Elaeagnus
A tough evergreen hedging shrub whose small cream flowers open in October and November and scent the air powerfully, and one of the most valuable and least noticed late forage plants in a temperate garden. Most people who grow it have never realised it flowers at all.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- High
- Pollen
- Moderate
- As a honey crop
- Not a honey source
- Which bees, and why
- Worked heavily on mild autumn days, and the scent is the usual way people finally notice it is flowering. It is used by the same very late community as ivy and fatsia.
Small drooping bell flowers hidden in the leaf axils, sheltered from rain and requiring a bee to work upwards.
- Worth knowing
- A generous late-autumn nectar source, and valuable disproportionately for its timing.
Flowering
- In flower
- October to November (northern hemisphere)
A late autumn flow, and among the last substantial forage of the year.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Sun or part shade on almost any well-drained soil, and exceptionally tolerant of coastal salt, wind, drought and poor ground. It fixes its own nitrogen.
- Size
- 3-4 m tall and as wide.
- Native range
- A hybrid of Japanese parents raised in cultivation. Related species are native across Asia and southern Europe.
- Suits
- Hedgerow, Large gardens, Small gardens
- Maintenance, and the bit that matters
- The commonest hedging mistake is an autumn trim, which removes the flowers and the whole point.
- Trim in spring rather than autumn — an autumn clip removes the entire flowering.
- One of the toughest evergreen hedges available for exposed and coastal sites.
- Fixes nitrogen, which is unusual outside the legumes and useful on poor soil.
What it looks like
A dense evergreen shrub with leathery leaves silvery-scaled beneath, carrying small drooping cream bell-shaped flowers hidden in the leaf axils, with a strong sweet scent.
Sources
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
- 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.
- Autumn plants for beesAutumn forage decides how well colonies enter winter. It is also when one plant does more work than everything else combined, and most people regard it as a nuisance.
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?