The best autumn trees 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 tree. 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
- EucalyptusEucalyptusJanuary to December. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- CarobCeratonia siliquaSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- JarrahEucalyptus marginataSeptember to January. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Scots pinePinus sylvestrisJuly to November. Nectar none, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MopaneColophospermum mopaneSeptember to December. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BabulVachellia niloticaAugust to November. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Coconut palmCocos nuciferaJanuary to December. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Oil palmElaeis guineensisJanuary to December. Nectar low, pollen very high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- BushwillowCombretum speciesAugust to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- AngicoAnadenanthera colubrinaSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- ChañarGeoffroea decorticansSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
In flower for part of autumn
- Strawberry treeArbutus unedoOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- SidrZiziphus spina-christiOctober to December. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- QuillayQuillaja saponariaNovember to January. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- MacadamiaMacadamia integrifoliaAugust to October. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- KanukaKunzea ericoidesNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- RewarewaKnightia excelsaOctober to December. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- PohutukawaMetrosideros excelsaNovember to January. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Silver firAbies albaJune to September. Nectar none, pollen low.Major honey crop
- Norway sprucePicea abiesJune to September. Nectar none, pollen low.Major honey crop
- Bee bee treeTetradium danielliiJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Japanese pagoda treeStyphnolobium japonicumJuly to September. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- LoquatEriobotrya japonicaNovember to February. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- BaobabAdansonia digitataOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- CashewAnacardium occidentaleNovember to February. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Winter-flowering cherryPrunus x subhirtellaNovember to March. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Sweet thornVachellia karrooNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- TepezcohuiteMimosa tenuifloraNovember to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- PaperbarkMelaleuca speciesOctober to February. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Yellow gumEucalyptus leucoxylonMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- TowaiWeinmannia silvicolaOctober to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- WilgaGeijera parvifloraJune to October. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
Check these against your region before planting
3 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Eucalyptus, Babul, Sweet thorn. 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
- Eucalyptus honeyWoody and faintly medicinal, with caramel and a cool eucalypt lift. More savoury than its colour suggests.
- Jarrah honeyDark, malty and caramelised, with a coffee-and-treacle depth and much less of the medicinal edge a comparably dark honey usually carries.
- Ethiopian red honeyStrong and warm with a malty depth, a resinous eucalyptus lift and a faint smokiness from traditional harvesting — an assertive honey that stands up to fermentation.
- Messmate honeyStrong and resinous with a malty depth and a faintly medicinal eucalypt lift — assertive and unmistakably Australian.
- Blackbutt honeyWarm and caramelised with a light resinous edge — one of the milder eucalypt honeys and a good introduction to the group.
- Grey box honeyClean and lightly caramelised with a faint buttery quality — mild for a eucalypt honey and highly regarded for its density and smoothness.
- Yapunyah honeyMild and buttery with a light caramel sweetness and a clean finish — smooth in a way that people notice before they notice the flavour.
- Coolibah honeyMild and clean with a light caramel note and a soft buttery finish — undemanding and pleasant.
- Mallee honeyMild and clean with a light caramel sweetness and a faint eucalypt lift — approachable and consistent.
- Bloodwood honeyStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a distinct woody astringency — one of the more assertive Australian honeys.
- Spotted gum honeyWarm and caramelised with a light resinous lift and a rounded finish — a middle-weight eucalypt honey and a very usable one.
- White box honeyClean and lightly caramelised with a faint buttery smoothness — mild, dense and highly regarded within Australia.
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?