The best winter wildflowers for bees
Almost nothing flowers, which is exactly why what does is worth planting. A garden's value is limited by its worst month.
The rule behind this list
Plants the catalogue records as suited to a meadow or wildflower area. Filtered to plants whose flowering window overlaps December to February.
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 winter
The highest-leverage planting on this entire site, because the competition is nil. Winter honeysuckle, winter viburnum, hellebore, winter aconite, snowdrop, winter clematis, hardy cyclamen and early crocus between them cover December to February. Any one of them changes a garden's worst month; three or four of them together change its year.
The winter mistake
Assuming there is no point, because there are no bees about. There are — bumblebee queens and honey bees fly on mild winter afternoons, and increasingly buff-tailed colonies forage right through in mild cities. The bees are the reason this planting works, not an obstacle to it.
In flower through the whole of winter
In flower for part of winter
- Goat willowSalix capreaFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen very high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CalendulaCalendula officinalisMay to December. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CrocusCrocusJanuary to April. Nectar moderate, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- PrimrosePrimula vulgarisFebruary to May. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- HazelCorylus avellanaJanuary to March. Nectar none, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- ColtsfootTussilago farfaraFebruary to April. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Siberian squillScilla sibericaFebruary to April. Nectar high, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Lesser celandineFicaria vernaFebruary to May. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Not a honey source
- Greek heathErica manipulifloraSeptember to December. 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: Gorse, Lesser celandine, Spanish needle. 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
- Willow honeyMild, faintly green and quick to set. A spring honey in the literal sense, and one most beekeepers taste and few buyers ever see.
- Greek erica honeyDark, malty and faintly bitter, with dried fig and caramel behind it. A robust honey and a distinctly autumnal one.
- Spanish needle honeyLight, mildly fruity and clean. An easy, agreeable honey rather than a dramatic one, which is exactly what an all-year background source produces.
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?