October
Plants in flower in October. 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.
72 records · flowering month
- IvyHedera helixOne of the very few plants that is top-rated for both nectar and pollen, and it delivers them when the year's other options have finished. For overwintering insects this is decisive.
- 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.
- Strawberry treeArbutus unedoValuable out of all proportion to its abundance, because of when it flowers. Late nectar lets colonies enter winter with fresh stores in a landscape that has otherwise shut down.
- SidrZiziphus spina-christiIn much of its range sidr is not merely a good forage plant but effectively the only one at that time of year, which makes it structurally critical rather than simply valuable.
- PhaceliaPhacelia tanacetifoliaOne of very few plants rated top for both nectar and pollen, delivered late in the season when both are scarce. That combination is why it appears in nearly every agri-environment seed mix in Europe.
- 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.
- Michaelmas daisySymphyotrichum novi-belgiiRated high for both, and delivered in September and October when the ratings matter most. In a garden, asters and ivy together carry the entire autumn.
- SageSalviaVery high nectar and only moderate pollen — sage feeds adult foragers superbly and contributes comparatively little to brood rearing, which is a common pattern in the mint family.
- CatmintNepetaVery high nectar over an exceptionally long season. Its ratings are strong and its real distinction is duration.
- VerbenaVerbena bonariensisGood ratings sustained over an exceptionally long season, and delivered late — verbena is often the last substantial nectar in a garden before ivy.
- CosmosCosmos bipinnatusGood ratings for both, delivered over months, from a plant that costs almost nothing. Its efficiency per pound spent is hard to beat.
- CalendulaCalendula officinalisModerate nectar and good pollen, delivered across an exceptionally long season including the shoulders of the year when little else is open. Its value is timing rather than volume.
- GoldenrodSolidagoTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, delivered at the moment they matter most. For North American beekeeping this is the most important single genus in the second half of the year.
- YarrowAchillea millefoliumModerate nectar and good pollen, and its real distinction is who can reach it — yarrow serves the very small and short-tongued insects that deep-flowered garden plants shut out entirely.
- SedumHylotelephium spectabileGood nectar delivered at exactly the point when late bumblebee queens are fattening for hibernation and honey bees are topping up winter stores.
- Hardy geraniumGeraniumGood for both across a long season, from plants that grow in sun or shade and require essentially no maintenance.
- CarobCeratonia siliquaStructurally important rather than abundant — a good nectar source at a time of year when a Mediterranean colony has almost no alternatives.
- Dead-nettleLamiumGood nectar over an exceptionally long season, including the winter months when almost nothing else is available to a foraging bumblebee.
- GorseUlex europaeusZero nectar and top-rated pollen, available in midwinter. Alongside hazel and poppy it is the clearest argument for rating the two separately.
- AgastacheAgastache foeniculumVery high on both counts across an exceptionally long late-season window, from a plant that needs no attention at all.
- ChicoryCichorium intybusGood for both during its morning window, and it flowers late in the season when many alternatives have finished.
- RudbeckiaRudbeckia fulgidaGood for both, over a long autumn window, from a plant that requires essentially nothing.
- HeleniumHelenium autumnaleGood for both over a long late-season window, from a flower shape that excludes nothing.
- Japanese anemoneAnemone × hybridaGood pollen and moderate nectar in autumn, from a plant that will grow in part shade where most late forage will not.
- DahliaDahliaGood for both in single-flowered forms across a very long late window, and close to zero in the doubles. The ratings here describe the single forms only.
- WallflowerErysimumGood nectar across an exceptionally long season, from a small drought-proof plant. Very few things offer eight months of forage from one position.
- HebeHebeGood for both across a long late window, from an evergreen shrub that also provides structure and shelter.
- MacadamiaMacadamia integrifoliaA good nectar and pollen source over a defined spring window.
- RewarewaKnightia excelsaA heavy nectar source in native forest, and an important one for the New Zealand forest bird community as well as for bees.
- JarrahEucalyptus marginataA major nectar and pollen source in years when it flowers heavily.
- Scots pinePinus sylvestrisNo floral nectar, moderate wind-borne pollen that bees will collect, and honeydew in very large quantities where the scale insect is established.
- Small scabiousScabiosa columbariaExcellent on both counts, and valuable specifically for how late it continues.
- Devil's-bit scabiousSuccisa pratensisAn outstanding late-season nectar and pollen source, at a point in the year when replacements are few.
- Sea asterTripolium pannonicumA generous late nectar and pollen source in a habitat with almost no other flowering plants.
