Citrus family plants for bees
Orange and lemon blossom, and the honeys that smell of the flower rather than the fruit — which surprises almost everyone who tries them.
Why this family matters
Citrus flowers are white, waxy and intensely perfumed, and they secrete nectar heavily over a short flowering. The honey that results is one of the most recognisable in the world and is also the source of the commonest misunderstanding in honey buying: orange blossom honey tastes of neroli and orange flower water, not of oranges. Nectar carries the flower's chemistry, not the fruit's, and no blossom honey is an exception to that.
When it flowers
March to June in the Mediterranean and subtropics, with sweet orange and lemon overlapping through spring. The bee bee tree is the family's outlier and its most useful member for a temperate garden, flowering July to September when little else of that size is available.
Which bees it serves
Worked intensively by honey bees, and citrus regions run some of the densest commercial beekeeping anywhere. The bee bee tree — Tetradium daniellii — is planted in Europe specifically as late-summer forage and earns the name.
Citrus family plants in the catalogue
- LemonCitrus limonMarch to June. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Sweet orangeCitrus sinensisMarch to May. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Bee bee treeTetradium danielliiJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- WilgaGeijera parvifloraJune to October. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
What this group covers
8 of 12 months have something in flower. Nectar and pollen are counted separately and a month counts only where at least one plant offers that resource at moderate value or better — a plant in flower is not the same as a plant worth visiting.
| Month | In flower | Nectar | Pollen |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | nothing | No | No |
| February | nothing | No | No |
| March | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| April | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| May | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| June | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| July | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| August | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| September | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| October | 1 | Yes | Yes |
| November | nothing | No | No |
| December | nothing | No | No |
What this group does not cover
Nothing in flower: January, February, November, December. Planting only from this group would leave those months empty.
Bees these plants are recorded with
Taken from the relationships on each plant record. These are the well-attested associations rather than an exhaustive list of visitors, so treat the number as a floor.
Honeys from these plants
- Lemon blossom honeyBright, sharply citrus and clean — lemon zest and blossom rather than the softer neroli of orange blossom, with a genuine acidity behind it.
- Mikan honeyDelicate and bright with a pronounced fresh citrus-blossom aroma and a clean acidity — lighter and fresher than Mediterranean orange blossom honey.
- Himalayan forest honeyComplex and warm, with a herbal and faintly smoky character reflecting both the flora and the traditional processing — spring honey is lighter and more floral, autumn honey darker and more resinous.
- Orange blossom honeyUnmistakably floral and citrus-scented — orange blossom in the glass, with the fruit itself somewhere behind it.
- Wilga honeyWarm and faintly spicy with a clean finish, and without the camphor edge that runs through the eucalypt honeys of the same landscape.
Other families
- Daisy family
- Mint family
- Rose family
- Pea family
- Honeysuckle family
- Heather family
- Buttercup family
- Myrtle family
- Cabbage family
- Borage family
- Carrot family
- Mallow family
- Onion family
- Buckthorn family
- Maple and horse chestnut family
- Sapodilla family
- Plantain family
- Protea family
- Primrose family
- Asparagus family
- Currant family
- Elder and viburnum family
- Pine family
- Cashew and mango family
- Palm family
- Ivy family
- Oak and chestnut family
- Leatherwood family
- Spurge family
Plan with these
- 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?