April
Plants in flower in April. A garden's value to bees is limited by its worst month rather than its best, so the list worth reading is the one for a month your own garden has nothing in.
84 records · flowering month
- RosemarySalvia rosmarinusThe timing is what makes it exceptional rather than the volume. A high-value plant in March is worth far more to bees than a better plant in July, when everything is flowering.
- AppleMalus domesticaValuable 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.
- CherryPrunus aviumImportant early forage arriving when colonies are expanding and bumblebee queens are founding nests. Almost all of it is consumed rather than stored.
- Wildflower meadowMixed native floraThe highest combined forage value of anything in this catalogue, because of diversity and duration rather than any single plant's output.
- EucalyptusEucalyptusProlific in both nectar and pollen when flowering, though the pollen of some species is nutritionally poor for honey bees, and colonies confined to a single eucalypt species can suffer over time despite abundant forage.
- Ogeechee tupeloNyssa ogecheExceptional nectar in a short window, in a habitat with little competing bloom at that moment. Its value is concentration in time and space rather than volume across a season.
- Oilseed rapeBrassica napusTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, and delivered at exactly the moment colonies are expanding fastest in spring. Its faults are entirely about what comes after.
- BlueberryVaccinium corymbosumUseful early forage, and a textbook illustration that abundant flowers do not guarantee an efficient pollination relationship.
- DandelionTaraxacum officinaleThe pollen is what makes it critical. It arrives when colonies are expanding fastest and have the least in reserve, and bumblebee queens emerging from hibernation depend on early sources like this one to found a nest at all.
- Goat willowSalix capreaThe single most important early-season pollen source across much of Europe. Its value is not in yielding honey but in what it makes possible six weeks later.
- CrocusCrocusVery high pollen at a point in the year when pollen is the binding constraint on a colony starting to raise brood. Bees return from crocus carrying enormous bright orange loads, which is one of the most cheerful sights in a February apiary.
- BlackthornPrunus spinosaGood for both at a moment when almost nothing else of tree scale is open. Its value is the date rather than the quantity.
- Crab appleMalus sylvestrisExcellent spring pollen and good nectar. Its particular value is the length of the flowering window relative to a cultivated apple.
- Horse chestnutAesculus hippocastanumTop-rated for both, in enormous quantity, from a single tree. One mature horse chestnut is worth a considerable area of border planting.
- SycamoreAcer pseudoplatanusVery high nectar and good pollen, delivered at tree scale in mid-spring, plus a honeydew contribution later. A single mature sycamore is a serious forage asset.
- HelleboreHelleborusModerate nectar and good pollen at the point in the year when both are hardest to find. Rated by timing rather than by quantity.
- AlliumAlliumGood for both from an entirely accessible flower shape, and available from a plant most vegetable gardens already contain.
- AsphodelAsphodelus ramosusA major early nectar source in country that offers little else at that season, and rated highly for pollen as well.
- RockroseCistus ladaniferAn outstanding pollen source and a good nectar one, and a plant that also supplies resin for propolis — an unusual triple contribution.
- BilberryVaccinium myrtillusGood nectar at a critical early moment for northern colonies and for emerging bumblebee queens, whose founding success tracks bilberry abundance closely in Fennoscandia.
- LemonCitrus limonExcellent nectar over an unusually long and repeated window, and only a moderate pollen contribution.
- Chinese milk vetchAstragalus sinicusVery high nectar delivered at vast scale in early spring, and the anchor of migratory beekeeping across southern China.
- BanksiaBanksiaTop nectar production in the catalogue for sheer volume per flower head, delivered in the Australian cool season when little else is open.
- LungwortPulmonaria officinalisGood nectar at the point in the year when bumblebee queens are founding nests and the earliest solitary bees are emerging.
- PrimrosePrimula vulgarisModerate on both counts, and it matters because of when it arrives rather than how much it offers.
- BluebellHyacinthoides non-scriptaGood for both, delivered at scale in the spring window, and an underrated contributor to April honey.
- Flowering currantRibes sanguineumGood nectar at the most precarious moment of the bumblebee year, from a shrub that requires no attention whatsoever.
- Dead-nettleLamiumGood nectar over an exceptionally long season, including the winter months when almost nothing else is available to a foraging bumblebee.
- Forget-me-notMyosotis sylvaticaModerate on both counts, and valuable because the flowers are small and shallow enough for the smallest solitary bees that larger plants exclude.
- CowslipPrimula verisModerate ratings from a plant whose real value is as an indicator — cowslips mark grassland that has not been fertilised or reseeded, and such grassland supports a great deal else.
- Grape hyacinthMuscari armeniacumGood nectar in the spring gap, from a plant that costs almost nothing and requires no maintenance.
- Field mapleAcer campestreVery high nectar from a tree most people do not realise is flowering, plus a honeydew contribution later in the season.
- GorseUlex europaeusZero nectar and top-rated pollen, available in midwinter. Alongside hazel and poppy it is the clearest argument for rating the two separately.
- BroomCytisus scopariusZero nectar and very high pollen — one of the small group of plants including poppy, hazel and gorse that make the case for separate ratings unanswerable.
- WallflowerErysimumGood nectar across an exceptionally long season, from a small drought-proof plant. Very few things offer eight months of forage from one position.
- MesquiteProsopisA principal desert forage plant, providing both nectar and pollen in landscapes with very few alternatives.
- Black sageSalvia melliferaAn outstanding nectar source in a good year, and the backbone of the chaparral forage sequence.
- Sweet orangeCitrus sinensisA heavy nectar source over a substantial period, and moderate for pollen.
- AvocadoPersea americanaA heavy nectar and pollen source, and one the bees are notably unenthusiastic about relative to what else is on offer.
