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Night shot of my Pulmonaria. These are for the Hairy Footed Flower Bee (anthophora plumipes) which are one of the earliest solitary bees in the UK. I just keep them in pots so I can easily move them around the space I have. This is not gardening - it is shepherding.

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A. Plumipes female. This is one of the fastest bees on Earth, reaching a relative speed of Mach 1.5 and an average of +40G when turning and accelerating which is why their organs are encased in a type of jelly as a shock absorber.

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Save the Bumblebees

Is it worth trying to save the bumblebees from my apartment balcony? I face a minor highway but with lawn and parking lot in between. What should I plant for them in eastern North America?

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>>5117815
Absolutely. If you have even a single window ledge facing the sun, you can plant it up and it will massively help them. In fact, Bumblebees and Solitary Bees need more help in urban environments than anywhere else. Lavender is probably the easiest to grow in a window box. You can also stagger plant them so you get year-round interest (daffodils in spring, lavenders and salvias through summer, then ivy and sedums for autumn). All very easy to plant up. Lemme know if that helps or you’d like more tips.

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While I wait for other bombus bros, imma just use this thread to post fascinating bumblebee facts.

Related is a Lucorum in a foxglove. The ‘spots’ on foxgloves are a specific evolutionary adaption solely for bumblebees. All bees see in ultraviolet so any northern hemisphere plant that is pink, lavender, blue, purplish, anything on the blue spectrum is evolved to attract both bumblebees and solitaries (not ‘honey bees’ which are niche and native to the Middle East only).

So these ‘spots’ on a foxglove light up like runway lights in bumblebee vision to guide her to the nectar pockets at the base of the flower so that the pollen brackets at the inside top brush against her back.

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My seed haul for this year. 1kg phacelia, and multiple packs of borage and Echium blue bedder. The phacelia I’m seeding to distract vermin ‘honey bees’ but the borage and Echium are both bumblebee nectar power houses and grow fast so with my limited space I’m hoping to feed an average of 50 to a 100 bumblebees a day through summer and well into autumn.

>>5117649
No wasps = lots of caterpillars = no plants for bees.
It’s all rock paper scissors.

>>5117833
cool bug fact's

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>>5118214
I have loads more. For instance, this is the oldest found bee on earth. Melittosphex Burmensis. It’s actually not strictly a bee but likely a bridging species between bees and wasps (bees diverged from wasps when a wasp began to gather pollen rather than insect flesh). Found in a cave in what is now Myanmar. Both bees and wasps originated from an ancient proto-wasp dating back a few hundred million years. This particular bee is 200 million years old.

Every Bumblebee and Solitary Bee you see has looked exactly like you see it now for 60+ million years. Solitary Bees (like A. Plumipes shown further up thread) has the exact same nesting behaviour as the original proto-wasp. So a single female forages for pollen and nectar, makes a ball of food from it, leaves it in a hole (in a wall, mud bank, cave, whatever), lays an egg on it, and then seals up the hole. Rinse and repeat. Eusocial bees (so colony bees like Bumblebees, and hive bees aka ‘honey bees’) evolved to take this one step further when a Solitary Bee female realised she could raise a first generation of daughters to help her, leaving her time to then lay the rest of her eggs.

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A. Plumipes female having a little bit of a sugar coma.

>>5117830
Nice. I like lavender. I'll look for it at the plant sale in a couple weeks.

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>>5118384
Excellent. I’ll be running these generals throughout the summer so pop in if you get it and let me know. Also, lavender likes poor-ish soil so if you want to pot it into a larger container, mix a little basic garden soil with some grit in to whatever compost you use. Once a year in spring, sprinkle a tiny bit of slow-release, low-nitrogen fertilizer like seaweed meal or a bit of potash on the top. Be careful not to overwater and that it has good drainage. Lavender comes from poor soil, dry and dusty Mediterranean regions so just mimic that more or less. Other than that, cut its flowers back regularly so it reflowers often and you’re good to go. Thank you for helping the Bumblebees.

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Potting up my second wave of Borage in interim pots for a couple of days then they’re moved to 30cm deep 7L rose pots next week. Should come in to flower about mid June. I seed new every couple of weeks starting end March so I get a full supply of high octane Bumblebee and Solitary feeding through until September. After Vipers Bugloss (the absolute GOAT of all bee plants), borage is the second most prolific nectar supplier and will totally refill its nectaries in as little as two minutes. I also don’t let Borage go to seed and as soon as I see it start to fade on its flower, it’ll get pulled and mulched and its pot soil repurposed for the next wave.

