Honesty

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Not a honey source

Which bees, and why

The flowers have a moderately deep tube, so long-tongued bumblebees and flower bees work them best. It is also a principal larval food plant for the orange-tip butterfly.

A four-petalled crucifer with a moderately deep tube — accessible to medium and long-tongued bees.

Worth knowing

A good spring nectar source in a season that is thinner than it appears, particularly in shade.

Flowering

In flower

April to June (northern hemisphere)

A late-spring flow, filling the gap between the fruit blossom and the summer flowers.

Growing it

Conditions

Part shade on almost any soil, and one of the better flowering plants for a shady corner.

Size

60-100 cm tall.

Native range

The Balkans and southwestern Asia. Naturalised widely across Europe and North America.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow

• Biennial: it makes leaves in year one and flowers in year two, so sow two years running to get flowers annually.
• Self-seeds reliably once established and needs no further attention.
• Leave the seedheads to dry on the plant for the silver discs, and shake some seed where you want more.

What it looks like

An upright biennial with coarse toothed heart-shaped leaves and loose heads of four-petalled purple or white flowers, followed by flat round seedpods that dry to translucent silver discs.