Most bumbles will die out and your "sleepy" ones are almost gone.

Some will make it over winter in walls, holes in the ground and many more places, they will be the new queens starting up a new season in spring.
The same with wasp.
Konrad

Where do they live during the active summer season?

Early spring, you will see the very large queen bumbles seeking out new nesting sites cruising low over the ground looking for holes in the ground, like old mouse tunnels, or any openings in the ground, also seeking out barn sites and checking out walls where they can get in, also sheds, piles of old wood on the ground or just a safe place on a hill, [have observed many times] with a mossy type of structure, where they actually dig themselves into and build a nest.
You can set out nesting places for them, like using clay pots, [plant pot] and bury them half way into the ground, having the hole on top, where they can go in and out
also making little nesting boxes and hag them about 2 feet off the ground like this Video shows.
Place some dry moss or soft grass, like you would see in a mouse nest.

http://mkat.iwf.de/mms/metafiles/02000018060220000000_lo.asx

Konrad

Here is a link that might be useful: Bumble bee video

Wow, that is a great video! Thanks Konrad!! If you all haven't watched it yet, take the time and do so...

Diann
IA Z5a

Thanks for the video and all the info. I wonder where my bees are nesting...

"Most bumbles will die out and your "sleepy" ones are almost gone. "--- i have never heard this before. mostly i have just read that they didn't go back to the nest that night due to cool temps and are "sleeping."

interesting.

I was interested in the bumble bees because I have numerous
and prolific "bumble bee plants or bushes which only seem to attract bumble bees-no honey bees.These are interesting plants that grow rapidly up to 5 or 6 feet tall with numerous white or mauve flowers which look somewhat like a snapdragon flower or like popcorn in shape. This plant loves water since it has a large hollow stem which is quite robust but with a rather small root ball considering
the height of the plant. What's even more interesting is the way this plants sheds it's pod of seeds come fall-the pod is dark banana shaped and when something or someone brushes it,thes pods litterly explode and spray their hard seeds in every direction. It's like being pelted by hail when you come in contact with them. Quite the release mechanism-must be based on some like tension mechanism in the skin of the pod which releases when touched even so slightly. Do you know the proper name of this plant?
Enjoyed the video. Peter

I found a bumblebee nest yesterday while trimming my ivy. I understand bumblebees like ivy and it is around my back porch. I have lots of flowers they like during spring and summer. I was interested in the fact that most of them do not survive the winter. It will be interesting to see if the nest is still there next spring.

Bumblebees do not have perennial hives like honeybees. Only the new queens survive the winter. They have already mated and will store the sperm inside their bodies. The workers and males die at the end of the season.

There was a great 1 hour show on Nat Geo this past Sunday called Bumblebee. I didn't know much about them either. Queen is bred in the fall and all others die off. She "hibernates" under ground and comes out in the spring. Usually the queen will build a nest in an old mouse hole or something similar underground. She starts laying eggs and builds a colony. The next fall they will raise another queen and kill the current queen. She is bred, the others die off and the cycle starts over.