Based.
My garden is full of ground ivy and purple nettles and they really like it. A few years ago carpenter bees returned to our country after like hundred years so I am always glad to see them. Last year in july I saw a bee that I have never seen in my life so Im assuming its pretty rare here. But I cant find out the name right now

>>5118657
how can it fly with that small wings

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>>5118657
Bombus Lucorum (the White-Tailed Bumblebee) Queen. These are the great retards of the bombus world that will inexplicably nest in the dumbest, most high risk places like in a lawnmower, or under an old mattress. How they manage to survive is legit beyond me. Anyway, she’s looking for a nesting site which is why she’s hovering so close to the ground. This is very common Bumblebee behaviour in early spring when they first come out of hibernation and need to find somewhere to lay their first eggs and raise that vital first generation of daughter workers. Beautiful clip; thanks for posting it.

>>5118661
Bumblebees have a very powerful set of muscles across their thorax (that the wings attach to). It’s actually this that allows them to create the propulsion necessary to lift their weight and fly. The old adage that their “wings defy the laws of physics” is nonsense. Related is an xray of a Bumblebee that shows these muscles and you can see how large they are (kind of crisscrossing lighter colour in upper back). Bumblebee wings beat an average of 200 times per second, and they are ALSO able to (unlike ‘honey bees’) uncouple their wings while shaking their bodies to create clouds of pollen from the flower they’re targeting which results in so-called ‘buzz pollination’. Every tomato you eat, for instance, was pollinated by a Bumblebee using this staggering feat of biological engineering. In fact, over 90% of all flowering plants on Earth, including all the food you eat, are pollinated by Bumblebees and Solitary Bees.

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>>5118656
Both are superb plants. Ivy is often overlooked as a Bumblebee and Solitary Bee feeder but because it’s winter/early spring flowering it’s exceptionally important for new Queens especially. Nettles too are a great favourite of my favourite bee, the Hairy Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora Plumipes) posted earlier in this thread.

That’s also great news about Carpenter Bees being back where you are. I always love seeing images of especially the American ones - great big tanks of awesomeness. Also very misunderstood as ‘destroying woodwork’ when in actual fact they only use holes that are already there and some studies suggest these are actually strengthened by the nesting mucus they produce leading the structure to be more secure, not less.

If you want to let me know where you are (no worries if not), I can help you identify that bee if you like. I’m always interested in new Bombus and Solitaries.

Related: Bombus on an Ivy flower.

>>5117649
PROVEN: Bees can do maths:

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-honeybees-math-upending-animal-intelligence.html

The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, re-examined previous critiques of bee intelligence by accounting for the honeybee's unique sensory and perceptual constraints. By evaluating experimental stimuli from a biologically relevant perspective, researchers demonstrated that previous criticisms, which suggested bees were merely sensitive to visual cues like spatial frequency, do not hold up.

>>5118735
Whatever, mellifera fanboy. Bumblebees literally play with balls for fun.

https://youtu.be/v-uKp1KlOas?si=twXcS7eD7UHlUzxA

(No, but in all seriousness, cool study. I agree with that woman on human bias when assessing animal cognition).

>>5118731
I meant ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) but good to know that they like ivy too. Some ivy plants appeared out of nowhere in my garden so at least I know I should let them there. As for the bee, I actually have a photo, once I have it on my pc I think I can identify it with google. I will post it here too

>>5118731
.......so I identified it and it was actually a flower fly. Nevermind my retardation. Its just that it was so pretty and striped like a bumblebee...

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>>5118794
>>5118804
Yup, ground ivy flowers too so yes, definitely leave it. And no worries on the flower fly. I actually photographed this this morning - a Drone Fly - so not uncommon as there are a few fly species that mimic bumblebees (why I don’t know) but yeah, they’re very deceptive. You can tell by the eyes though. Bees have more almond shaped eyes with a more subtle curvature while these have those typical buggy fly eyes.

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>>5118806
The huge eyes should have tipped me off...

Btw I have one lavender plant and I didnt know I should prune it every year and now its quite woody. Do you think its salvageable if I prune it this year after bloom?

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>>5118818
Oh, sure. I took a photo of one I have that I largely ignore. I circled the part that you should cut. So like the green part of the branch; don’t cut into the wood itself lower down. You can actually cut them twice a year. A light cut after the first flowering to encourage a second flowering into late summer, and then a hard cut in like early autumn. So cut right back so it’s a few inches above the woody part. This lets it recover over winter and you’ll get a really good flush of growth out of it next year.

