Feeding the bees in winter

By Peter Lawrence, Trust member and keen gardener.

Here, Peter gives us a run-down of his best plants for bumblebees in winter. As Peter points out, bumblebees are becoming increasingly active in the winter months when they would normally be hibernating. If you spot a bumblebee this winter, you can report it to BWARS for their special survey on winter-active bumblebees.

I don’t know about you but every time I see a bumblebee my morale takes a little leap upwards before it starts to sink again. They are wonderful beasts.

We have a large garden and I try to grow nectar-rich flowers all the year round. I thought my information might help others with ideas for flowers that the bumblebees evidently like, particularly during the harsh winter months. I know they are supposed to be underground in the winter, but the winters are getting shorter and I see bumblebees every month of the year in my garden, near Cambridge, on alkaline soil.

One group of plants that can flower from summer and well into autumn are the calaminths (Calamintha). They will provide food for the new queens before they go into hibernation.

But as we move into autumn, November can be a tricky month for flowering plants. The ivy is still flowering in some places well into late November, and that can be a great source of pollen and nectar. Indeed the ivy bee (Colletes hederae) relies on the food from ivy flowers. This species is a recent arrival to England and we have them in our garden well into November.

There are also autumn crocusses (Colchicum autumnale), and plenty of flowers on the wonderfully-scented Viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense), but I don’t see the bees appreciating it so much. We have some sternbergia (Sternbergia lutea) which would have golden yellow, goblet-shaped flowers if it weren’t for the pheasants which eat them! This November, some of the salvia are in a sheltered site and still undamaged by the frosts so they provided nectar for some busy late queens, particularly the Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) and Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

I have to admit, we don’t have much on offer in December. Between cold snaps there are fresh flowers on the Autumn-flowering cherry ‘autumnalis’ (Prunus x subhirtella) and still some late autumn crocus and that’s about it. November and December do present problems for any bees that are still about, so if anyone has any good ideas please tell us.

January is a most difficult month, but the Autumn-flowering cherry should still be in flower, and the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) should begin to bloom too. If it’s at all mild, the really essential winter honeysuckle (Lonicera x purpusii) will provide fresh flowers and nectar for all manner of bees well into the spring. In sheltered parts of the garden the first crocusses, snowdrops (Galanthus) and aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) may be flowering and the bees like these, as well as the winter iris (Iris unguicularis).

In February, the various mahonias are favoured, and they sometimes flower in February. After the winter honeysuckle, the most important of all winter-spring flowers for the bumblebees is stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus). This wild hellebore is preferred over the Helleborus orientalis, although they like those also.  Every garden should have as many Hellebores as possible; they grow in shade and all the bees, including the Hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes), the mason bees (Osmia bicornis) and the queen bumblebees go for it. They usually start to flower in March and various cultivars will keep going well through the spring and early summer.

In March there are now plenty of flowers, the bees will visit the honeysuckle (Lonicera) and the Hellebores while the plum blossom (Prunus mume) may be starting. Norway maple may come into flower this month, and can be very attractive to the first queen bees to emerge from hibernation.”

To find out more about how to make your garden better for bumblebees, visit our Bee the change resources.