Sweet orange

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked intensively by honey bees. Sweet orange is largely self-fertile and does not require insect pollination for fruit set, so the relationship is one-sided — the bees gain a great deal and the grower gains honey rather than fruit.

Worth knowing

A heavy nectar source over a substantial period, and moderate for pollen.

Flowering

In flower

March to May (northern hemisphere)

Timing varies with latitude — February in Mexico and Israel, April or May in Spain. Some cultivars flower more than once a year.

When nectar flows

Reliable and heavy where groves are extensive, and largely a function of grove acreage rather than of weather.

Year-to-year variation

Fairly dependable by monofloral standards, since irrigated commercial groves buffer the weather. The main risks are pesticide application during bloom and the ongoing decline of citrus acreage to disease, particularly citrus greening in Florida.

What it does to the honey

Light amber, with a pronounced citrus-blossom aroma and a clean sweetness carrying a faint bitterness that keeps it from cloying. The aroma is the point; it is one of the few honeys whose floral source is obvious on smell alone.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, free-draining soil, and protection from frost. In cool climates it is a conservatory or container plant brought under cover for winter.

Size

5-10 m tall in the ground, and readily kept to 2 m in a container.

Native range

Southern China originally, and now grown throughout the subtropics and warm temperate world.

Suits

Containers and window boxes, Small gardens, Orchard

• In containers use a free-draining citrus compost and never let the pot stand in water.
• Feed through the growing season with a citrus feed; nutrient deficiency shows quickly in yellowing leaves.
• Flowers and fruit are frequently present at the same time, which is normal.

What it looks like

An evergreen tree with glossy dark leaves and intensely fragrant white five-petalled flowers borne in clusters, opening over several weeks and followed by the familiar fruit.