Radiant roses: we love them but do our bumblebees?

By Margaret Alston, Bumblebee Conservation Trust volunteer

Roses to me were always something that ‘other people’ grew and loved, but not me – that is, until we moved to our present home and decided to include in a hedge for wildlife a couple of Dog Roses (Rosa canina) and the semi-wild Rosa rugosa. Very soon the bumblebees and other pollinators came regularly. The Dog Rose only flowered for a short time sadly before producing traditional ‘rose hips’, but the Rosa rugosa flowered on and off all summer, often while the hips were also there.

To me, though, these were not traditional ‘roses’, which I had always thought of in a more formal setting, unlike my rather ‘wild’ garden. I had never really considered buying roses from a grower until one day when browsing on Twitter, I came across #RoseWednedsay, where rose enthusiasts shared their beautiful pictures. Yes they were beautiful and I was impressed, then hooked… but would it be possible to find bee-friendly traditional roses with as much appeal to bumblebees as my wild hedge ones? Could I ‘Bee the Change’ by planting for pollinators and grow some beautiful roses at the same time?

Trying out ‘bee-friendly’ traditional roses

A couple of years ago, I took the plunge and ordered and planted some bare-root roses. I chose, after a lot of deliberation, roses recommended as ‘bee-friendly’, following instructions carefully, putting two in the ground and three in very large pots. They all grew successfully, giving the most beautiful display.

Were they ‘bee friendly’, though? It’s a much used term nowadays I think. My most successful rose for attracting bumblebees and other pollinators was my ‘Tottering by Gently’ with lovely single yellow flowers. Also reasonably successful in the attracting bees department was my very beautiful ‘Scarborough Fair’, a semi-double open style rose.

Bee the Change top tip! Many ornamental roses offer bumblebees little or no food, because they have been bred to have lots of petals densely packed together. These cover the centre of the flowers, preventing bumblebees from accessing the pollen and nectar. When choosing roses for bumblebees, look for ones with ‘open’ flowers where the pollen and nectar is visible!  

Expanding my bee-friendly rose collection in 2023

This year, in early spring I was pleased to receive a rose gift voucher. After doing more research online, asking Twitter Gardening friends and reading what ‘experts’ had to say, I chose four more bare-root roses. These are cheaper than pot grown ones but should be planted November to April (still time then!) My new roses all have very open flowers with stamens showing, making them very accessible to bumblebees and other pollinators. I chose:

• ‘Jeepers Creepers’, a low growing ground cover rose
• ‘A Rose for Heather’, a climbing rose
• ‘Your Lovely Eyes’, a smaller shrub rose which I have put in a large pot (I recommend 45cm by 45cm)
• ‘Ballerina’, a larger shrub rose

All of these roses are ‘repeating flowering’ which means they should flower approximately from June to October and produce nectar for bumblebees and other pollinators. This means, to keep them flowering, deadheading is necessary unless or until they are hip producing. My ‘Tottering by Gently’ does produce hips at the end of the season but I deadhead up until maybe September or early October.

How I planted my bare-root roses

When my roses arrived, I soaked the roots for a couple of days to keep them hydrated before planting. Meanwhile I prepared the different planting places (this time three in the ground and one in a pot). It is worth taking time to consider where to plant.

Until it is established, a rose needs a bit of space to get started so that you can easily monitor its progress. (I once planted one too close to other plants and it didn’t get enough light so was crowded out and didn’t do well at all.)

I dug over the soil thoroughly and then a hole big enough for the roots, about 40cm by 40cm. I added plenty of a peat-free mixture of soil conditioner and composts, and sprinkled mycorrhizal fungi into the planting hole. (This beneficial fungi grows in association with roots, helping them by effectively increasing their absorptive area.)

I then placed in my rose, covering the root with my compost mixture then soil, keeping the bottom of the stems below the top of the hole. Finally, I firmed the soil carefully round the newly planted rose.

Hopefully many bumblebees will visit my newly planted roses… I shall be sharing photos and updates on our Twitter and Instagram accounts: @bumblebuddeez #RoseWednesday

Please join us … growing roses to #BeeTheChange!

Autumn update

Now here we are nearly at the end of September and our roses have indeed been ‘radiant’ and we love them but… did our bumblebees love them too?

By adding to our collection of early blooming bee-friendly roses, with some repeat flowering ones, I was hoping to extend our bee ‘banquet’ of roses throughout the summer. It did not quite work out like that though!

The first roses to bloom in early June were in our wild hedge. These were the Dog Rose (Rosa Canina) and also the Beach Rose (Rosa Rugosa). Bumblebees were immediately attracted to them, alerting us to their presence with their high pitched and frenzied buzzing. Such a wonderful ‘sound of summer’ that I have since learned is when bumblebees use ‘buzz pollination’.

I had read and heard about this wonderful phenomenon but hadn’t actually connected this to the joyful sound the bumblebees made in my ‘rose hedge’. It became clear when I read an article by Nikki Gammans, the Bee Connected Project Manager at Bumblebee Conservation Trust, entitled ‘Buzz Pollination’, where she explains in simple (well relatively simple for a non scientific person such as myself) terms how this process works! Instead of having a bumblebee frenzied jollification as I had thought, our clever friends the bumblebees were using their ingenuity to release more pollen.

As the Dog Rose season is relatively short and is usually over in July, as is the beach rose, although they do tend to flower on and off into the autumn, my plan had been to plant more repeat flowering roses to extend the growing season. I had looked for and planted roses which had an open arrangement of petals with the centre visible and pollen available. As all gardeners know, it is difficult to choose plants from catalogs and even recommendations as what suits one garden may not suit another.

I found with my ‘new roses’, ‘Jeepers Creepers’ and ‘Your Lovely Eyes’ started flowering in June and ‘Ballerina’, which I had planted later, not until early July.

Unfortunately ‘A Rose for Heather’ did not flower at all – wrong place I think so am going to move it later on. My three ‘bloomers’ though have been really beautiful.

But… did the bumblebees like them?

I would say ‘Your Lovely Eyes’, although indeed lovely and the most floriferous of the roses with a lull in blooms during August and then a glorious come back, was the least attractive to bumblebees, which occasionally and sometimes briefly visited. The blooms although beautiful, and centres visible, tended to make a cup shape which I think deterred the bumblebees.

The ‘Ballerina’ blooms were small and came in clusters, with each bloom lasting a very short time which was when bumblebees were attracted. This beautiful rose finished flowering in August and did not return but I have great hopes for next season so this is definitely one to watch.

The most successful rose, as far as the bumblebees were concerned, is our ground cover rose ‘Jeepers Creepers’ whose blooms are like an ornamental version of the dog rose. Whenever this rose started to bloom along came the bumblebees with their wonderful high pitched BUZZ. It did flower until the end of July but then a long lull until just a couple of weeks ago when it has flowered once more.

My most successful rose was ‘Jeepers Creepers

A big hit with bumblebees!

Unfortunately now our bumblebees are rather scarce. I think according to other gardeners, many ‘repeat flowering’ roses were slow to return this year.

Dead heading is a must once ‘repeat flowering’ roses start to bloom for the first or second time… it really does encourage beautiful roses to bloom for longer.

Hopefully some of you joined me on my rose journey. I have great ‘rose’ hopes for next year, taking care of my precious plants and perhaps I could find a place for just one more rose?

More ways to help

Looking to create a bumblebee-friendly space? Check our our Bee the change resources here.