The best autumn shrubs 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
Every plant in the catalogue recorded as a shrub. 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
In flower for part of autumn
- 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
- BuddleiaBuddleja davidiiJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen low.Not a honey source
- Winter viburnumViburnum × bodnantenseNovember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen low.Not a honey source
- HebeHebeJune to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CottonGossypium hirsutumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- MarmeleiroCrotonJune to September. Nectar high, pollen high.Major 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
- TeaCamellia sinensisOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- BluebeardCaryopteris x clandonensisAugust to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- 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
- FatsiaFatsia japonicaOctober to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Not a honey source
- ElaeagnusElaeagnus x submacrophyllaOctober to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Seven-son flowerHeptacodium miconioidesSeptember to October. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Oil-tea camelliaCamellia oleiferaOctober to December. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- MandacaruCereus jamacaruNovember to February. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
Check these against your region before planting
4 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Mānuka, Buddleia, Gorse, Brazilian pepper. 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
- 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.
- Urban honeyVaries enormously and is frequently more complex than a rural multifloral, because the flowering succession is longer and the species mix wider.
- Koromiko honeyLight and clean with a faint herbal bitterness and a soft floral base — mild with just enough edge to be interesting.
- Cotton honeyMild and clean with a faint green-vegetal note and very little else — a background honey.
- Brazilian pepper honeyWarm and peppery with a distinct resinous spice and a faint tartness — genuinely reminiscent of the pink peppercorns the plant produces.
- Marmeleiro honeyLight and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint resinous edge from the scrub — approachable and characteristic of caatinga honey generally.
- 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.
- Tea blossom honeyMild and creamy with a distinct faint bitterness and a green vegetal note that is recognisably tea-like — an unusual profile and a divisive one.
- Oil-tea camellia honeyPale, thin and distinctly bitter, with an astringent tea-like finish. Not a beginner's honey and not really a pleasure honey.
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?