Seed guide
Bumblebloom doesn't sell seed packets any more. Below is every flower on our index, what to ask for when you order, and the independent seed houses that grow and pack it best — buy from whichever suits your soil, your season and your postcode.
Single species
One flower per packet, not a mix.
Open-pollinated
Seed you can save and sow again.
Native where possible
Local species feed local colonies.
Bumble only
Digitalis purpurea
The tube is far too long for a honey bee's tongue. Bumble bees climb right inside and come out dusted with pollen.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Heirloom foxglove in several colours, including the white form.
Cheap small packets — foxglove self-seeds, so one is plenty.
Autumn nectar
Aconitum napellus
The nectar sits at the back of a hooded bloom. Only a long-tongued bumble bee can reach it — and so the plant keeps its nectar for its best courier.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Aconitum seed when it is in stock; usually listed under perennials.
Occasional stock of cold-hardy aconitum from a northern grower.
Blooms to frost
Antirrhinum majus
The flower is clamped shut. Bumble bees are heavy enough to pry the lips apart, then walk inside — an entry no small bee can force.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Open-pollinated snapdragons that come back true from saved seed.
Trialed snapdragon lines with germination rates printed on each lot.
Early season
Lupinus perennis
A lupine releases pollen only when shaken at a precise frequency. Bumble bees buzz it open; other insects leave empty-handed.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Native Lupinus perennis — the one our wild bumble bees actually work.
Lupine packets and mixes if you want a whole drift at once.
Refills fast
Borago officinalis
Refills its nectar within minutes, so short-tongued bumble bees return all day. Scatter it through the border as a top-up station.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Borage is cheap and fast; a single packet self-seeds for years.
Larger packets for a whole bed, with honest days-to-bloom figures.
Long-tongue
Delphinium elatum
Each bloom hides a nectar spur at the back. The long-tongued garden bumble bee is built to reach it and pollinates as it backs out.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Named delphinium strains, including the tall Pacific hybrids.
Cool-season biennial stock that handles a slow, cold start.
Evening scent
Lonicera periclymenum
Opens at dusk and fills with scent, feeding long-tongued bumble bees into the evening when other flowers have closed.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Native vining honeysuckle seed for the species bumble bees use.
Live plants where you would rather not wait two years for a vine.
Workhorse
Symphytum officinale
A workhorse: dozens of hanging bells per stem and a nectar supply that keeps early colonies alive while fruit trees finish blooming.
What to ask for
Where to buy
Comfrey seed and root cuttings from a grower that still lists it.
Bocking-style comfrey crowns, the reliable way to start it.
Your nectar coins
Coins are the only thing we hand out, and only for playing. Every arcade run pays a fraction of your score — capped at 30 a session — and those coins buy pollen shields and field hints in your garden.
Our seed houses
None of these are sponsors. They are simply the places that still sell single species in honest quantities, and tell you what the seed needs before you open the packet.