The best summer shrubs for bees
Most gardens are at their best in June and empty by late August. The plants worth adding are the ones that flower after the first flush is over.
The rule behind this list
Every plant in the catalogue recorded as a shrub. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps June to August.
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 summer
The competition here is fierce — almost everything flowers in June — so the useful question is not what flowers in summer but what flowers in late August. Marjoram, knapweed, scabious, agastache, Russian sage, sedum and heather all carry a garden through the point at which the June planting has finished. A second flush from cutting back catmint, geranium and salvia in early July costs nothing and buys six weeks.
The summer mistake
Deadheading everything and cutting the herbs before they flower. Both remove exactly the forage the plant was going to provide, and both are done for tidiness rather than for the plant's benefit.
In flower through the whole of summer
- RaspberryRubus idaeusMay to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- BanksiaBanksiaMarch to August. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- GorseUlex europaeusJanuary to December. Nectar none, pollen very high.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
- GojiLycium barbarumJune to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- TamariskTamarixMay to August. Nectar moderate, 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
In flower for part of summer
- BlueberryVaccinium corymbosumApril to June. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BuddleiaBuddleja davidiiJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen low.Not a honey source
- CotoneasterCotoneasterMay to June. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- PyracanthaPyracantha coccineaMay to June. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- RockroseCistus ladaniferApril to June. Nectar high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- BilberryVaccinium myrtillusApril to June. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- VitexVitex negundoJune to July. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- ElderSambucus nigraMay to July. Nectar low, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Guelder roseViburnum opulusMay to July. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- BroomCytisus scopariusApril to June. Nectar none, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- Alder buckthornFrangula alnusMay to July. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- Black sageSalvia melliferaApril to June. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- GallberryIlex glabraMay to June. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Saw palmettoSerenoa repensApril to June. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- DogwoodCornus sanguineaMay to July. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- SpindleEuonymus europaeusMay to June. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- BuckthornRhamnus catharticaMay to June. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Wild privetLigustrum vulgareJune to July. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BluebeardCaryopteris x clandonensisAugust to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- AbeliaLinnaea x grandifloraJuly to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- SumacRhus speciesJune to July. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
Check these against your region before planting
6 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Buddleia, Cotoneaster, Gorse, Broom, Tamarisk, Buckthorn. 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
- 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.
- Urban honeyVaries enormously and is frequently more complex than a rural multifloral, because the flowering succession is longer and the species mix wider.
- 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.
- Rockrose honeyBalsamic and resinous with a warm amber sweetness underneath — it smells of incense and hot scrubland, and tastes considerably less sweet than its colour suggests.
- Hymettus honeyIntensely aromatic and herbal, with a warm thyme character, a resinous maquis edge and a long finish that carries a distinct savoury note.
- Rosmaninho honeyAromatic and resinous with a warm herbal sweetness and a faint eucalyptus lift — more robust and less perfumed than Provençal lavender honey.
- Ceanothus honeyDelicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and a faint spicy edge — mild, and rather more interesting than a pale honey usually is.
- Garrigue honeyHerbal, warm and dry, with thyme and rosemary running through a light caramel body. The clearest example in the catalogue of a honey tasting of a landscape.
- Bilberry honeyTangy and berry-forward over a caramel base, with a green astringency and a genuine fruit acidity.
- Vitex honeyVery clean and mild with a light floral sweetness and a faint fresh herbal lift on the finish.
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?