The best winter plants for bees in pots
Almost nothing flowers, which is exactly why what does is worth planting. A garden's value is limited by its worst month.
The rule behind this list
Plants the catalogue records as suited to containers and window boxes. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps December to February.
Months here are northern-hemisphere temperate. Southern-hemisphere readers should shift by roughly six months — but that shift is an approximation rather than a translation, because day length, rainfall pattern and the local flora do not shift with it. Records that genuinely span both hemispheres say so.
What to prioritise in winter
The highest-leverage planting on this entire site, because the competition is nil. Winter honeysuckle, winter viburnum, hellebore, winter aconite, snowdrop, winter clematis, hardy cyclamen and early crocus between them cover December to February. Any one of them changes a garden's worst month; three or four of them together change its year.
The winter mistake
Assuming there is no point, because there are no bees about. There are — bumblebee queens and honey bees fly on mild winter afternoons, and increasingly buff-tailed colonies forage right through in mild cities. The bees are the reason this planting works, not an obstacle to it.
In flower through the whole of winter
- HelleboreHelleborusDecember to April. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Christmas boxSarcococca confusaDecember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- LoquatEriobotrya japonicaNovember to February. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Winter clematisClematis cirrhosaNovember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Hardy cyclamenCyclamen coumDecember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- TulsiOcimum tenuiflorumSeptember to February. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- MandacaruCereus jamacaruNovember to February. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
In flower for part of winter
- RosemarySalvia rosmarinusFebruary to May. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Strawberry treeArbutus unedoOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- SnowdropGalanthus nivalisJanuary to March. Nectar low, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- CalendulaCalendula officinalisMay to December. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CrocusCrocusJanuary to April. Nectar moderate, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- Winter aconiteEranthis hyemalisJanuary to March. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- LungwortPulmonaria officinalisFebruary to May. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- PrimrosePrimula vulgarisFebruary to May. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- BottlebrushMelaleuca citrinaOctober to January. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- TeaCamellia sinensisOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- MangoMangifera indicaJanuary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- ApricotPrunus armeniacaFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- DaphneDaphneJanuary to April. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Siberian squillScilla sibericaFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Greek heathErica manipulifloraSeptember to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- AjwainTrachyspermum ammiJanuary to March. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
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
- Rosemary honeyDelicate and softly aromatic — floral first, with a thin thread of resin behind it that tells you where it came from.
- Hymettus honeyIntensely aromatic and herbal, with a warm thyme character, a resinous maquis edge and a long finish that carries a distinct savoury note.
- Alcarria honeyDelicate and aromatic, with a clean herbal sweetness — the rosemary type is softer and more floral, the lavender type more perfumed and slightly camphoraceous.
- Narbonne rosemary honeyDelicate and clean with a soft herbal floral note and a texture that does much of the work — one of the classic pale European honeys.
- Strawberry tree honeyAggressively bitter — coffee grounds, artichoke and burnt sugar, with the sweetness arriving late and briefly. Nothing in food prepares most people for it.
- Bottlebrush honeyStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a faint medicinal lift — assertive, and a surprise to anyone who expects a garden shrub to make a mild honey.
- Loquat honeyRich and malty with a distinct almond-marzipan note over dark caramel — one of the more aromatic East Asian honeys and far stronger than its pale-fruited source suggests.
- Tea blossom honeyMild and creamy with a distinct faint bitterness and a green vegetal note that is recognisably tea-like — an unusual profile and a divisive one.
- Mango blossom honeyWarm and fruity with a distinct tropical-stone-fruit note and a faint resinous edge — one of the honeys that does taste recognisably of its tree's fruit, though more faintly than people expect.
- Greek erica honeyDark, malty and faintly bitter, with dried fig and caramel behind it. A robust honey and a distinctly autumnal one.
- Tulsi honeyDistinctly clove-scented over a light caramel body — one of the few herb honeys that genuinely smells of the herb.
- Ajwain honeyAromatic and faintly medicinal, with a clear thyme-and-caraway note over light amber sweetness.
Keep going
Plan the season
- Seasonal bee planner
It is this season and I want to do this — what should I plant?
- 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?