>>5118824
Wow thanks for the detailed advice.
I actually really liked bumblebees some years ago and wanted to plant flowers specifically for them. But then I fell into depression and forgot about it. Your thread reminded me of how I used to care about them so now I feel enthusiastic again. Sorry for dumping that on you I just wanted to let you know that what you are doing helps bees and people too. Thank you.

a bumblebee for 3 years has pollinated my whole blueberry bush (not the same one obviously they dont live that long) they always ignore everything until after they went past the blueberries
I grew a second one from seed from the first, started growing last year and is flowering now so they will have even more sweet blueberry pollen
>also have rosemary, strawberry, raspberry and mint flowering atm
>herbs will be replanted with new seed

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Got a ton of french lavender. If I want to help solitary bees do I just put up an "insect hotel" and call it a day?

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>>5118829
Not at all, my man. I’m really sorry to hear that; the way depression wipes out any motivation is the fucking worst, I know. Anyway, I’m really glad you’re interested in them again. I used to run these generals a while back so I’ll hang around all summer with updates and general nerd posting so you can ask me anything and I’ll be really happy to hear from you.

Also you’d be amazed at how much you have around you that they like. People overlook plants like ground ivy or nettles without remembering Bumblebees are native to the countries they’re in so anything native is what they’re specialists in. Like a lot of what people call ‘weeds’ are actually ideal in a load of ways. For instance, dandelions are a really important food source for queens first thing in the morning as they’re packed with very dense nectar that helps warm them up. So yeah, you’d be very surprised at what you have around you that they’re using already. But lemme know if you want any more tips or just pop in anyway and hang out.

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>>5118830
> blueberry
> rosemary
> strawberry
> raspberry
> mint

These are all fantastic Bumblebee feeders, Anonymous. You should try tomatoes and garlic and onions, too. They’re big fans of both as well and will get you beautiful tomatoes especially. Watermelon as well.

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>>5118857
Yeah, but don’t buy one of those gay reed things (that shit just brings in spiders). Just drill holes in a bit of old wood. Make sure it’s north facing or sheltered in some way like on a back wall somewhere under some overhanging tree branches. They need their brooding cells to be sheltered but not overheated. Often if you have a bit of old log or something lying around, just shove it somewhere at the back of your garden and they’ll find it. Anything sheltered, cool, quiet. Bumblebees are similar. Forgotten leaf piles, bits of old garden junk nobody remembers.

Also French lavender means you have sun so if you really want to bring them in, you should try some Vipers Bugloss or Comfrey. Anything in the borage family. Similar soil needs to lavender as well. And cheers for caring about Solitaries; they’re the vast majority of bees that do most of the pollinating on Earth yet very few people even know they exist.

Spiders are cool, too.

>>5118909
Thanks, I will definitely be following the thread.
I have still a lot of unused seeds so Im trying to find out what would be the best for them. Apparently they like fennel and anise so I will try to sow them

>>5118913
Its unreal how cute they are. They deserve everything good and more.

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>>5118956
What’s your sun, soil, and space situation? If you have any sunny spot that’s dry and poor soil, then I highly recommend considering Vipers Bugloss (related). This is the number one bee feeding plant on the planet. Part of the Borage family (any borage is a top Bumblebee plant), it produces a very high concentration nectar almost continuously with a full refill rate of two to five minutes (to put that into context, most flowers will deplete after a few visits and take about 24 hours to regenerate its nectaries). It also likes especially poor, dry, rocky soil so it can be pretty much seeded and forgotten about. But like I say, this is just one idea and really anything native to where you are is going to attract them because they’re evolved for them. Anise, fennel, thyme, anything in the allium family (garlic, onions) are all very good options, too. Any herbs, really.

>>5119017
I have a lot of space, the problem is that most of it is in shade. The sunny spots I reserve mostly for growing vegetables. So flowers who produce a lot of nectar but dont take much space would be best I guess. The Vipers Bugloss sounds ideal.

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>>5119021
Well, no, that’s not an issue at all. A lot of shade means foxgloves which is one of the Bumblebees’ favourite nectar and pollen plants. So much so in fact (as posted here >>5117833) foxgloves have specifically evolved adaptations for them. Also, foxgloves are native to most northern hemisphere countries and are exceptionally hardy. Another one you just seed and leave. They flower in the second year so you’ll have one year of waiting and then they pretty much go from there without any help and will seed freely and widely. Also Monkshood is another one (supposedly highly toxic so just wear gloves if you cut them or anything). But again, native is best. What’s your soil like? I’m guessing pretty rich and loamy. This is exciting. I’m such a fucking nerd for this shit. On one of these generals a while back one guy landed up successfully relocating a bunch of carpenter bees out his barn roof instead of killing them, and another planted up a bunch of pear trees. I mean, fucking hell. Anyway, space is everything. If you have space, the options are limitless. I can feed up to 100 Bumblebees a day in about a 20m square space so imagine what you can do.

