Apple

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Heavily worked by everything flying in April. Mason bees are the standout: their dry abdominal pollen sheds far more readily onto the next flower than a honey bee's packed leg pellets, and they move between varieties more freely — both of which are exactly what a self-incompatible crop needs.

Open, shallow flowers accessible to short and long tongues alike, which is why the visitor list is so long.

Worth knowing

Valuable spring forage, but rarely a surplus crop: the window is short and the colony is still building at that point in the year, so most of what comes in is eaten immediately.

Flowering

In flower

April to May (northern hemisphere)

A short window of one to two weeks per tree, and the weather during it decides the year's crop. Cold or wet blossom time is the classic cause of a failed harvest.

When nectar flows

Nectar is produced at the base of the flower and is readily accessible. The flow is generous but brief.

Year-to-year variation

Many apple varieties are biennial bearers, cropping heavily one year and lightly the next, which affects blossom quantity as well as fruit.

What it does to the honey

Rarely produced as a monofloral. Where apple dominates an early wildflower honey, it contributes a light, fruity, faintly appley character.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, fertile well-drained soil, shelter from late frost during blossom.

Size

2-10 m depending on rootstock; dwarfing rootstocks keep trees under 3 m.

Native range

Domesticated from Malus sieversii in the Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia and spread west along trade routes over several thousand years.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Orchard, Hedgerow

Maintenance, and the bit that matters

Winter pruning is the traditional timing and does not affect blossom. Summer pruning of trained forms is fine too.

• Plant at least two compatible varieties that flower at the same time, or a family tree with several grafted on. A single apple tree in isolation will usually crop poorly.
• Crab apples are excellent universal pollinators for orchard apples and flower generously.
• Choose a dwarfing rootstock for small gardens — the rootstock, not the variety, controls the size.
• Put up mason bee tubes near fruit trees. The effect on fruit set is measurable and quick.

What it looks like

A small to medium deciduous tree with spreading branches and clusters of five-petalled flowers, white flushed with pink, opening from deep pink buds before or with the leaves.