Bumblebee on the Lavender (gouache style)

Bumblebees are the big, furry bees of British gardens, and there are more than twenty species in the UK. The ones you're most likely to see are the buff-tailed, red-tailed, white-tailed and garden bumblebees, told apart mostly by the colour of their bands and tails. Their colonies last a single year. Only newly mated queens survive the winter, and each one starts a nest alone in spring. They can fly in cool weather, warming up by shivering their flight muscles.

Hungry queens appear on mild days from February, so early flowers such as crocus, pulmonaria and pussy willow matter. Lavender takes over in high summer. Plant it in spring in full sun and free-draining soil, then trim it straight after flowering in late summer, cutting off the spent stalks and a little leafy growth. Don't cut back into old, bare wood, since it rarely regrows. Asters, sedums and ivy carry the season into autumn, and skipping pesticides keeps the whole cycle safe.

Here a single bumblebee works along spikes of purple lavender, with pink cosmos softening the background. Both plants flower together in summer, when the border is at its busiest. The bee is shown mid-visit because that's how you'll usually meet one in a garden, moving steadily from flower to flower along each spike.