Related: Bombus Terrestris on a foxglove flower.

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>>5119021
Oh, one another tip: look into what Bumblebee and Solitary species are native to where you are and what their preferred foraging plants are. Bumblebees specially are evolved for sub-arctic meadowland; so basically your classic North American or European flower fields that sit between forested areas. Solitaries are the same and are also more specialised in shaded and rocky or other landscape variations.

The next thing is Bumblebees are either short or long-tongued. The shorter longer tongue species can pretty much feed on anything but the shorter tongued can adapt very easily anyway. For instance, related is a Bombus Lucorum (short tongued) nectar robbing a Pulmonaria plant. So instead of going in via the long flower tube, she bites the nectary at the back and takes the nectar like that. It doesn’t damage the flower or anything but it’s just a smart evolutionary trait.

This plant too, Pulmonaria (aka ‘Lungwort’), is very early flowering and massively, massively important to Solitaries, specifically the ‘Hairy Footed Flower Bee’ I keep going on about. This bee and this plant especially have pretty much co-evolved together for close to 60 million years (older than the Alps), so they are highly specialist in it. I guarantee you have this species where you are. They’re found across the northern hemisphere just called different things. So Pulmonaria loves shade. It loves dappled and even deep shade, and the sort of soil that is typical under trees (compost and humus rich). It’s the same family as Vipers Bugloss just the wooded area variation so again it’s highly productive in both nectar and pollen and because it’s so early (flowers from early spring to early summer and then goes into its leaf form for summer and winter) it’s another one that is very important for both Bumblebees (early queens especially) and Solitaries. And again, it’s 100% a hardy native wildflower so you can just seed and forget it and it’ll take care of itself.

>>5119051
I have a couple of dead cedars in the back of my lot, should I fell them and drill holes for carpenter bees or leave them standing?

>>5119064
100%, yes. You should probably fell them anyway, my man. Dead trees can cause a lot of issues if they’re left. But yeah, just drill holes sporadically, not too close. The smaller Solitaries will probably also use any natural cavities or holes in the wood as well. If you can try leave it all somewhere north facing or sheltered as they don’t like direct sunlight into their brood cells.

>>5119073
This advice is WRONG. Please disregard. The follow up post to it was ALSO wrong. Fuck, sorry. The best thing to do is LEAVE the cedars where they are. So long as they have some sun exposure and are not at any risk of falling, Carpenter Bees will find them, if they haven’t already as this is an ideal wood for them. So no, don’t cut them down, please. There are likely a load of Solitaries in them already. Once again: I am truly sorry for being shit and saying wrong shit things.

>>5119087
It's cool. I'm going to tie one so it doesn't take out the neighbor's fence but other than that (and making some more holes) I'll leave them alone.

>>5118909
why he so sweaty

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>>5119123
SHE. All Bumblebees and most Solitaries you see are females. If you want a sweaty male, here is a Bumblebee Drones (I can’t tell what; probably Lapidarius) under some thistle one morning a few years ago in Scotland. They are all damp (including the female in the other shot) because of dew. Bumblebee drones do not forage and are booted out the colony as soon as they’re adults. They spend their brief lives in late summer sleeping under flowers like this and otherwise scentmarking for passing Queens to mate with them. Unlike their sisters, drones are born from unfertilised eggs and are 100% the mother’s DNA to ensure her genetic drift.

>>5119089
Sounds awesome. Keep an eye on them because apparently Carpenters really like Cedar. Sorry again for all the mad posting,

>>5117804
I love these little guys like you wouldn't believe

>>5117655
Might sound weird, but I've always seen certain animals as being among God's favorite. Just by the sheer among of complexity he put into it. Bees are definitely one of God's favorites. I think he probably likes crows too. Certain animals just got way too high of stats out the gate.

Idk if it's been posted already, but I've got a cool bug fact

If an animal (squirrel, badger, possum, etc) tries to get into the hive for a honeycomb raid, the bees will swarm the animal and sting it to death. Then they'll encase the carcus in wax. The wax acts as a sterile barrier and doesn't allow the honey to be tainted by the bacteria of decaying flesh.

Also, ever wonder why it pisses bees off if you blow on them? Carbon monoxide. You know why they have the instinct to sting you where you exhale from? Bears.

