bloomers that pollinators treat like regular diners.

Botanical Name: Salvia spp.
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Height: Up to 5 feet
Hardiness Zones: 3–10

With tubular flowers perfect for bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, salvias are a top nectar source. Many species are native to the U.S., making them easy to grow.

Plant Native

Bold, daisy-like blooms with layered red and yellow petals encircle raised, fuzzy centers, attracting bees and bumblebees amid hairy green stems and lance-shaped leaves. A garden of natives nourishes the pollinators all season.

Native plants thrive in your climate, needing less care and providing reliable food for pollinators. Non-natives can sometimes become invasive, outcompeting local plants and reducing biodiversity.

Plant for All Seasons

Blooming spring flowerbed with colorful plants such as pink-flowered yarrow, Echinacea purpurea, Lavender and others. Offering flowers at every season keeps nature’s helpers well-fed.

Different plants bloom at different times. If everything flowers in spring, bees will leave by summer. Mix early and late bloomers to keep bumblebees fed from spring through fall.

Go Wild

Close up of lawn mower with yellow wheels near abandoned wild area with various wild flowers with blue delicate flowers and bright pink daisies. Longer mowing gaps give pollinators a feast in spring.

Turf grass lawns don’t help pollinators. Let part of your yard grow wild—native “weeds” are survivalists with small but nectar-rich flowers. If you can’t rewild, try mowing less (like “No Mow May”) to let early flowers bloom.

Provide Nesting Areas

Bees fly around an insect hotel made of bamboo stalks in a sunny garden. Insects find shelter and warmth in a well-made nesting box.

Bumblebees nest in hollows, leaf piles, and thick grass. In fall, don’t bag leaves—use them as mulch or leave piles for bees to hibernate. You can also make nesting boxes with bamboo, pinecones, and other natural materials.

Go Pesticide-Free

A woman's hand with a red bottle sprays pesticides on flowering phlox plants with purple and soft pink flowers. Avoid spraying blooms to protect the insects that help.

Pesticides harm all insects, not just pests. Avoid spraying blooms, and let predatory insects handle pests naturally.

Provide a Water Source

A fluffy bumblebee with yellow and black bands sits on the edge of a stone fountain, drinking water. Bees find water by scent, so refresh less frequently.

Bees get thirsty! A birdbath with pebbles for perching works well. They find water by smell, so don’t change it too often—let organic material (like leaves) stay in the water.