The best spring fruit trees for bees
The plants that flower between March and May are feeding colony expansion and solitary emergence at once. Quantity matters less here than presence.
The rule behind this list
Trees and shrubs the catalogue records as suited to an orchard. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps March to May.
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 spring
Spring planting competes with nothing — this is the season most gardens are already reasonably covered in, thanks to fruit blossom, bulbs and the willows. The genuine gaps sit at either end: early March, before the blossom starts, and late May, in the pause between fruit blossom and the summer perennials. A plant that covers either of those is worth two that flower in April.
The spring mistake
Tidying. The single most damaging spring habit is cutting, mowing and clearing at exactly the moment bees need the ground undisturbed and the dandelions flowering. A lawn left uncut through April produces more forage than most deliberate planting, and it costs nothing.
In flower through the whole of spring
- CherryPrunus aviumMarch to May. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- 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
- AvocadoPersea americanaFebruary to May. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- PearPyrus communisMarch to May. Nectar low, pollen high.Not a honey source
In flower for part of spring
- AppleMalus domesticaApril to May. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- BlueberryVaccinium corymbosumApril to June. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- RaspberryRubus idaeusMay to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Crab appleMalus sylvestrisApril to May. Nectar high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- Horse chestnutAesculus hippocastanumApril to May. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- AlmondPrunus dulcisFebruary to March. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- JujubeZiziphus jujubaMay to July. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- PlumPrunus domesticaMarch to April. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- American persimmonDiospyros virginianaMay to June. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- MangoMangifera indicaJanuary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- BlackcurrantRibes nigrumApril to May. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- QuinceCydonia oblongaMay to June. Nectar high, pollen high.Not a honey source
- MedlarMespilus germanicaMay to June. Nectar high, pollen high.Not a honey source
- ApricotPrunus armeniacaFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- PeachPrunus persicaMarch to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- LycheeLitchi chinensisFebruary to April. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major 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
- Wildflower honeyVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
- Blueberry honeyTangy and lightly fruity with a green, slightly astringent edge — recognisably related to the berry without tasting of jam.
- Lingonberry honeyDelicate and clean with a distinct tart berry note and a fresh acidity — one of the few honeys that genuinely tastes of the fruit its plant produces.
- Raspberry honeyDelicate and lightly fruity with a clean bright acidity — one of the few honeys where a taster unprompted names the right fruit.
- Siberian taiga honeyComplex and warm with a herbal lift over caramel, and a density that comes directly from the low moisture — thick, concentrated and long on the palate.
- Urban honeyVaries enormously and is frequently more complex than a rural multifloral, because the flowering succession is longer and the species mix wider.
- Tochi honeyMalty and rich with a distinct woody astringency and a long dry finish — assertive without being harsh, and closer to a dark forest honey than to a blossom one.
- Almond blossom honeyDistinctly bitter with a marzipan aroma over it — one of the few honeys where bitterness arrives before sweetness, and an acquired taste even among people who like bitter honeys.
- 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.
- Chinese jujube honeyRich and dark with dried dates and burnt caramel, and a genuine bitterness on the finish that sets it apart from its Middle Eastern relatives.
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?