The best summer field-scale plants for bees
Most gardens are at their best in June and empty by late August. The plants worth adding are the ones that flower after the first flush is over.
The rule behind this list
Plants the catalogue records as suited to farm-scale planting. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps June to August.
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 summer
The competition here is fierce — almost everything flowers in June — so the useful question is not what flowers in summer but what flowers in late August. Marjoram, knapweed, scabious, agastache, Russian sage, sedum and heather all carry a garden through the point at which the June planting has finished. A second flush from cutting back catmint, geranium and salvia in early July costs nothing and buys six weeks.
The summer mistake
Deadheading everything and cutting the herbs before they flower. Both remove exactly the forage the plant was going to provide, and both are done for tidiness rather than for the plant's benefit.
In flower through the whole of summer
- LavenderLavandula angustifoliaJune to August. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- White cloverTrifolium repensMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Wildflower meadowMixed native floraApril to September. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- AlfalfaMedicago sativaJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- BorageBorago officinalisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- PhaceliaPhacelia tanacetifoliaJune to October. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- RaspberryRubus idaeusMay to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Red cloverTrifolium pratenseMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CornflowerCentaurea cyanusJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Common poppyPapaver rhoeasMay to August. Nectar none, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- Sweet cloverMelilotus officinalisJune to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- MesquiteProsopisApril to August. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- CottonGossypium hirsutumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Yellow starthistleCentaurea solstitialisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Squash and pumpkinCucurbita pepoJune to September. Nectar high, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- MarmeleiroCrotonJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- TamariskTamarixMay to August. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- CorianderCoriandrum sativumJune to August. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- Oil palmElaeis guineensisJanuary to December. Nectar low, pollen very high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Common milkweedAsclepias syriacaJune to August. Nectar very high, pollen low.Minor honey crop
- Spanish needleBidens albaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- SafflowerCarthamus tinctoriusJune to August. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Yellow gumEucalyptus leucoxylonMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Swamp mahoganyEucalyptus robustaMay to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- WilgaGeijera parvifloraJune to October. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
In flower for part of summer
- SunflowerHelianthus annuusJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- Oilseed rapeBrassica napusApril to June. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- BuckwheatFagopyrum esculentumJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- ChicoryCichorium intybusJuly to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Black locustRobinia pseudoacaciaMay to June. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- SainfoinOnobrychis viciifoliaMay to July. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Himalayan balsamImpatiens glanduliferaJuly to October. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- Japanese knotweedReynoutria japonicaAugust to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Field beanVicia fabaMay to July. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Chinese tallowTriadica sebiferaApril to June. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- SesameSesamum indicumJuly to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Crimson cloverTrifolium incarnatumMay to July. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Fodder radishRaphanus sativusAugust to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- BabulVachellia niloticaAugust to November. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- TamarindTamarindus indicaApril to June. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BushwillowCombretum speciesAugust to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- SoybeanGlycine maxJuly to August. Nectar moderate, pollen low.Minor honey crop
Check these against your region before planting
9 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Black locust, Mesquite, Yellow starthistle, Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed, Chinese tallow, Tamarisk, Babul, Spanish needle. HoneyHQ does not know where you are and will not guess, so it flags rather than filters.
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
- Lavender honeyOvertly perfumed — lavender flower, warm hay and a soft fruity sweetness underneath. Aromatic in a way most honeys are not.
- 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.
- Rosmaninho honeyAromatic and resinous with a warm herbal sweetness and a faint eucalyptus lift — more robust and less perfumed than Provençal lavender honey.
- Clover honeyWarm, mild and rounded — sweet with a faint cinnamon-and-hay note underneath. The taste most English-speaking readers picture when they read the word honey.
- Wildflower honeyVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
- Berseem honeyMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint hay note — the archetype of an unassuming everyday honey.
- Sunflower honeyStraw, beeswax and pollen, with a slightly waxy mouthfeel and a fresh, faintly herbal edge.
- Alpine meadow honeyComplex and aromatic, with a herbal lift over warm caramel and a distinctly clean finish — the flavour of a great many plants rather than of any one.
- Karakovan honeyComplex, floral and herbal at once, eaten with the wax. Its character is a mountain and a year rather than a species.
- Rapeseed honeyVery sweet, very mild, faintly cabbage-like when fresh and cleanly bland once set. Texture is what it has instead of flavour.
- 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.
- Buckwheat honeyMalt, molasses and wet straw, with a savoury, almost animal depth. The most polarising honey in general production.
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?