P.S. Any tips about growing herbs?

Where are you located? Based on your name, I'm going to guess somewhere in the SE. Where you are might make a difference for recommendations of plants and taking care of them, since each region of the country has a different type of climate!

Regarding planting different plants together - generally, plants that need the same types of growing conditions, whether they are sun lovers or shade plants, are drought tolerant or prefer moist conditions, can grow in neutral soils or are acid-lovers - these are the things that you want to look for when deciding what goes with what. Eg., if the location of your container is in full sun most of the day and in a hot dry location, you might not want to include tuberous begonias or fuchsias that like shadey conditions, in the same container as say, a lantana (or any of the verbenas), that like the sun. Usually the plant tag has some mention of preferred amount of sun. If your location is part sun - then you can often put many mixed plantings of part sun/sun plants together.

Regarding the bees - are you sure they are bumble bees? They tend to be solitary. It seems to me that you might be seeing carpenter bees, which look almost like bumble bees and generally live near places with wood beams or wood fencing, wood sheds, wood decks, etc. And even those tend to stake out a territory and chase others away. Could be that you have wasps instead. In any event, if they are bees, they tend to come out en masse in a spring and lessen later in the year. The wasps seem to gradually build up through the summer. If you see swarms, you may have a nest near by and it might be better to talk to your landlord (assuming you rent) about pest control as they can get someone to find and remove the nest. Sprays might not help much if the nest is still intact nearby.

Regarding watering - it depends on the plant. Some prefer it dry (eg., oleanders, many herbs like rosemary, bay, but except the mints). Others prefer moist like impatiens, begonias, cannas, bee balm, spearmint, etc. You have to experiment a little. If you wait before watering, eventually the plant will start to droop a little, and if you give it a drink and it perks up, that sortof gives you an indication about when to water. It will depend on the temperature, humidity, amount of sun, the soil, and even whether you mulch or not (mulching will help retain some moisture).

Finally, regarding herbs - depends on what kind you plan to grow. The most common ones seem to like sunny locations with moderate to light watering.

To grow most herbs you will need at least 4 hours of sun a day. The mediterranians - oregano, rosemary, thyme, lavender - also scented geraniums and aloe, are relatively drought tolerant and like good drainage, a sandy or gravelly soil. You can pot most of these together. go for the spanish or french lavenders, which are more heat tolerant. (L. Stoechas or Dentata.)

Lemon grass likes the same conditions but be aware it gets a lot larger than the others so scale your plantings accordingly.

Bay likes the sharp drainage but will take a little more shade in our area.

Mints, basil, lemon balm, chives and parsely like their soil a little richer, with more humus and more water. they can take a little more shade (I put my mint pots behind the others to keep them from cooking.) Sinse mint is thuggish I put it by itself. The others would probably be okay together.

Parsely is somewhat problematic as it likes cool temperatures and should be grown as a winter annual. But garden stores usually sell it in the spring. You can try growing it from seed started in the fall. It's notoriously slow to sprout. Refridgerating the seed before planting may speed the process (tricking it into thinking winter just passed.)

If you're really into the herb thing a great regional book is Southern Herb Growing by Hill and Barclay. It's realistic about what you can grow in different parts of the South and what not to bother with.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!