Pyracantha

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 hoverflies. Like most Rosaceae corymbs it has a strong and slightly unpleasant scent that is doing exactly the job it evolved for.

Shallow open flowers with exposed nectar — accessible to short-tongued bees.

Worth knowing

Good for both, from an evergreen structural shrub that also provides thorny nesting cover — a genuinely multi-purpose garden plant.

Flowering

In flower

May to June (northern hemisphere)

Three to four weeks, alongside cotoneaster and just after the main hedgerow blossom.

When nectar flows

Copious nectar in shallow open flowers, freely available and heavily worked.

Year-to-year variation

Very reliable. Not a honey crop.

Growing it

Conditions

Sun or shade, any soil, drought-tolerant once established.

Size

2-4 m, and readily trained flat against a wall.

Native range

Southern Europe and southwest Asia.

Suits

Walls and fences, Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow

• Prune immediately after flowering. Pruning in spring removes the flowers and the berries together.
• One of the best shrubs for a difficult shaded wall, and the thorns make it a genuine security hedge as well as a bird refuge.
• Wear gloves and eye protection when pruning. The thorns are long, sharp and unforgiving.

What it looks like

A dense evergreen shrub armed with long sharp thorns, with glossy dark leaves, flat clusters of small white flowers, and massed berries in red, orange or yellow.