Bumble Bee Flower Finder

Flowers for Bumble Bees

The Bumble Bee Flower Finder helps you discover and grow native plants for bumble bees from the Eastern United States. Find flowers or get plans for wildlife gardening, ecological landscaping, and bee watching. Under construction. info@bumblebeeflowerfinder.info

Find flowers (✿) for places (☼) or plan plantings (♣) with perks (+). Match and mix selections and inputs. Fields are required for plans. Click the "Find" button for a gallery of species or the "Plan" button for free plans. Reload to reset. Help bumble bees find more flowers.

✿ Bloom February March April May June July August September October November Spring Summer Fall Winter

✿ Color Gray White Red Orange Yellow Cream Green Blue Lavender Violet Purple Magenta Mauve Rose Pink Brown

✿ Height ' –

✿ Form Arching Basal Clumping Branching Climbing Ephemeral Mounding Oval Rosette Round Sprawling Thicket Trailing Twining Upright Vine

✿ Growth Hemiparasitic Highly Persistent Long-Lived Persistent Seeding Short-Lived Slow Spreading

✿ Cycle Annual Biennial Deciduous Evergreen Perennial Shrub Subshrub Tree

☼ Light Sun (≥ 6 hrs) Part (≥ 3–6 hrs) Shade (≤ 3–6 hrs)

☼ Water Dry Moist Wet Aquatic

☼ Soil Acid Alkaline Clay Fertile Gravel Loam Muck Salt Sand Silt Sterile

☼ Zone 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

☼ Ecoregion 5. Northern Forests 6. Northwestern Forested Mountains 7. Marine West Coast Forests 8. Eastern Temperate Forests 9. Great Plains 10. North American Deserts 11. Mediterranean California 12. Southern Semi-Arid Highlands 13. Temperate Sierras 15. Tropical Humid Forests

☼ State CT DE KY MA MD ME NH NJ NY PA RI VA VT WV

♣ Habitat Banks Bluffs Clearings Ditches Fields Forests Glades Lawns Marshes Meadows Pastures Roadsides Shores Swamps Thickets Woodlands

♣ Feature Insectary Wildflower Shrubland

♣ Grade Flat Gentle Steep

♣ Cover Weak Strong

♣ Length '

♣ Width '

＋ Benefit Biocontrol Birds Butterflies Carbon Sequestration Compaction Cut Flowers Dye Erosion Control Food Honey Mammals Medicine Phytoremediation Preserves Specialist Bees Tea Tools

＋ Bombus Queens Workers Males

＋ Keyword

Find Plan

Bumble Bees

Bumble bees are charismatic social insects and valuable wild pollinators. There are around 260 species of Bombus (Phylum Arthropoda: Subphylum Hexapoda: Class Insecta: Order Hymenoptera: Family Apidae: Subfamily Apinae: Tribe Bombini) worldwide and 46 north of Mexico. Seven subgenera and 21 species of bumble bees are native to the Eastern United States.

Click Here to Identify Bumble Bees

Bombus are most diverse in temperate biomes with continuous supplies of pollen and nectar. Female bumble bees are pollen generalists (polyleges) who can buzz flowers to extract pollen and gather grains in pollen baskets (corbiculae) on hindlegs for transport. Both males and social parasite cuckoo bumble bees feed on floral rewards, but neither have corbiculae nor provision nests.

A queen bumble bee awakes from winter diapause, forages flowers, and founds a nest. Worker daughters eclose during spring, tend the family, and forage to help mom stay at home. [Cuckoo queens usurp established nests.] Males and virgin queens (gynes) mature from summer to fall, feed, and mate. Queens, workers, and sons die during autumn. Mated gynes overwinter and repeat the annual colony cycle.

Over 35% of regional bumble bees are endangered, threatened, vulnerable, or data deficient. Bombus affinis and cuckoo variabilis are critically endangered, fraternus is endangered, terricola, fervidus, and pensylvanicus are vulnerable, while cuckoo ashtoni and others are threatened or data deficient. You can support bumble bees by planting a selection of preferred flowers.

