How You Can Help Alberta's Beautiful Bumblebees

Bumblebee Species of Alberta:  21 species plus 4 cuckoo bumblebee spp.

Hey Alberta, you have an abundance of bumblebee species to celebrate! These are the bees that give you big fat tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, blueberries and pollinate many beautiful native and cultivated flowers and berries. I've listed the species below so you can research any one or more in detail and I've added some tips on how you can help these sweet and vulnerable species.

1) White-shouldered Bumblebee (Bombus appositus) long-tongued

2) High Country Bumblebee (Bombus kirbiellus , formerly B. balteatus) long-tongued, rare

3) Black-notched Bumblebee (Bombus bifarius) medium-tongued

4) Cryptic Bumblebee  (Bombus cryptarum) (formerly B. moderatus) medium-tongued

5) Great Basin Bumblebee aka Central BB (Bombus centralis) long-tongued

6) California Bumblebee (Bombus californicus aka B. fervidus ssp. Californicus) and Golden Northern Bumblebee (Bombus fervidus) long-tongued

7) Yellow-fronted Bumblebee (Bombus flavifrons) medium-tongued

8) Frigid Bumblebee (Bombus frigidus) rare, medium-tongued

9) Brown-belted Bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) medium-tongued

10) Hunt’s Bumblebee (Bombus huntii) medium-tongued

11) White Tail Bumblebee (Bombus jonellus) medium-tongued, Northern

12) Black-tailed Bumblebee aka Orange-rumped Bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus) medium-tongued

13) Mixed Bumblebee aka Fuzzy-horned Bumblebee (Bombus mixtus) medium-tongued

14) Nevada Bumblebee (Bombus nevadensis) long-tongued

15) Western Bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis) short tongued, rare

16) Perplexing Bumblebee (Bombus perplexus) short-tongued, rare

17) Red-belted Bumblebee (Bombus rufocinctus) short-tongued

18) Forest Bumblebee (Bombus sylvicola) uncommon, medium-tongued

19) Tri-coloured Bumblebee (Bombus ternarius) medium-tongued rare in west, more common in east

20) Yellow-banded Bumblebee (Bombus terricola) short-tongued, rare

21) Half-black Bumblebee (Bombus vagans) medium long-tongued

Cuckoo:

1) Ashton Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus bohemicus)

2) Fernald Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus flavidus, formerly B. fernaldae)

3) Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus insularis) long-tongued

4) Suckley Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus suckleyi) uncommon (ICUN red list)

Sources: 

 Special thanks to Lincoln R. Best for help compiling the list above.

Bumblebees of the Western United States by Koch, Strange,and Williams.

Conserving Bumble Bees: Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators by the Xerces Society forInvertebrate Conservation.

Bumblebees of North America: An Identification Guide byWilliams, Thorp, Richardson and Colla, Princeton University Press, 2014.

The changing identity and distribution of a bumble beespecies known from Alberta for one hundred years by Robin E. Owen, CentennialReader Archive, Mount Royal University.

What Makes a Good Bumblebee Garden?

•A biodiverse selection of organic bumblebee flowers that bloom in each season (Spring, Summer, Fall) with no forage gaps: for an Alberta Bumblebee plant list see the post below.

Flowers with a variety of corolla lengths to suit small, medium and long-tongued bumblebee species

•Local organic native bumblebee plants that are high quality source of nectar and pollen

•Nesting and hibernation sites

•The inclusion of plants that exclude other bee species to ameliorate competition, esp. plants that exclude honeybees, including buzz-pollinated flowers

•Long-blooming drought tolerant plants

•Medicinal plants for bumblebees to help them fight diseases and pests

•Interconnected hotspots of forage: use hedgerow model, ditches, boulevards to provide corridors for bumblebees to date, mate and procreate

•A critical mass of interconnected forage with groupings at least 1 m square, herbaceaous plants, shrubs and trees with high blossom and high reward density (esp. in areas with a high honeybee population

•Areas with forage spots that are protected from wind

Steps you can take to protect bumblebees:

•Do not load your neighborhood with honeybees that compete directly with native bees

•Do not support greenhouses that use farmed bumblebees, which have been advocated in the spread of disease and steep decline in native bumblebee species.

•If you see a stranded bumblebee, give her some sugar water (50/50) or just water and put her safely in the sun near some flowers.

•Educate other people about the importance of bumblebees.

•Take part in the citizen scientist studies of bees such as The Great Canadian Bumblebee Count. Record your sightings. Take photos of the bee from as many angles as possible: Think head, thorax, abdomen—get all the parts documented.

Build a bumblebee box for families of bees to move into your garden!: Advice for deploying bumble bee nest boxes (domiciles), January 2016, Luc Pelletier & Ralph Cartar*

http://blogs.ubc.ca/theecoartincubator/files/2016/05/Pelletier-Cartar-Domicile-Instructions.pdf

Resources:

 Local native plants and seeds: http://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/

Native Plants for the Short Season Yard by Lyndon Penner. (This is a must-have book for the Albertan bumblebee gardener!!!!)
My book is now available through West Coast Seeds! Add a copy to your seed order! Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees

Resources for Alberta Bumblebee Gardeners

Bumblebee Plants for Alberta 

This list is a work of progress: check back for updates as I re-organize it to make this easier to read.

