The best winter field-scale plants for bees
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 farm-scale planting. 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
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- Sweet thornVachellia karrooNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Oil palmElaeis guineensisJanuary to December. Nectar low, pollen very high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Spanish needleBidens albaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- TepezcohuiteMimosa tenuifloraNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- StringybarkEucalyptus macrorhyncha and related speciesDecember to March. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
In flower for part of winter
- SheaVitellaria paradoxaJanuary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- AjwainTrachyspermum ammiJanuary to March. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Talh acaciaVachellia seyalFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- MangiumAcacia mangiumFebruary to May. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
Check these against your region before planting
3 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Mangium, Sweet thorn, 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
- Shea honeyWarm and buttery with a nutty depth and a light caramel base — a rounded, approachable honey with a distinct richness.
- Ajwain honeyAromatic and faintly medicinal, with a clear thyme-and-caraway note over light amber sweetness.
- Moringa honeyGreen, peppery and faintly vegetal over a light sweetness — recognisably related to the mustard-oil chemistry running through the whole plant.
- Talh honeyDark, thick and savoury-sweet, with dried fruit and molasses over a caramel depth. Nothing about it suggests the honey Europe calls acacia.
- Mangium honeyDark, malty and lightly resinous, with a savoury depth that reads as honeydew rather than as blossom.
- Sweet thorn honeySoft, floral and clean, with a faint almond note carried over from the flower's own scent. An easy honey and a very well-made one at its best.
- Oil palm honeyVariable by definition. Generally warm and mildly caramel-led, taking its character from whatever grew between and around the palms.
- Spanish needle honeyLight, mildly fruity and clean. An easy, agreeable honey rather than a dramatic one, which is exactly what an all-year background source produces.
- Tepezcohuite honeyWarm and floral with a faint tannic dryness, reflecting the tree's very high tannin content. An agreeable everyday honey.
- Stringybark honeyFull and malty with a clean eucalypt aromatic edge and a slightly dry finish. A robust everyday honey by Australian standards.
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?