Methods

Bumble bee descriptions and records were compiled from books, peer reviewed articles, personal communications, technical bulletins, and websites. Illustrations by Elaine Evans and The Xerces Society. Plant descriptions were compiled from books, manuals, observations, and websites. Plant images are from Wildflower Search. Plant distributions are from The Biota of North America Program.

The Flower Finder includes native plants for bumble bees indigenous to at least one county of one of 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Widespread plants with surplus floral rewards who also host native pollen specialist bees were prioritized.

Seven ratings (*****–0) were graded for each plant species: queens, workers, males, nectar, pollen, pollen specialists, and nursery availability. Blooms and Bombus caste phenologies were correlated, surplus pounds were estimated, specialist bee species were summed, and nursery availability was ranked. Grades were curved and averaged to calculate one overall rating for each plant species.

The Planting Planner designs with top rated bumble bee flowers. Continuous blooms and common availabilities are prioritized. Insectary = Annuals + Biennials + Short-Lived Perennials; Wildflower = Biennials + Perennials; Shrubland = Perennials + Shrubs + Trees. Select options to create plantings that bring benefits, host bees, and meet aesthetic needs.

Synopsis

Fifty-five families, 50 subfamilies, 61 tribes, 145 genera, and 272 species of native plants are catalogued. The most listed family is Asteraceae, subfamily is Asteroideae, tribe is Astereae, and genera are Solidago, Helianthus, and Symphyotrichum. Flowers are often white, pink, or yellow; racemes, panicles, or clusters; lobed, fragrant, or tubular; Blooms are most bountiful during June, July, or August.

Top rated bumble bee flower genera are Asclepias, Cirsium, Helianthus, Monarda, Pycnanthemum, Solidago, and Symphyotrichum. Top rated nectar plants include Liriodendron, Phacelia, Rhus, Robinia, Scrophularia, and Tilia. Both top rated pollen plants and hosts for pollen specialist bees are Solidago, Helianthus, and Symphyotrichum.

Pollen grains are commonly yellow, round, or spiny. Fruits are frequently cypselae, capsules, or pods. Roots are regularly rhizomes, fibrous, or taproots. Leaves are oftentimes toothed, hairy, or lance-shaped. Stems are mostly alternate, hairy, or square. Forms are frequently upright, branching, or basal. Growth is generally by seeding or spreading. Cycles are often perennials, shrubs, or trees.

Plants are often 1–3', 2–4', or 3–6' tall and 1–2', 2–3', or 1–3' wide. Light needs are commonly sun (≥ 6 hrs) or part shade (≥ 3–6 hrs), but rarely part sun–shade (≤ 3–6 hrs). Water needs are normally dry–moist, moist, or moist–wet. Soil needs are often well-drained, fertile, sand, or gravel. Zones are usually 6, 7, or 5 in ranges 3–8, 3–9, or 4–9. Habitats occupied are often woodlands, roadsides, or thickets.

Ecoregions inhabited are habitually Eastern Temperate Forests, Northern Forests, or Great Plains. States inhabited are mostly NY, PA, or NJ, while states uninhabited are mainly ME, VT, or NH. Benefits are chiefly medicines, birds, or mammals. Detriments are regularly rare or historic ranges, or normally none. Propagation methods are commonly sowing, dividing, or cutting.

Recommendations

The Bumble Bee Flower Finder can help you: discover the best native plants for plantings; identify bumble bees and flowers; determine plant materials needed for landscape designs; restore bumble bee habitats; and enhance farmscape health while ensuring crop pollination. Bumble bee flowers are often keystone species who support ecosystems, regulate detriments, and provide benefits.

Bumble bee queens need both late fall and early spring floral rewards to survive before and after winter diapause. If queens are well-fed with abundant, connected, continuous, and diverse supplies of pollen and nectar, then bumble bee families can grow healthy and large. Bigger plantings (≥ 3,600 square feet) host more diverse populations of bumble bees than smaller plantings (≤ 360 square feet).

Bumble bee foraging distances are normally less than half of a mile from nests. Grow plantings at ≤ 0.5 mile intervals to connect bumble bee habitats. Networks of bumble bee gardens can counteract species declines while expanding environmental awareness and education. Our communities can be greenways or homegrown parks for wildlife. Spread the buzz. https://bumblebeeflowerfinder.info.

