Bumblebees and garden centres

Bumblebees are struggling due to a shortage of flowers.

With over a million acres of gardens in the UK there’s really no

excuse for this shortage. With this in mind, garden centres and

the Bumblebee Conservation Trust have a common goal - to fill

more gardens with flowers.

As agriculture has intensified throughout the 20th century, the

UK has lost over 97% of its wildflower meadows. This has

resulted in the extinction of two bumblebee species, and great

declines in most of our other species. Because of this, some

bumblebee species are now much more common in urban and

suburban areas than they are in the wider countryside.

Bumblebees need our support - life would be much less

interesting, and our gardens far less productive, without their free pollination service.

Garden centres are ideally placed to encourage bee-friendly planting.

Many garden centres are already helping to promote insect-friendly gardening, which is great. We

hope that this pack will encourage your garden centre to start or expand the work you are doing

in this area.

Sadly, many of the species and varieties of plants purchased by gardeners are simply no good

for bumblebees. Some species don’t produce any pollen or nectar, and others have flower

shapes that are too difficult for bumblebees to feed from. Many common bedding plants fall into

this category but gardeners are unaware of this.

We have created this leaflet to help

garden centres to better understand

what bumblebees need and how

simple it is to help them by promoting

certain plants.

There is a huge demand amongst

gardeners – from absolute beginners

to seasoned pros – for more

information about the plants that help

bees in the garden. We hope that you

will find this leaflet useful, and that

your customers will go away with

more plants for bees. And, of course,

that the bees go away with more food!

The bumblebee blacklist

Below is a list of common garden plants that are not good for bumblebees. It is ironic that some

of these plants were originally bred from plants which are useful for insects. For example, the

brightly coloured primroses are mostly useless for bees, but the native wild primrose (Primula

vulagris) is often used by pollinating insects.

Begonia

Busy Lizzie - Impatiens

Geranium - Pelargonium

Hydrangea

Livingstone daisy -

Mesembryanthemum

Pansy

Petunia

Primrose (except native

wild primroses)

Scarlet salvia / Salvia

splendens

Berberis

Bluebell

Broom

Bugle

Comfrey

Crocus

Dicentra

Flowering currant

Hellebore

Lungwort

Mahonia

Muscari

Pieris

Pussy willow

Rosemary

Skimmia

Viburnum

Winter heather

Fruit trees (e.g.

pear, plum, apple)

Fruit shrubs (e.g.

blackcurrant,

blackberry,

redcurrant,

raspberry,

strawberry)

Turn your customers into bumblebee champions

Spring flowering plants

As bumblebees start to emerge from hibernation, so do many gardeners. Spring is the time when

bumblebee queens establish their nests and raise their first offspring. It is an energy intensive

time so it is vital that there be a ready supply of flowers available for them to feed from. Garden

centres have a prime opportunity to ensure bumblebees survive at this time of year by

encouraging shoppers to plant early flowering blooms.

The plants listed below are all early blooms and will help support young nests and struggling

bumblebee queens:

Achillea

All peas and beans

Aster

Basil

Cardoon

Cornflower

Dahlia

Echinacea

Fuchsia

Honeysuckle

Hyssop

Lavender

Lupin

Marjoram

Nasturtium

Phacelia

Phlox

Poached egg plant

Potentilla

Rudbeckia

Russian Sage

Scabious

Snapdragon

Sneezeweed

Stonecrop/ sedum

Sunflower

Teasel

Toadflax

Allium

Aquilegia

Betony

Bistort

Campanula

Cardoon

Catmint

Ceanothus

Chive

Cistus

Comfrey

Cosmos

Dead nettle

Escallonia

Foxglove

Geranium

Globe thistle/

Echinops

Hebe

Hollyhock

Honeywort

Jacob’s ladder

Lilac

Mallow

Mock orange

Penstemon

Poppy

Rose

Rosemary

Sage*

Solomon’s seal

Thrift

Thyme

Wallflower

Weigela

Wisteria

Early and mid-summer flowering plants

In early summer the bumblebee nest will be growing larger and the queen will be laying more

eggs from which bumblebee workers will hatch. These workers will collect food from flowers, to

feed to larvae in the nest. The growing nests require yet more food, so it is essential to have bee-

friendly plants at this time of year.

Late-summer flowering plants

In late summer, the bumblebee nests produce new queens. It takes a lot of food to make a single

queen, so it is vital that there are flowers available at this stage. Late summer is also mating

season, which requires yet more energy. The following are good flowers to promote at this time:

How your garden centre can help bumblebees

Not everyone who gardens knows which plants are best

for bees. You can help rectify this by:

Ensuring that you stock a good selection of bee-

friendly plants.

Creating displays of bee-friendly plants to show off

the variety of shapes and colours available. Don’t

forget to include plants that can be grown from seeds

and bulbs.

Labelling the bee-friendly plants in your store.

Displaying our posters and leaflets and promoting

our ‘Bee kind’ gardening app: beekind.bumblebeeconservation.org

Educating staff about bee-friendly plants so that they have the knowledge to help customers.

Staff could even give talks on bumblebees using our presentation pack.

Become a Corporate Member

Corporate membership helps to pay for conservation activities that create flower-rich landscapes

in the areas where the UK’s rarest bees are located. It also helps to fund educational activities

about the importance of bumblebees and flowers.

As a member you would receive lots of fantastic benefits in return for your support, including: a

membership certificate for display in your garden centre, your logo and a link to your website

from our website, use of a sponsorship statement in your corporate communications, multiple

copies of our Buzzword newsletter, and use of selected images from our photo library.

Membership rates depend on the size of your organisation. If you are interested in corporate

membership, please contact membership@bumblebeeconservation.org

Help raise awareness and funds for bumblebee conservation

Most gardeners are keen to support wildlife in their gardens, especially pollinating insects.

These individuals are often happy to extend their support by making a charitable donation or

purchasing a badge. You can help bumblebees and Bumblebee Conservation Trust by:

Hosting a bumblebee badge box: Our badges feature four different bumblebee species and

would make a great addition to your till points. Please get in touch with us about placing a sale-

or-return order for a badge box or two!

Hosting a donation can: If space is restricted, perhaps you could host a donation can instead.

If situated at the tills, your customers might just drop in some of the spare change from their

purchases. Every bit helps...

Displaying our membership leaflets: Perhaps your shop or cafe has an area for displaying

leaflets? By displaying our A5 membership leaflets, you will be helping us to grow our

membership and supporter base.

If you are interested in helping in any of the ways mentioned above, please email

enquiries@bumblebeeconservation.org