The best autumn hedging plants for bees
September and October forage is worth disproportionately more than anything else you can plant, because it determines what survives the winter.
The rule behind this list
Plants the catalogue records as suited to a hedgerow. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps September to November.
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 autumn
This is the highest-value gap in most gardens. Ivy first — allowed to reach adult growth and flower, which means not clipping it. Then the late daisies: Michaelmas asters, sedum, rudbeckia, helenium, Japanese anemone. Then autumn-flowering shrubs like abelia and seven-son flower. A garden that flowers into November is doing something almost no garden does.
The autumn mistake
Clipping ivy, which prevents it ever reaching the flowering growth phase, and pulling out annuals that are still in flower because the border looks untidy. Both remove forage at the moment it is most valuable and least replaceable.
In flower through the whole of autumn
- IvyHedera helixSeptember to November. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- Dead-nettleLamiumJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- GorseUlex europaeusJanuary to December. Nectar none, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- AbeliaLinnaea x grandifloraJuly to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
In flower for part of autumn
- BrambleRubus fruticosusJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- MahoniaMahonia × mediaNovember to February. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- MānukaLeptospermum scopariumNovember to January. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MintMenthaJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CatmintNepetaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- ComfreySymphytum officinaleMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- HoneysuckleLonicera periclymenumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen low.Not a honey source
- Hardy geraniumGeraniumMay to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Winter viburnumViburnum × bodnantenseNovember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen low.Not a honey source
- HyssopHyssopus officinalisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- MeadowsweetFilipendula ulmariaJune to September. Nectar low, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Japanese anemoneAnemone × hybridaAugust to October. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- HebeHebeJune to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- KanukaKunzea ericoidesNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- White bryonyBryonia dioicaMay to September. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- HogweedHeracleum sphondyliumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- SnowberrySymphoricarpos albusJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BottlebrushMelaleuca citrinaOctober to January. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- GojiLycium barbarumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- EscalloniaEscallonia rubraJune to October. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Shrubby cinquefoilDasiphora fruticosaMay to October. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- ElaeagnusElaeagnus x submacrophyllaOctober to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
Check these against your region before planting
5 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Bramble, Ivy, Mānuka, Honeysuckle, Gorse. 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
- Wildflower honeyVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
- Urban honeyVaries enormously and is frequently more complex than a rural multifloral, because the flowering succession is longer and the species mix wider.
- Ivy honeyStrong, faintly bitter and distinctly herbal — closer to a dark honey in character than its pale colour suggests.
- Manuka honeyEarthy, mineral and damp — heather-like without the smoke, with a faintly medicinal edge. Distinctive rather than delicious, and not what most people expect for the price.
- New Zealand bush honeyWarm and rounded with a light caramel base and a faint resinous lift, and considerable variation between regions — generally more approachable than any of its monofloral components.
- Koromiko honeyLight and clean with a faint herbal bitterness and a soft floral base — mild with just enough edge to be interesting.
- Kānuka honeySweet, clean and lightly aromatic, with a herbal-resinous thread that hints at its relation to mānuka without any of the medicinal weight.
- Snowberry honeyMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint green note — pleasant and unassertive.
- 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.
- Goji honeyLight and clean with a soft red-fruit note and a faint herbal edge — mildly fruity rather than obviously berry-like.
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?