Bee bee tree

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Among the most heavily worked trees available to temperate gardeners. Its value is timing rather than volume alone: August is when colonies begin consuming stores, and a tree flowering then is disproportionately useful.

Worth knowing

Outstanding on both counts, and precisely timed to the late-summer forage gap.

Flowering

In flower

July to September (northern hemisphere)

Flowers in August in most of Europe, at the point in the year when the summer gap is deepest.

When nectar flows

Very heavy. A mature tree in full flower is loud with bees, and it is one of the plants routinely described as the best late-season tree available in temperate gardens.

Year-to-year variation

Reliable once the tree is mature, though a single tree does not make a crop — this is a gap-filler rather than a honey source in its own right unless planted in numbers.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on well-drained soil, fully hardy in temperate climates, and reasonably fast-growing.

Size

10-20 m tall with a broad spreading crown.

Native range

China and Korea. Widely planted in Europe and North America for late forage and as an ornamental.

Suits

Large gardens

• Plant in full sun; flowering is much reduced in shade.
• It takes five to eight years from planting to flower well, so it is a long-term investment in the forage gap.
• It seeds around in warmer regions and is regarded as mildly invasive in parts of the eastern United States, which is worth checking locally before planting.

What it looks like

A spreading tree with pinnate leaves and large flat sprays of small white flowers in late summer, followed by clusters of red-brown seed capsules that split to show shining black seeds.