Subshrub
Woody at the base and mostly Mediterranean. Drought-proof, long-flowering and the backbone of a hot dry border.
14 records · plant type
- LavenderLavandula angustifoliaAn unusually good nectar plant relative to its pollen offering. Bees visiting lavender are mostly there for nectar, which is why it supports adult foragers well and contributes less to brood rearing.
- ThymeThymusA low aromatic Mediterranean subshrub that produces one of the world's great honeys and, at garden scale, one of the best-value bee plants per square metre of anything you can grow. Thyme flowers densely, tolerates the poorest soil, and can be walked on — creeping thymes planted in gravel or between paving turn dead space into forage.
- HeatherCalluna vulgarisThe plant that turns British and northern European moorland purple in August, and the source of one of the world's most unusual honeys. Heather flowers at the very end of the northern summer, on acid ground that supports almost nothing else, and its nectar produces a thixotropic honey that behaves like no other. Whole beekeeping traditions in Scotland, northern England and the German heaths exist to catch this one flow.
- 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.
- HyssopHyssopus officinalisVery high nectar per square metre from a small drought-proof plant, delivered across the late-summer gap.
- WallflowerErysimumGood nectar across an exceptionally long season, from a small drought-proof plant. Very few things offer eight months of forage from one position.
- CranberryVaccinium macrocarponA moderate nectar and pollen source, and one that honey bees are notably reluctant to work when anything else is available.
- Bell heatherErica cinereaA good nectar source and moderate for pollen, over a long summer season on ground with few alternatives.
- Resin spurgeEuphorbia resiniferaA good spring nectar source on ground that offers very little else.
- Bitter aloeAloe feroxAn excellent winter nectar and pollen source in a landscape with few alternatives at that season.
- Russian sageSalvia yangiiAn outstanding late nectar source over a long season, and reliable in drought when many border plants have stopped.
- Winter savorySatureja montanaAn outstanding nectar source for its size, and one of the best small aromatic herbs for bees.
- 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.
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Tools that use these records
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