Disclaimer

Please: know your ecosystems, targeted species, poisonous lookalikes, and follow local laws before harvesting any wild plants at your own risk; Monitor and steward all harvested habitats. Horticulture requires training and practice. Guard yourself from injury by knowing your physical limitations, wearing protective gear, and wielding clean and sharp tools while planting.

Acknowledgments

Produced by Jarrod Fowler (2022). Engineered by James Edwards. Supported by The Polistes Foundation. Images from Wildflower Search (Authors, Contributors, & Sources). Illustrations by Elaine Evans and The Xerces Society. Rusty Patched Bumble Bee illustration by Pollinator Partnership. Native American Ethnobotany from indigenous peoples: Abenaki, Accomack, Adena, Akimel, Alibamu, Apache, Appamattuck, Apsáalooke, Arosaguntacook, Arrohatec, Ashiwi, Atsugewi, Aucocisco, Baaja, Calicuas, Chahta, Chalá·at, Chatiks, Chehalis, Cheroenhaka, Chesapeake, Cheyenne, Chickahominy, Chikashsha Yaki, Choctaw, Chowanoke, Corchaug, Coushatta, Cuttatawomen, Dakota, Diné, Ditidaht, Doeg, Eastern Nehântick, Erie, Hammonassets, Haudenosaunee, Havasupai, Havsuwʼ, Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga, Hoocągra, Hopewell, Hopi, Houma, Hualapai, Inuit, Isleta, Iswä, Jemez, Ka'igwu, Kānaka, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka, Karuk, Kaskaskia, Kauwets'a:ka, Kecoughtan, Keres, Kiskiack, Klamath, Kumeyaay, Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw, Laguna, Lakota, Lekawe, Lenape, Lənape Haki-nk, Lumbee, Mahuna, Maidu, Manahoac, Manissean, Mannansett, Maoli, Massa-adchu-es-et, Massacoes, Massawomeck, Matinecock, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Menominee, Merrick, Meskwaki, Mi'kmaq, Mississauga, Miwok, Mohave, Mohegan, Mohican, Monacan, Moneton, Moraughtacund, Munsee Lenape, Muscogee, Myaamia, Numunuu, Nacotchtank, Nahaganset, Nandtaughtacund, Nansemond, Narantsouak, Natchez, Nauset, Néhinaw, Nentego, Neshnabé, Newe, Niitsitapi, Nipmuc, Nisenan, Nissaquogue, Nlaka'pamux, Nottoway, Nuciu, Nuwa, Nuxalk, O-ga-xpa Ma-zhoⁿ, O'odham, Occaneechi, Occohannock, Očhéthi, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Odǫhwęja:deˀ, Oglala, Ohlone, Ojibwe, Omaha, Onawmanient, Onöndowa'ga:', Onundagaonoga, Onʌyote'a•ka, Opiscopank, Osage, Paiute, Pamunkey, Paspahegh, Passamaquoddy, Paugussett, Pawtucket, Payómkawichum, Pennacook, Penobscot, Pentucket, Pequawket, Pequot, Piscataway, Pocomoke, Pocumtuc, Podunks, Pokanoket, Pomo, Ponca, Poteskeet, Powhatan, Pueblo, Quechan, Quileute, Quinnipiac, Quiyoughcohannock, Rappahannock, S’atsoyaha, Saanich, Šakówiŋ, Sanpoil, Saponi, Saura, Secatogue, Secwépemc, Séliš, Setalcott, Shawandasse Tula, Shinnecock, Shoshone, Sqeliz, Susquehannock, Syilx, Tanana Athabaskans, Tlingit, Tohono O'odham, Tsalagi, Tübatulabal, Tunxis, Tuscarora, Tutelo, Unkechaug, Wabanaki, Wailaki, Wangunks, Wappinger, Warraskoyack, Wašišiw, Wenrohronon, Werowocomoco, Weyanock, Wicocomico, WiYaPeMiAk, Wôpanâak, Yat'siminoli, Yavapai, Youghtanund, Yuki, Zuni, ʔívil̃uqaletem, ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi ...

Thanks to Ask A Bumble Bee, The United States Geological Survey Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, A.R., F.U., M.P., R.F., S.E., S.M., T.U. ...

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