Bug FAQGarden Bumble Bee
Bombus hortorum · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Also called: Small Garden Bumble Bee, Small Garden Humble-bee
The garden bumblebee is a large bee with a long tongue and distinctive yellow markings. It lives in grasslands, especially recently cattle-grazed fields, and feeds on deep-corolla flowers such as foxglove and thistles. It is native across most of Europe, the British Isles, parts of Asia and New Zealand.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Queens are 19 to 22 mm long with a wingspan of 35 to 38 mm. The tongue is about 15 mm long, sometimes up to 20 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
They can carry the gut parasite Crithidia bombi.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are most common in grasslands that have many flowers, especially recently cattle-grazed areas.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They also forage on Aquilegia species like A. vulgaris and A. chrysantha.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females mate only once, which raises colony relatedness. After mating in late summer, females store sperm in a spermatheca for use after hibernation.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Pesticide exposure when a queen first starts a colony can affect colony development and size.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Found throughout most of Europe up to 70° N, in parts of Asia, New Zealand, and the whole British Isles including Orkney and Shetland.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Massachusetts.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where can I find garden bumblebees?
They are common in grasslands with many flowers, especially recently cattle-grazed fields.
Source: Wikipedia
What plants do they visit?
They favor deep-corolla flowers such as foxglove, thistles, clovers and also Aquilegia species.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_hortorum
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.