Globally speaking these bumblebees are under threat, and a number of efforts are afoot to stop this alarming trend. Some with huge budgets behind them.
Albert Einstein once remarked that humans would only live about 4 years after the bees disappeared. Bumblebee.org says Einstein got it wrong we have 7 years after the bees go. By either measure, it’s not good news. If our species is forced live on wind pollinated plants only, there will be a lot less of us. The UK government and many USA state extension services are calling for more flowers to be planted and for the creation of regional and local floral carpet nectaries for the pollinators. This way the diet of the bee’s will improve. Diversity is the key to life.
All Americans!!! this is a call to arms for our species and our environment!
Perennial plants and American native flowering plants (including Tiarella sp.) are great food for bees. We must plant flowers for bees, or forget about eating that apple and countless other plants which we are pleased to consider as part our daily diet. This year, we did get our seed set on the Tiarellas, and I am counting on it for our business. However, it was not a job done by the bumblebees. Carpenter bees, honey bees, small sweat bees, and mason bees did the job, but I recall seeing more of them too, in previous years. Sure enough a long list of bees in danger is on Xerces (a site about endangered invertebrates) including mason bees and sweat bees, which are also very good pollinators.
I do hope the bumblebees have not disappeared from all your locations and gardens…
The UK gov’t determined by research it is the gardens at people’s homes which serve to house and feed most of their bumblebees. USDA Agricultural Research Service, and many entomology researchers are looking into the problem, but we shouldn’t wait for results of that research. We must act and act at once! Plant some foam flowers now, we are running out of time!!!
You are in luck!
We have lots of new, native selections of the Eastern Heart-leaved foam flowers – or foamies, for short – ready for your gardens. Check out The River Series, ‘Delaware’, ‘Lehigh’, ‘Octoraro’, ‘Susquehanna’ and ‘Wissahickon’. All available from our licensed growers below! Try some NOW – for the sake of our food.
