Rosemary

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 hard by early bumblebee queens, honey bees on any warm winter day, and emerging mason bees. Watching a rosemary bush in February is the easiest way to see how much difference early forage makes.

Worth knowing

The timing is what makes it exceptional rather than the volume. A high-value plant in March is worth far more to bees than a better plant in July, when everything is flowering.

Flowering

In flower

February to May (northern hemisphere)

In mild maritime climates it can flower sporadically almost year-round, which makes it one of the few reliable winter nectar sources.

When nectar flows

Secretes nectar at surprisingly low temperatures, which is why it is worked on days when little else is being visited.

Year-to-year variation

A dependable garden plant every year; a honey crop only in Mediterranean scrub and cultivated hillsides at scale.

What it does to the honey

Produces a very pale honey with a resinous thread behind the floral sweetness — the plant's aromatic character comes through faintly rather than dominantly.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, free-draining soil, drought-tolerant once established, hates winter wet.

Size

1-1.5 m, with prostrate forms spreading wider and lower.

Native range

The Mediterranean basin, on dry rocky coastal ground.

Suits

Containers and window boxes, Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow

Maintenance, and the bit that matters

Harvesting sprigs for cooking is fine and does not meaningfully reduce forage. Hard-clipping into a formal shape before flowering does.

• Prostrate forms are excellent tumbling over a wall or the edge of a raised bed.
• Prune lightly after flowering; like lavender it will not reshoot from old bare wood.
• Hardy to around -10 °C in dry soil and considerably less hardy in wet soil — drainage matters more than temperature.

What it looks like

An evergreen shrub with needle-like aromatic leaves, dark green above and pale below, carrying small two-lipped flowers in pale blue, violet or white along the stems.