Hebe
A New Zealand evergreen shrub that flowers in dense bottlebrush spikes from midsummer well into autumn, and one of the most reliably busy plants in a coastal or urban garden. Hebes tolerate salt, wind and pollution, flower for months, and are worked constantly by honey bees, bumblebees and butterflies at a point in the year when a great deal else has finished.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- High
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- Which bees, and why
- Worked heavily by honey bees and bumblebees and by a wide range of butterflies. The protruding stamens give an easy foothold and the nectar is shallow, which broadens the visitor list considerably.
Small four-lobed flowers with shallow accessible nectar — usable by short-tongued bees and butterflies alike.
- Worth knowing
- Good for both across a long late window, from an evergreen shrub that also provides structure and shelter.
Flowering
- In flower
- June to October (northern hemisphere)
A long window from midsummer into autumn, and many cultivars reflower if trimmed after the first flush.
- When nectar flows
- Generous and freely accessible, with many small florets opening in succession along each spike.
- Year-to-year variation
- Very dependable in mild and coastal gardens. Not a crop.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Sun or light shade, well-drained soil, and excellent tolerance of salt wind and urban pollution. Hardiness varies considerably by species.
- Size
- 30 cm to 2 m depending on species.
- Native range
- New Zealand, with a few species from South America and the Falklands.
- Suits
- Containers and window boxes, Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow
- Choose a hardy species in cold areas — the large-leaved cultivars are considerably more tender than the small-leaved ones.
- Trim after flowering to keep the shape and often to get a second flush.
- One of the best flowering shrubs for exposed coastal gardens, where the choice is otherwise narrow.
What it looks like
A neat evergreen shrub with paired glossy leaves in opposite ranks and dense cylindrical spikes of small four-lobed flowers in white, mauve, purple or pink, each with prominent protruding stamens.
Sources
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- How to make a garden genuinely useful to beesMost bee-friendly advice covers flowers in June, which is the one thing bees are least short of. The gaps are at the ends of the year — and half the problem is not flowers at all.
- A New Zealand bee gardenA flora that evolved with few bees and mostly small pale flowers, about 28 native bee species, and the most acute invasive-plant problem of any country covered here. Planting for bees in New Zealand means being careful in a way it does not elsewhere.
Tools for planning planting
- 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?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?