Garden planner vs plant recommender
One builds a planting plan that covers the whole season; the other answers which plants suit a specific bee or a specific site. They are used at different points in the same project.
Which to choose
Open the garden planner first if you are starting from scratch or from a garden with obvious empty months — it is the tool that catches the gaps. Open the plant recommender when you have a specific target: a bee you want to support, a shady corner, a September gap. Most bee gardens benefit from the planner once and the recommender repeatedly.
Why these get compared
Both take a garden and return plants, and someone starting a bee garden reasonably wonders which to open first.
Where they differ
| Axis | Garden planner | Plant recommender | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it optimises for | Continuous flowering across the year, with no month left empty | Matching plants to a target — a bee group, a site condition, a season | The planner is about coverage; the recommender is about fit. |
| Input | Garden size, conditions, how much of the year you want covered | A bee group, a season, garden context, soil and aspect | The planner asks about your garden; the recommender asks what you are trying to attract. |
| Output | A plan with plants distributed across the calendar | A ranked list of plants matching the criteria | The planner returns a schedule; the recommender returns candidates. |
| When to use it | At the start, when deciding what to plant at all | Once you know the gap you are filling, or the bee you want | Planner first, recommender second, in most projects. |
| What both refuse to do | Guarantee that bees will come | Guarantee that a particular bee will come | Neither predicts wildlife. They match plant properties to stated criteria and say so. |
| Common mistake | Using it and then ignoring the winter entries | Using it to chase a single rare bee in an unsuitable landscape | A specialist bee needs the right landscape as well as the right plant. |
Where the difference is overstated
What either can promise. Both are deterministic filters over plant records. They tell you which plants match your criteria and cannot tell you what will turn up, which depends on the landscape around you far more than on your borders.
Sources
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
- Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.