The best autumn herbs 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 in the mint family (Lamiaceae) or the carrot family (Apiaceae) grown in herbaceous, subshrub, annual or biennial form — which is what a gardener means by a herb, stated as a rule rather than as a private list. 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
- Dead-nettleLamiumJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Lesser calamintClinopodium nepetaJuly to November. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- TulsiOcimum tenuiflorumSeptember to February. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
In flower for part of autumn
- SageSalviaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MintMenthaJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- MarjoramOriganum vulgareJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- CatmintNepetaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- BetonyBetonica officinalisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- AgastacheAgastache foeniculumJuly to October. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- BergamotMonarda didymaJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- HyssopHyssopus officinalisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- Sea hollyEryngiumJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Wild carrotDaucus carotaJune to September. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- FennelFoeniculum vulgareJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- HogweedHeracleum sphondyliumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- SelfhealPrunella vulgarisJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Lemon balmMelissa officinalisJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Woodland sageSalvia nemorosaJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Russian sageSalvia yangiiJuly to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Winter savorySatureja montanaJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Giant catmintNepeta racemosaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Mountain mintPycnanthemum speciesJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
Check these against your region before planting
1 plant in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Fennel. 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
- Sage honeyMild, clean and slightly herbal, with a heavy silky body that is more of the experience than the flavour is.
- Dalmatian sage honeyDelicate and clean with a faintly medicinal sage note and a light herbal finish — subtle in a way that rewards eating it plain.
- Savory honeyIntensely herbal with a distinct peppery, almost oregano-like bite over a warm sweetness — one of the more assertive Mediterranean aromatics.
- Dittany honeyIntensely aromatic and herbal with a distinct medicinal lift and a warm oregano character — closer to a herbal infusion than to a floral honey.
- Coriander honeyWarm and spicy with an unmistakable coriander-seed aroma over a caramel base — one of the most immediately recognisable honeys there is.
- Carrot seed honeyDark, savoury and faintly medicinal, with a green umbellifer note and a slightly bitter finish. A challenging honey and an interesting one.
- Tulsi honeyDistinctly clove-scented over a light caramel body — one of the few herb honeys that genuinely smells of the herb.
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?