I could watch bumble bees for hours. No seriously I think I really could. One day walking back to work from lunch I was struck by some amazing flowers that had loads of bumble bees on them merrily going about their pollination business while completely oblivious or uncaring of this large human standing a couple feet away watching. I stood there for about 20 minutes enjoying their busywork. Only having to get back to the office dragged me away.
If you really want to be able to watch these little guys in action, do yourself a favor and plant yourself a tomatillo or three! While they certainly love plenty of other flowering plants, it never ceases to amaze me how much of a draw a tomatillo is to them.
Bumble bee on tomatillo flower
Of course growing a tomatillo isn’t for the short-on-space gardener. Depending upon the variety, I’ve had them literally spread out and cover a circle about 10-12′ across! But they don’t seem to be the worse for wear with heavy pruning. So I’m not shy about bending them to my will. 🙂
Below is a tomatillo that’s about 6′ across so far. This thing is going to be gianormous. But if you look in the back behind the watering can you can see a much smaller one. Both these were volunteers (came up on their own probably from bird droppings) but are clearly different varieties. The one in the back is small and already has fruit. The one in the front is huge but only flowers. But let me tell you, there had to have been a couple dozen bumble bees on that big plant this morning. And as the season gets going you can hear their buzzing when your in the plot.
Tomatillo plant
Bumble bees also seem to love sun flowers. These guys self seed as well. I planted them a couple years and they come up in various places each season. I just dig them up and move them if they’re in an inconvenient place.
Bumble bees on sunflower
Bumble bees aren’t the only bees in your garden for sure as you can see in the photo below. But various species are native across North America and play an important part in pollination. I’m not sure what type of bee the little one on the left is (please let me know if you do), but I find it fascinating the size difference. And I’ve read that most pollinating bees are so small that most people go about their day and never even notice them. They’re just used to seeing/familiar with the larger Bumble Bee and more common Honey Bees.
Bees on sunflower
The Xerces Society has great information on these little creatures. One thing from their site I found particularly interesting is that they can fly in lower temperatures and lower light and they have an interesting mechanism of pollinating:
“Bumble bees are able to fly in cooler temperatures and lower light levels than many other bees, which makes them excellent crop pollinators. They also perform a behavior called “buzz pollination,” in which the bee grabs the pollen producing structure of the flower in her jaws and vibrates her wing muscles. This causes vibrations that dislodge pollen from the flower. Some plants, including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries, benefit from buzz pollination.”
I’ve only in the past few years really become aware of pollinator decline both through pesticide use and habitat loss. The more I learn, the more I want to become more involved. That may take the form of hives at some point. That may just take the form of creating habitat/planting plants they like. The Xerces Society’s website has a great PDF that you can download on how to help. It doesn’t cover crops, but more native flowers that they really like. It has loads of info on how and where they live (in small ~50 bee nests in the ground built by a female), their decline, and what you can do to help support them. Please check it out.