Habitat needs:

Bumble bees love a diversity of flowers and in turn, support ecosystem diversity. They occupy higher elevation, mountain meadow habitats and are active in the cooler temperatures from early spring to late summer. Some of the flowers you might find them on include:

• White Flowers: Utah Columbine (Aquilegia scopulorum), Rocky Mountain strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)

• Red Flowers: Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata), Red Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera)

• Blue Flowers: Explorer's Gentian (Gentiana calycosa), Blue Flax (Linum perenne or lewisii)

• Yellow Flowers: Arrowleaf Balsamroot(Balsamorhiza sagittata), Red Dome Blanketflower (Gaillardia pinnatifida)

• Purple Flowers: Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus), Western Prairie Clover (Dalea ornata)

Gardening for Bumble Bees:

You can take steps to make your yard more bee-friendly and help sustain bumble bee populations. For a step-by-step guide to gardening for pollinators, see the Pollinator Partnership Planting Guide.

Participate in Community Science:

In addition to logging your pollinator observations in iNaturalist with Utah Pollinator Pursuit, you can get involved in other community science projects with our conservation partners!

We encourage folks who are interested in getting more involved to participate in the Bumble Bee Atlas, a conservation initiative by the Xerces Society and partners to track and conserve bumble bees.

Join us at our joint Utah Pollinator Pursuit & Bumble Bee Atlas training workshop on May 10, 2025 to learn from project coordinators and connect with fellow pollinator enthusiasts while learning the what, why, and how of these two community science projects.