Give Bees a Chance: The Yellow-Faced Bumblebee

Story by Maddie Ginn.

The Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) is the most common native bee on the West Coast. These ground-nesting social bees are champion pollinators, using a technique called "buzz pollination" where they vibrate their flight muscles at a specific frequency to shake pollen loose from flowers — essential for crops like tomatoes, peppers, and blueberries.

Queens emerge in early spring, found a colony in an abandoned rodent burrow or similar cavity, and raise workers through summer. By fall, new queens are produced and the old colony dies off. To invite them to your garden, plant yarrow (Achillea millefolium), California sages (Salvia spp.), and phacelia. Leave some areas of bare ground for nesting sites.