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>>5119132
Little ladies ;) But yeah, I feel ya.

>>5119133
I like this take, friend. I agree with you wholeheartedly. The more you get to know them, the more you see just how extraordinary they are. That little bee in that photo was hatched on a pea sized ball of pollen early last summer, spent three months as a grub, and then in her fully formed shape but translucent like glass for six months of winter in a little cell lined with a waterproof, antibacterial, perfectly regulated temperature coating lovingly made by her mother. No food, no light, no water, in a state of total biological stasis in a tiny hole hidden in a wall somewhere, waiting for the sun to come back. Perfectly made, perfectly formed, a never ending, unbroken, 60 million year miracle.

>>5119137
I didn’t know any of this. Very cool indeed.

>>5119272
Bumblebees are literally my favorite frens. I love them so much. They don't even sting you unless you purposely fuck with them. They don't want to hurt anybody. They just wanna collect some pollen. What's the problem there?

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>>5117649
>Note that Mellifera (‘honey bees’) are NOT in crisis, are actually a major culprit in the decline of Bumblebees and Solitary Bees, and aren’t even native to most of the northern hemisphere anyway - so they are banned from this thread.
Based
>So are wasps which are just shit generally.
Cringe
I shall, however, respect your wish. Have a local solitary bee (that looks very wasp-ish).

>>5118332
>(bees diverged from wasps when a wasp began to gather pollen rather than insect flesh).
Somewhat more specifically, most wasps pollinate, the adults typically feeding on nectar. Protein (prey) is for the young.
Originally, wasps would lay eggs in or on said protein sources, which would happily continue to crawl around until eaten from the inside out.
Then wasps evolved a stinger. This allowed them to subdue prey for their young, so now hosts could be carried into safe burrows. This is cool, because now birds could no longer eat the caterpillars the young wasps were eating (coincidentally, stinging wasps evolved shortly after birds).
What happened next is unclear, maybe a wasp sated from nectar and doused in pollen accidentally dropped too much pollen on a captured caterpillar it was about to hide in its burrow, or maybe collecting pollen was simply easier than collecting caterpillars (leaning towards the latter myself). Regardless, wasp offspring began to be raised vegan rather than on meat, and that was that.

I wanna plant something nice for them in my veg garden, I always see them goin crazy on lavendars here in the UK

>>5119017
Is viper's bugloss prone to spreading? If it's gonna keep to its place I can plant this. They never seemed super weedy when I've seen them around

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>>5119277
Nah, you good, friend. I don’t mind posts about Vesper. I’ll still take them over fucking ‘honey bees’ any day and there are a few posts about them already (that I am studiously ignoring) so it’s all good. Have a little Melitta to say thanks. It’s good to point out in the thread how strikingly like wasps many Solitaries look so people are aware when it comes to mistaking them.

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>>5119274
Yup. I literally just pick them up and move them now. It’s not ideal but they can carry only a maximum of 40 minutes of nectar supplies so if they’re inside it’s critical to get them out as soon as possible.

Which reminds me - if anyone does find a Bumblebee in crisis (crawling around on ground, looking weak or dazed), move them to the nearest flower. Alternatively, give them a mix of sugar and water or jam juice or fruit juice and water (keep the ratios higher to water so it’s thin enough to drink but concentrated enough with sugar). NEVER give them honey. Honey is packed with parasites and viruses that they’ll carry back to the colony so avoid at all costs.

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>>5119290
You are my new favourite friend. Thank you for helping them. Bumblebees are the major pollinators of both legumes (all beans) and tomatoes. Pretty much every tomato you eat was pollinated by a Bumblebee (often shipped in from commercial hatcheries in Israel as an interesting aside). People who grow their own often report bumper or better crops when their local Bumblebees have pollinated. As mentioned up thread they use a particular mechanism called ‘buzz pollination’ where they unlock their wings but stay vibrating so the tomato flower releases its pollen. Very cool to watch.

Other vegetables and herb plants they love: Borage (this is always worth planting in a vegetable garden as it’s one of the best fertiliser plants when it breaks down; also has fully edible leaves and flowers that taste like fresh cucumber so very nice in a salad). Potatoes. All the herbs like thyme, mint, rosemary, etc. Alliums (garlic and onions - produce beautiful blue orb flowers and if you cut them occasionally the scent drives off aphids and other pests). And then the squash family - pumpkins, courgettes (zucchini), and squashes (all have very big, massive pollen producing flowers Bumblebees will occasionally nap in, too.