Bell heather

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked heavily by honey bees and by the heathland bumblebees. The bell shape suits bees that can push in, and the plant supports a distinct heathland bee community including several Colletes and Andrena specialists.

Worth knowing

A good nectar source and moderate for pollen, over a long summer season on ground with few alternatives.

Flowering

In flower

June to September (northern hemisphere)

Begins several weeks before ling heather and overlaps with it, which lets a moorland beekeeper take two crops.

When nectar flows

Generous, and starting earlier than ling. It is the more dependable of the two in a poor summer.

Year-to-year variation

More reliable than ling heather, which is notoriously weather-dependent. Bell heather honey is less well known largely because ling heather has the reputation and the thixotropic texture that commands the price.

What it does to the honey

Dark reddish-amber, richer and more treacly than ling heather honey, with a strong caramel character. Unlike ling it is not thixotropic — it behaves like an ordinary honey in the jar.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on dry, acid, free-draining soil. It requires ericaceous conditions and will not tolerate lime.

Size

15-60 cm tall.

Native range

Western Europe, from Norway to Portugal, on dry acid heath, moor and coastal cliff.

Suits

Small gardens, Containers and window boxes, Large gardens

• Requires acid soil; in alkaline areas grow it in a container of ericaceous compost with rainwater.
• Trim lightly after flowering to keep it compact, but never cut into old wood.
• Plant it with ling heather to extend the heather season from June to September.

What it looks like

A low wiry subshrub with fine needle-like leaves in whorls of three, and dense clusters of bright magenta-purple bell-shaped flowers, considerably larger and more vivid than those of ling heather.