Shrub
Where the long seasons are. Several shrubs flower for months, and the winter-flowering ones fill the hardest gap in the year.
58 records · plant type
- 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.
- MahoniaMahonia × mediaRated high rather than very high on volume, and it is arguably the most valuable plant in this catalogue anyway. A high-value plant in July competes with everything; a moderate one in January competes with nothing.
- MānukaLeptospermum scopariumA good nectar source during its brief flowering and of limited use outside it. A landscape of nothing but mānuka is a feast followed by a famine.
- BlueberryVaccinium corymbosumUseful early forage, and a textbook illustration that abundant flowers do not guarantee an efficient pollination relationship.
- Winter honeysuckleLonicera fragrantissimaModerate ratings that punch far above their weight because of when they arrive. Nothing else that is easy to grow flowers so reliably in December and January.
- BuddleiaBuddleja davidiiThe separate ratings do real work here. Buddleia offers substantial nectar and very little accessible pollen, so it feeds adult insects and contributes almost nothing to raising the next generation of bees. A garden of nothing but buddleia would starve its own pollinators.
- RaspberryRubus idaeusOne of the highest-yielding nectar plants in temperate horticulture, and good for pollen too. Very few plants combine this productivity with this reliability.
- 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.
- CotoneasterCotoneasterVery high nectar from a plant that grows anywhere, in any soil, in sun or shade, with no attention at all. Per unit of gardening effort it is close to unbeatable.
- PyracanthaPyracantha coccineaGood for both, from an evergreen structural shrub that also provides thorny nesting cover — a genuinely multi-purpose garden plant.
- 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.
- VitexVitex negundoVery high nectar in a short window, from a plant that covers whole mountainsides.
- BanksiaBanksiaTop nectar production in the catalogue for sheer volume per flower head, delivered in the Australian cool season when little else is open.
- Flowering currantRibes sanguineumGood nectar at the most precarious moment of the bumblebee year, from a shrub that requires no attention whatsoever.
- HazelCorylus avellanaThe clearest illustration in the catalogue of why nectar and pollen are rated separately: hazel scores zero for one and top marks for the other, and it matters enormously.
- ElderSambucus nigraA good pollen source with almost nothing to offer in nectar, and the clearest hedgerow example of why the two are rated separately.
- GorseUlex europaeusZero nectar and top-rated pollen, available in midwinter. Alongside hazel and poppy it is the clearest argument for rating the two separately.
- Christmas boxSarcococca confusaModerate ratings that count for a great deal because they arrive in January, in dry shade, where the alternatives are nothing.
- Winter viburnumViburnum × bodnantenseModerate nectar and little pollen, delivered across the longest winter flowering window of any common garden shrub.
- Guelder roseViburnum opulusGood accessible nectar in early summer, and a useful lesson in reading a flower — most of what you can see is advertising rather than reward.
- 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.
- Witch hazelHamamelis × intermediaModerate on both counts and valuable entirely because of when it arrives. In its native range it is pollinated partly by winter-active moths.
- Alder buckthornFrangula alnusVery high nectar over a long window from an inconspicuous plant, and it is disproportionately important where damp woodland edge survives.
- HebeHebeGood for both across a long late window, from an evergreen shrub that also provides structure and shelter.
- Black sageSalvia melliferaAn outstanding nectar source in a good year, and the backbone of the chaparral forage sequence.
- CoffeeCoffea arabicaA heavy but very short-lived nectar source, in flushes rather than as a continuous flow.
- CottonGossypium hirsutumA prolonged nectar source from two distinct kinds of gland, plus abundant pollen.
- GallberryIlex glabraAn excellent late-spring nectar source across the southeastern coastal plain.
- Saw palmettoSerenoa repensA heavy spring nectar and pollen source across a very large area.
- Brazilian pepperSchinus terebinthifoliaA good autumn nectar source at a point in the Florida year when colonies would otherwise be consuming stores.
- MarmeleiroCrotonA good nectar and pollen source in a semi-arid landscape with limited alternatives.
- SnowberrySymphoricarpos albusA good nectar source with an exceptionally long season, which is its principal virtue.
- Prickly boxBursaria spinosaAn excellent summer nectar and pollen source, and among the most heavily visited plants in southeastern Australia.
- BottlebrushMelaleuca citrinaAn excellent nectar and pollen source with pollen presented openly on exposed stamens.
- GojiLycium barbarumA useful nectar source over an unusually long season.
- TeaCamellia sinensisA good late nectar and pollen source, arriving when the season is otherwise closing.
- TamariskTamarixA useful summer nectar source on saline and desert ground where little else flowers, plus a honeydew component.
- 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.
- 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.
- DogwoodCornus sanguineaA good early summer nectar source at a point where the hedgerow sequence would otherwise thin.
- SpindleEuonymus europaeusA modest nectar source and a highly accessible one, which makes it disproportionately useful to small bees.
- BuckthornRhamnus catharticaA modest but highly accessible nectar source over several weeks.
- Wild privetLigustrum vulgareA good midsummer nectar source, entirely dependent on the shrub being allowed to flower.
- DaphneDaphneA good early nectar source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- ManzanitaArctostaphylos speciesThe critical winter and early-spring source across Californian chaparral, feeding colonies through the build-up towards almond pollination.
- SumacRhus speciesAn underrated source, notable because it grows in exactly the marginal roadside and old-field ground that supports little else.
- MandacaruCereus jamacaruA minor nectar source and a substantial early-morning pollen one, valuable in a landscape where the dry season leaves very little.
Other plant type groups
Tools that use these records
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?