- Himalayan balsamImpatiens glanduliferaOutstanding on both counts, at a time of year when little else offers anything. This is the whole difficulty.
- Japanese knotweedReynoutria japonicaAn excellent late nectar source, and moderate for pollen.
- Common ragwortJacobaea vulgarisGenerous on both counts over a long season, and one of the most heavily used flowers in the British summer.
- Brazilian pepperSchinus terebinthifoliaA good autumn nectar source at a point in the Florida year when colonies would otherwise be consuming stores.
- BottlebrushMelaleuca citrinaAn excellent nectar and pollen source with pollen presented openly on exposed stamens.
- TeaCamellia sinensisA good late nectar and pollen source, arriving when the season is otherwise closing.
- SesameSesamum indicumA good nectar and pollen source, and unusual in offering nectar from two different kinds of gland.
- BaobabAdansonia digitataA good nectar and pollen source for the brief period the flowers are open.
- MopaneColophospermum mopaneModest floral nectar and a substantial honeydew resource, which is the reason the woodland supports beekeeping at all.
- Lesser calamintClinopodium nepetaAn outstanding nectar source with one of the longest useful seasons of any garden perennial.
- Russian sageSalvia yangiiAn outstanding late nectar source over a long season, and reliable in drought when many border plants have stopped.
- BluebeardCaryopteris x clandonensisAn outstanding late-season nectar source, and among the busiest shrubs in a September garden.
- AbeliaLinnaea x grandifloraA good nectar source over one of the longest seasons of any garden shrub.
- EscalloniaEscallonia rubraA good nectar source over a long season, entirely dependent on the shrub being allowed to flower.
- Shrubby cinquefoilDasiphora fruticosaA moderate nectar source and a generous pollen source across an unusually long season.
- Tree mallowMalva arboreaA generous nectar source and an outstanding pollen source, with unusually large sticky pollen grains.
- Fodder radishRaphanus sativusA generous late nectar and pollen source in arable country where autumn forage is otherwise nearly absent.
- ZinniaZinnia elegansA good late nectar and pollen source in single-flowered forms, and close to worthless in fully double ones.
- Mexican sunflowerTithonia rotundifoliaAn outstanding late-season nectar source, and among the best autumn annuals for large bees and butterflies.
- FatsiaFatsia japonicaA generous late-autumn nectar and pollen source, and among the very last available anywhere.
- ElaeagnusElaeagnus x submacrophyllaA generous late-autumn nectar source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
- Seven-son flowerHeptacodium miconioidesA generous late-season nectar source, and among the better shrubs for autumn forage.
- Giant catmintNepeta racemosaAn outstanding nectar source over one of the longest seasons of any garden perennial.
- Greek heathErica manipulifloraThe most important autumn forage across much of the Aegean, and the reason colonies there can be wintered without heavy feeding.
- TulsiOcimum tenuiflorumA dependable post-monsoon source in Indian apiaries, and one of the few whose cultivated area is driven by religious and medicinal use rather than by agriculture.
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaA dependable year-round trickle rather than a flow, which in a dryland landscape is worth more than its volume suggests.
- BabulVachellia niloticaOne of the major honey crops of northwestern India and Pakistan, and a substantial source across the Sahel.
- Oil-tea camelliaCamellia oleiferaEnormous in volume and awkward in practice: the nectar contains oligosaccharides that honey bees digest poorly, and colonies working it heavily can suffer brood problems and adult mortality.
- 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.
- Niger seedGuizotia abyssinicaA principal Ethiopian honey source and the reason the country's autumn crop is as large as it is, alongside the white honeys of the highland forests.
- 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.
- BushwillowCombretum speciesA major and under-documented African honey source, second only to the acacias across much of the savannah belt.
- Spanish needleBidens albaAmong the most important sources in Florida beekeeping, and the one that carries colonies between the citrus, palmetto and gallberry flows.
- AngicoAnadenanthera colubrinaA principal source of the caatinga honey that northeastern Brazil exports in quantity, much of it organic-certified.
- ChañarGeoffroea decorticansA short, heavy and locally important spring flow across the Argentine dry interior.
- PaperbarkMelaleuca speciesA reliable coastal and wetland flow across eastern Australia, and valuable partly because it occupies ground the drier eucalypts do not.
- TowaiWeinmannia silvicolaThe first native forest crop of the northern New Zealand season, and one that is increasingly marketed on its own terms rather than blended.
- WilgaGeijera parvifloraA dependable inland source when the rains have come, and one of the few trees that gives the western New South Wales apiaries anything at all in winter.
Other flowering month groups
Tools that use these records
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