Goat willow

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

Very high

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

Worked by honey bees on any warm March day, by newly emerged bumblebee queens, and by a large number of specialist solitary bees — several mining bee species in the genus Andrena are willow specialists and emerge to coincide with it. Removing the willows from a landscape removes those bees with them.

Fully exposed pollen and nectar on an open catkin, so access is universal — which is exactly what a plant flowering in cold weather needs, since it cannot afford to be choosy about who visits.

Worth knowing

The single most important early-season pollen source across much of Europe. Its value is not in yielding honey but in what it makes possible six weeks later.

Flowering

In flower

February to April (northern hemisphere)

March is the peak, with the timing shifting by several weeks between a mild and a cold year. Male trees flower slightly before female ones.

When nectar flows

Both nectar and pollen are offered, which is unusual for a wind-pollinated genus's relatives — willows are genuinely insect-pollinated and advertise accordingly. Warmth matters more than day length: a still sunny March day produces intense activity and a cold one produces none.

Year-to-year variation

As forage, dependable almost every year. Almost never a honey crop, because everything collected in March goes straight into brood rearing.

What it does to the honey

Rarely yields a surplus, so a monofloral willow honey barely exists. Where willow contributes to an early multifloral honey it adds a pale colour and a slightly resinous, faintly bitter note.

Growing it

Conditions

Damp ground, sun to part shade, tolerant of poor and heavy soils. Undemanding to the point of being difficult to kill.

Size

6-10 m, often multi-stemmed and shrubby.

Native range

Europe and western and central Asia.

Suits

Hedgerow, Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area

• Plant a male tree if the aim is pollen — only male catkins carry it, and the showy pussy willow display is the male form.
• Coppices readily and vigorously, which makes it manageable in a hedgerow at a fraction of its full size while still flowering.
• Cutting pussy willow branches for indoor decoration removes the earliest forage in the landscape at the moment it matters most. Cut sparingly, or from a large tree.

What it looks like

A shrubby tree with broad oval leaves, grey-felted underneath. Male and female flowers are on separate trees: the males are the familiar silver-grey pussy willow catkins turning bright yellow with pollen, the females greener and less showy.