Phacelia

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

Very high

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Worked continuously and by an unusually wide range of species — honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies together. The long protruding stamens make it easy for an insect to land on and the nectar is not hidden.

Short open bells with accessible nectar, so short-tongued and long-tongued bees can both use it.

Worth knowing

One of very few plants rated top for both nectar and pollen, delivered late in the season when both are scarce. That combination is why it appears in nearly every agri-environment seed mix in Europe.

Flowering

In flower

June to October (northern hemisphere)

Governed by sowing date rather than by season — roughly six to eight weeks from sowing to flower, then six to eight weeks of flowering. Successional sowing from April to July gives continuous nectar into the first frosts.

When nectar flows

Consistently high nectar secretion across a wide range of conditions, and it keeps producing in weather that shuts down more temperamental plants. The uncoiling flower head means new flowers open continuously over weeks rather than all at once.

Year-to-year variation

Unusually dependable. It can yield a genuine honey surplus where sown at field scale, which few deliberately-sown forage plants manage.

What it does to the honey

Where a surplus is taken, phacelia honey is pale, mild and delicately floral. It is rarely sold under its own name because the plant is usually grown as part of a mix, so the honey ends up in a wildflower blend.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun and any reasonably drained soil. Undemanding, drought-tolerant once up, and productive on poor ground.

Size

50-100 cm.

Native range

The southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area, Containers and window boxes, Farm scale

• Sow direct in succession from April to July. Each sowing flowers for six to eight weeks, so three sowings cover the whole second half of the year.
• Cut or dig in before the seed sets if you do not want it to self-seed — it can persist enthusiastically otherwise.
• As a green manure it suppresses weeds, holds nitrogen over winter in mild areas and is unrelated to any common vegetable crop, so it fits any rotation without disease risk.
• The single most effective thing most people can do for late-season forage, per square metre and per pound spent.

What it looks like

An upright annual with finely divided fern-like grey-green leaves and dense curled flower heads of lavender-blue bells with long protruding stamens, uncoiling gradually as the flowers open.