Crimson clover
An annual clover with brilliant crimson conical flower heads, grown as green manure and fodder across Europe and North America and among the more accessible legumes for honey bees. Unlike red clover its corolla is short enough that honey bees can reach the nectar directly.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- High
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally
- Which bees, and why
- The corolla is short enough that honey bees work it directly, unlike red clover which requires a long-tongued bumblebee. That makes crimson clover a more broadly useful green manure than its more famous relative.
A short-corolla pea flower accessible to honey bees, which is the practical difference between this and red clover.
- Worth knowing
- A good nectar and pollen source, and accessible to honey bees in a way that red clover is not.
Flowering
- In flower
- May to July (northern hemisphere)
A late spring to early summer flow from an autumn sowing.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Full sun on free-draining soil. Sown in autumn for spring flowering, or in spring for a later crop.
- Size
- 30-60 cm tall.
- Native range
- Southern Europe. Grown widely as a green manure and forage crop across Europe and North America.
- Suits
- Meadow or wildflower area, Farm scale, Large gardens
- Sow in autumn as a green manure and let it flower in spring before digging in — the flowering is the point for bees.
- Fixes its own nitrogen; do not fertilise.
- Dig in or cut just after peak flowering, before it sets seed, if using it as green manure.
What it looks like
An upright annual with softly hairy trifoliate leaves and dense conical heads of brilliant crimson pea flowers, opening from the bottom upwards.
Sources
- Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- How to make a garden genuinely useful to beesMost bee-friendly advice covers flowers in June, which is the one thing bees are least short of. The gaps are at the ends of the year — and half the problem is not flowers at all.
- The vegetable garden as bee habitatThe one part of a garden where the relationship runs both ways: bees decide the size of the crop, and the crop — plus what is allowed to bolt beside it — feeds the bees.
Tools for planning planting
- 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?