New Jersey is home to roughly 350 species of native bees, plus thousands of managed honey bee colonies that support nearly $200 million in annual fruit and vegetable production. From tiny solitary ground-nesters to large carpenter bees drilling into deck wood, the state’s bee diversity is surprisingly rich. Whether you’re trying to identify what’s buzzing in your yard, thinking about beekeeping, or looking for ways to help pollinators, here’s what you need to know.
Native Bee Species Across the State
Most people picture honey bees when they think of bees, but honey bees aren’t native to North America. New Jersey’s 350 native species are a different story entirely. The vast majority are solitary, meaning each female builds her own nest rather than living in a hive with a queen. Many dig burrows in bare soil. Others depend on hollow plant stems or gaps in dead wood. Leaf-cutter bees snip neat circles from leaves to line their tunnels, while carpenter bees bore into dry wood to create their brood chambers.
Bumble bees are the main exception. They’re the only native bees in New Jersey that form true colonies, with a queen and worker caste sharing a nest. You’ll find them foraging from early spring through late fall, visiting everything from blueberry blossoms to goldenrod.
One striking feature of native bees is how specialized many of them are. Some species pollinate only a handful of plant species, and some adults live just a week or two, spending the rest of the year developing underground as larvae. The tiny Andrena bees, for instance, emerge in spring, visit specific wildflowers, lay eggs in soil burrows, and disappear. You could easily walk past them without noticing.
Bees vs. Wasps: What’s in Your Yard
A lot of what people call “bee stings” are actually caused by wasps, particularly yellowjackets. Telling them apart is straightforward once you know what to look for. Bees are fuzzy, with visible hair covering their bodies that helps them collect pollen. Yellowjackets are smooth and shiny, with crisp black-and-yellow stripes and no fuzz. Yellowjackets also have a blunt connection between their midsection and abdomen, while paper wasps have a narrow, pinched waist.
Behavior differs too. Honey bees can only sting once because their barbed stinger tears away from their body. Wasps sting repeatedly and tend to be far more aggressive, especially near food sources in late summer. If something is hovering around your soda can at a picnic, it’s almost certainly a yellowjacket, not a bee.
Declining Species and Conservation Concerns
Not all of New Jersey’s bees are doing well. The rusty patched bumble bee was once common across the state and 30 other states and provinces. It was listed as federally endangered in 2017, the first bee in the continental U.S. to receive that designation. Before the mid-1990s, it was widely distributed across its range, including New Jersey. Since 2000, it has not been reported in the state at all. Sightings are now limited to roughly 14 states, mostly in the upper Midwest.
The causes behind this decline apply broadly to many bee species: habitat loss, pesticide exposure, disease spread from managed bee populations, and reduced availability of native flowering plants. New Jersey’s ongoing suburban development puts particular pressure on ground-nesting bees, which need undisturbed patches of bare or lightly vegetated soil to reproduce.
Managed Honey Bees and Beekeeping
New Jersey maintains around 20,000 managed honey bee colonies, valued collectively at about $7 million. These colonies are essential for pollinating the state’s commercial crops, contributing to successful production of fruits and vegetables worth nearly $200 million each year. Blueberries, cranberries, apples, and tomatoes all benefit from honey bee pollination.
If you’re interested in keeping bees in New Jersey, state law requires you to register any bee yard where colonies overwinter with the Department of Agriculture. This registration must be renewed annually. There’s also a voluntary notification program through the Department of Environmental Protection: beekeepers who register their yard locations can require pesticide applicators within three miles to notify them at least 24 hours before spraying anything labeled as toxic to bees. That notification is mandatory for the applicator, but only if the beekeeper has registered. To be included on the current year’s list, registrations need to be submitted by March 1st.
There’s no state limit on the number of bee yards you can register, though local municipal ordinances may have their own rules about hive placement and density.
Native Plants That Support NJ Bees
The single most effective thing you can do for bees in New Jersey is plant native species that bloom across multiple seasons. Bees need continuous forage from early spring through late fall. A yard full of non-native ornamentals may look lush but offer little actual nutrition for pollinators.
Rutgers University’s Agricultural Experiment Station recommends building a “bloom calendar” so something is always flowering. For spring, consider wild geranium (pink flowers, good in partial shade), Virginia bluebells, wild lupine, or redbud and serviceberry trees. These provide critical early-season nectar when bees are just emerging.
Summer is peak foraging season, and the options expand. Bee balm, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, milkweed, and Joe-Pye weed are all native, widely available at nurseries, and heavily visited by bees. Mountain mint is a standout performer that attracts an enormous range of bee species. For trees, basswood produces abundant nectar in early summer.
Fall is when many gardens go bare, and that’s exactly when bees need help most. Goldenrod and native asters are the two best late-season options. Both bloom into October and provide the last major food source before winter. Despite its reputation, goldenrod does not cause hay fever (ragweed, which blooms at the same time, is the actual culprit).
Simple Ways to Help Ground-Nesting Bees
Because the majority of New Jersey’s native bees nest in the ground, leaving some areas of your yard unmulched and undisturbed makes a real difference. A patch of bare, well-drained soil in a sunny spot can become nesting habitat. Avoid covering every square foot with thick mulch or landscape fabric.
Hollow-stem nesters benefit when you leave dead plant stalks standing through winter rather than cutting everything back in fall. Old raspberry canes, pithy stems from bee balm, and dried flower stalks all serve as potential nesting sites. Drilling holes of varying diameter (3/32 to 5/16 inch) into untreated wood blocks creates simple “bee hotels” for cavity-nesting species.
Reducing or eliminating pesticide use in your yard is equally important. Even pesticides not specifically targeting bees can be lethal to them, particularly when applied to blooming plants. If you must treat for pests, applying products in the evening when bees aren’t foraging reduces exposure significantly.