Rowan

Value to bees

Nectar

Moderate

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

Worked by bees, hoverflies and a large number of beetles and flies. The flat corymb of tiny open flowers is a landing platform, which is why the visitor list runs so far beyond bees.

Fully open flowers with exposed nectar — accessible to essentially every flower visitor.

Worth knowing

Good pollen and moderate nectar, delivered in a completely accessible form. Its wider wildlife value — berries for thrushes and winter migrants — is at least as significant.

Flowering

In flower

May to June (northern hemisphere)

Two to three weeks, just after the hawthorn and overlapping with it in most seasons.

When nectar flows

Moderate nectar and good pollen, with the characteristic strong slightly unpleasant scent of the Rosaceae corymb flowers — an insect-attraction strategy rather than an accident.

Year-to-year variation

Reliable. Not a honey crop.

Growing it

Conditions

Sun to light shade, acid to neutral soil, and it tolerates cold, wind and altitude better than almost any other broadleaf.

Size

8-15 m.

Native range

Europe and western Asia, extending far north and to high altitude.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow, Meadow or wildflower area

• One of the best small garden trees in northern climates — narrow, hardy, and useful in spring and autumn both.
• Leave the berries. Fieldfares and redwings arriving from Scandinavia strip a rowan in days.
• It is short-lived by tree standards, often around eighty years, which is worth knowing when planting.

What it looks like

An upright tree with smooth grey bark, pinnate leaves of many toothed leaflets, dense flat clusters of small cream flowers, and heavy bunches of orange-red berries.