* Denotes a medicinal plant for bees

BOLD denotes special interest for bumblebee plants (buzz pollinated, longer corollas or special relationships, ie trip pollination)

Native and Near Native Shrubs:

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), Oregon Grape (Berberis spp.), Willow (Salix spp.), Sumac (Rhus spp.), Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), Blue Elderberry (Sambucus cerulea), Wax Currant (Ribes cereum), Clove Currant and other ribes spp., Wild Raspberry, Kinnikinnik (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), Wood’s Rose (Rosa Woodsii), Prickly Rose (R. acicularis), Blueberry—low bush vaccinium myrtilloides and cultivars, Potentilla spp., Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum), Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

June Gap: Ninebark (Physocarpus spp.), Spirea spp., Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), hardy roses

Later Shrubs: Buck Brush (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), Rabbit Brush (Chrysothamnus naseosus)

Native Trees Chokecherry, Crabapple, Pincherry, Saskatoon (and many other native fruit trees), Western Mountain Ash (Sorbus scopulina)

Native Vines: Purple Clematis (Clematis occidentalis) Virgin’s Bower Clematis (Clematis ligustifolium) beware of invasive look-alikes

Exotic Trees: Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), Linden (Tilia spp.) avoid silver linden (Tilia tomentosa); Stone Fruit Trees: apple, cherry, peach, apricot, pear, quince, plum; Redbuds (Cercis spp.);

Exotic Shrubs: Spirea spp., Climbing roses

Native and Near Native Perennials: Native violets, Prairie Crocus (Pulsatilla patens), Bleeding heart (Dicentra spp.), Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum spp.) Heartleaf Golden Alexanders (Zizea aptera)

 Nodding onion (Allium cernuum) and other native alliums, Canadian Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) and other Aquilegia spp., Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), Prairie Smoke (Geum trifolium), Few-Flowered Shooting Star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)

Milk Vetch (Astragalus spp.) toxic, Locoweed (Oxytropis spp.) toxic, Native Silvery Lupin (Lupinus argenteus) and other Lupinus spp. toxic, Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia spp.), Broomrape (Orobanche spp.)

Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium), Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor), Potentilla spp. native species and cultivars are great

Common Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia and other native and exotic spp.), Native Larkspurs Delphium bicolour, D. glaucum or Nuttall’s Larkspur (D. nuttallianum) HIGH toxicity warning, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata), Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Penstemon spp., Canadian Milk Vetch (Astragalus Canadensis and other native spp.), Scarlet Globe Mallow  (Sphaeralcea coccinea) (red-listed grassland species), Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha), Gumweed (Grindelia spp.)

Erigeron spp., Lilies (Erythronium spp.), Blue Gentian (Gentiana spp.), Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium spp.), Cranesbill Geranium (Geranium spp.)

Monkey Flower (Mimulus sp.), Summer Paintbrush (Castilleja spp.)

Native Annual: Bienenfreunde aka Lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)

Late-Blooming Native Asteraceae: Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum) Blanket Flower (Gaillardia spp.), Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.), Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritaceae), Asters (Symphyotrichum spp.), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.), Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), Coneflowers (Ratibida spp.), Black-eyed Susan the Alberta native is Rudbeckia serotina

Exotic Perennials: *Turtlehead: (Chelone glabra), Catmint (Nepeta cultivars) N. cataria can be invasive, *Sage (Salvia spp.) *Meadow Sage (Salvia pratensis), *Oregano, *Thyme, *Dragonhead (Dracocephalum spp.), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), Verbena spp.

Lavender (Lavandula spp.), Liatris spp., Comfrey (Symphytum spp.), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense), Hollyhocks (and other malva spp.), Wine Cup (Callirhoe involucrata), Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Sea Holly (Eringeum spp.), Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro), Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) comes with an invasive warning, Caterpillar Flower (Phacelia bolerandi), Masterwort (Astrantia major), Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)

Exotic Annuals: Borage (Borago officinalis), *Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), *Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), Calendula (Calendula officinalis), Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa) weedy warning, Blue Shrimp Plant (Cerinthe major), Moroccan Toadflax (Linaria maroccana)

Scarlet Runner Beans, *Nightshades (Tomato, Pepper, Eggplant, Potato), squash (Cucurbitae)

Globe Gilia (Gilia capitata), Zinnias (choose the large ones), Dahlias (Avoid doubles)

Let some of your veggies bloom for bees: radishes, kale, leeks, carrots, parsnips

Extra bee-friendly herbage: cilantro, fennel, dill, rosemary, mints, winter and summer savoury

Warning: Don’t plant Sainfoin (Onobrychis spp.)—I have recently found out that it is invasive in Alberta.

Sources and Recommended Reading:

Local native plants and seeds: http://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/

Native Plants for the Short Season Yard by Lyndon Penner. (This is a must-have book for the Albertan bumblebee gardener!!!!)

Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees by Lori Weidenhammer

Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Foraging Guide by Heather Holm. (Best for Eastern US, but some good info on more widespread native plants for bees.)

(You can buy these on Amazon, or support your local bookstore!)

Conserving Bumble Bees: Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators by the Xerces Society forInvertebrate Conservation. (This is available online for free.)

Victory Gardens for Bees at Shelf Life Books in Calgary

No rest for the wicked! I am in Cochrane, Alberta getting ready to head to Shelf Life bookstore tomorrow for the Calgary Book Launch of Victory Gardens for Bees.

In the meantime, I still have some pics to show you from Sunday at Vancouver's Mini Maker Faire and especially some shots of embroidery ideas for the folks that bought my Beespeaker craftivism kits. Feel free to share the patterns, or modify them to spread the word about feeding the bees/no neonics please.

 The origami seed packets were a hit with the mini makers.

This is another cool craftivism project: You Are So Very Beautiful: #YASVB.