Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Garden Articles >> About Garden

Attract Mining Bees to Your Garden with Their Favorite Plants

Mining bees (Andrena) are gentle, ground-nesting pollinators common in urban and suburban gardens. Active primarily in spring, they nest in bare, uncompacted soil — often in lawns — and rarely sting (their stingers can't penetrate human skin). By providing pesticide-free habitat and a succession of their preferred forage plants, you can invite these effective pollinators to your yard.

Female mining bee on American plum Holm Design & Consulting LLC

Mining Bee Basics

Family: Andrenidae
Species: ~480 in North America; 1,500+ worldwide
Distribution: Northern Hemisphere; common across U.S. and southern Canada
Habitat: Woodland edges, gardens, meadows, prairies, old fields
Activity: Most active spring; some summer/fall specialists

Why They Matter

Mining bees are excellent pollinators for simple and complex flowers, using buzz pollination (vibrating flowers to release pollen). They're primary pollinators for blueberries and many woodland wildflowers, shrubs (viburnums, dogwoods), and fall aster-family plants (goldenrods, asters).

Milwaukee Andrena on serviceberry Holm Design & Consulting LLC

Identifying Mining Bees

Size ranges from 1/10 to 5/16 inch. Mostly black with white, gold, or orange hairs on head/thorax. Females have two felt-lined facial depressions (foveae) that appear as vertical stripes. Pollen collects high on hind legs and thorax sides — distinct from other bees.

Neighborly Andrena on violet Holm Design & Consulting LLC

How to Attract Them

Provide nesting sites: Leave patches of bare, uncompacted sandy-loam to silt-loam soil. Protect spring/fall nest excavations (resemble ant hills).
Eliminate pesticides: Especially insecticides on flowers and lawns where they nest.
Plant a continuous bloom succession: Include both generalist and specialist forage plants native to your region.

Forage Plants by Season

Spring (specialists marked *): Bloodroot, wild geranium*, violets*, American plum, largeflower bellwort, serviceberry, Virginia waterleaf*, American bladdernut, dogwoods*, willows*, Golden Alexanders*, Jacob's ladder*, goat's beard*, blueberry*.

Summer: Yellow coneflower*, black-eyed Susan*, purple coneflower*, lead plant, sunflowers*.

Late Summer/Fall: Goldenrod*, common boneset, asters*.

Geranium Andrena on Virginia waterleaf Holm Design & Consulting LLC

Life Cycle

One generation per year in upper Midwest/Great Lakes/Northeast. Females emerge, mate, excavate nests with central shafts and lateral brood cells. They provision each cell with pollen-nectar "bee bread," lay an egg, cap with soil. Spring species overwinter as adults; fall species as prepupae. Females may reuse nests.

Mining bee nest in sandy soil Holm Design & Consulting LLC