- CoffeeCoffea arabicaA heavy but very short-lived nectar source, in flushes rather than as a continuous flow.
- English oakQuercus roburNo floral nectar and little useful pollen — the catkins are wind-pollinated and their pollen is collected only incidentally. The honeydew is the entire beekeeping interest, and stating that plainly is more useful than calling the tree bee-friendly.
- Saw palmettoSerenoa repensA heavy spring nectar and pollen source across a very large area.
- ColtsfootTussilago farfaraA moderate nectar source and a generous pollen source, at a moment in the year when both are close to unavailable.
- PearPyrus communisPoor for nectar and good for pollen, which is exactly the sort of split a single bee-friendliness rating would erase.
- PlumPrunus domesticaA useful early nectar source and a generous pollen source when colonies most need pollen for brood rearing.
- Chinese tallowTriadica sebiferaAn excellent nectar and pollen source, and the mainstay of Gulf coast beekeeping.
- LogwoodHaematoxylum campechianumAn excellent dry-season nectar source across the Caribbean.
- Southern beechFuscosporaNo floral nectar and negligible pollen. The honeydew is the whole of its value, and it is enormous — which is exactly why nectar and pollen are rated separately in this catalogue.
- KaranjPongamia pinnataA good nectar and pollen source at the thinnest point of the Indian year.
- SheaVitellaria paradoxaA good dry-season nectar and pollen source across the West African savannah.
- Resin spurgeEuphorbia resiniferaA good spring nectar source on ground that offers very little else.
- ArganArgania spinosaA good spring nectar source in a semi-arid landscape with few alternatives.
- MahuaMadhuca longifoliaAn excellent spring nectar source at the hottest and driest point of the central Indian year.
- NeemAzadirachta indicaA good dry-season nectar source across the Indian subcontinent.
- MangoMangifera indicaA good dry-season nectar and pollen source across the tropics.
- OsierSalix viminalisA modest nectar source and an outstanding pollen source at the point in the year when pollen matters most — colonies need it for brood, not for stores.
- Bird cherryPrunus padusA generous spring nectar and pollen source, and worked heavily for the fortnight it lasts.
- BlackcurrantRibes nigrumA good early nectar source at a point when little else is available.
- GooseberryRibes uva-crispaA good early nectar source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
- ApricotPrunus armeniacaA good early nectar and pollen source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
- PeachPrunus persicaA good early nectar and pollen source across the orchard regions.
- Norway mapleAcer platanoidesAn excellent early nectar and pollen source, and one of the more significant urban resources in European towns.
- DaphneDaphneA good early nectar source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
- Siberian squillScilla sibericaGenerous for its size on both counts, and valuable specifically for its timing.
- Grecian windflowerAnemone blandaLittle nectar and abundant pollen, which is what colonies rearing brood in March most need.
- Lesser celandineFicaria vernaA moderate nectar source and a generous pollen source at exactly the point in the year when colonies need pollen for brood.
- BugleAjuga reptansA good nectar source at a point in the season that is thinner than it looks, and specifically in shade where options are few.
- HonestyLunaria annuaA good spring nectar source in a season that is thinner than it appears, particularly in shade.
- AubrietaAubrieta deltoideaGenerous on both counts for its size, and the flower density makes a modest plant into a substantial resource.
- Wild garlicAllium ursinumA generous late-spring nectar and pollen source with completely accessible flowers.
- Poached egg plantLimnanthes douglasiiAn outstanding nectar and pollen source, and among the most heavily visited plants for its size in a temperate garden.
- Sea buckthornHippophae rhamnoidesA genuinely useful early pollen source in a season when protein is scarce, and not a nectar plant at all. Honey sold as sea buckthorn honey is normally a blossom honey from the surrounding flora, or an infusion of berry juice into honey — both legitimate products, neither a monofloral.
- Holm oakQuercus ilexA pollen source in spring and, in the right years, a substantial honeydew source from midsummer onwards. The two have nothing to do with each other.
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaA dependable year-round trickle rather than a flow, which in a dryland landscape is worth more than its volume suggests.
- Talh acaciaVachellia seyalA major dry-season source across the Sahel and Arabia, and the backbone of migratory beekeeping in Sudan.
- DurianDurio zibethinusA short, intense and unreliable flow, worked in the narrow overlap between when the flowers are open and when bees are flying.
- LycheeLitchi chinensisOne of the most valuable subtropical orchard flows there is, and a crop whose yield rises measurably where colonies are present.
- Coconut palmCocos nuciferaThe most reliable background forage across much of the coastal tropics, precisely because it never stops. Coastal apiaries frequently rest on it between the seasonal flows.
- MangiumAcacia mangiumA substantial plantation flow across Southeast Asia, produced by a mechanism most beekeeping literature does not cover — extrafloral nectar, secreted by the leaf rather than the flower.
- TamarindTamarindus indicaA valuable hot-season source across India and the Sahel, and one of the few substantial flows available immediately before the rains.
- Green cardamomElettaria cardamomumA modest flow with an outsized agricultural significance: cardamom yield rises substantially where honey bee colonies are present, and estates stock hives for that reason.
- NiaouliMelaleuca quinquenerviaA heavy and reliable flow wherever it grows, which is a substantial part of why it is tolerated in places that would otherwise remove it.
- Oil palmElaeis guineensisA heavy year-round pollen source and a poor nectar one, which makes plantation apiaries protein-rich and carbohydrate-poor — a genuine management problem rather than a technicality.
- Spanish needleBidens albaAmong the most important sources in Florida beekeeping, and the one that carries colonies between the citrus, palmetto and gallberry flows.
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