Fatsia
A large-leaved evergreen shrub that flowers in October and November, later than almost anything else in a temperate garden, carrying globes of tiny cream flowers that are worked heavily on any mild autumn day. It is a close ivy relative and behaves like one, and it will do this in deep shade.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- High
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Not a honey source
- Which bees, and why
- Globes of tiny open flowers, completely accessible, and worked by bees, wasps and flies on any mild day in late autumn. It flowers alongside ivy and is used by the same very late community, including the ivy bee.
Spherical heads of tiny fully open flowers with exposed nectaries — the most accessible arrangement there is.
- Worth knowing
- A generous late-autumn nectar and pollen source, and among the very last available anywhere.
Flowering
- In flower
- October to November (northern hemisphere)
One of the latest-flowering shrubs in a temperate garden, and among the last forage of the year.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Part to deep shade on moist well-drained soil, sheltered from cold drying wind. It is hardy in most maritime temperate gardens.
- Size
- 2-4 m tall and as wide.
- Native range
- Southern Japan and South Korea, in coastal woodland.
- Suits
- Small gardens, Large gardens, Containers and window boxes
- One of very few genuinely useful bee plants that will flower well in deep shade.
- Shelter from cold drying wind, which scorches the large leaves.
- Prune in spring if it outgrows its space; it regenerates readily from old wood.
What it looks like
A bold evergreen shrub with very large glossy palmate leaves and branched heads of spherical cream flower globes, followed by black berries.
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 actually help beesRanked by how much difference it makes, from the things that genuinely work down to the things that are mostly gestures. The first item on the list is not planting flowers.
- 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.
- Bee plants through the yearThe gaps matter more than the peaks. Almost every garden has plenty in June and nothing in February, and it is the empty months that limit what a garden can support.
- 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?