Wild garlic
A woodland bulb that carpets damp deciduous woods in white starry flower heads each May, filling the air with the smell of garlic. It is a generous late-spring nectar source and one of the more accessible woodland flowers, with completely open flowers that almost any insect can work.
Caution
The leaves are easily confused with those of lily-of-the-valley and autumn crocus, both of which are seriously poisonous, and fatal poisonings from misidentification are recorded. Smell the leaf: wild garlic smells of garlic and the others do not.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- High
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Not a honey source
- Which bees, and why
- Completely open star-shaped flowers with exposed nectaries, workable by short-tongued and small-bodied bees as well as by hoverflies and beetles. Its abundance in woodland makes it a substantial resource.
Fully open star flowers on a flat-topped head — one of the most accessible arrangements there is.
- Worth knowing
- A generous late-spring nectar and pollen source with completely accessible flowers.
Flowering
- In flower
- April to June (northern hemisphere)
A late-spring flow of several weeks, before the canopy closes fully.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Damp shade on rich soil beneath deciduous trees. It needs moisture and dislikes dry ground.
- Size
- 20-45 cm tall, carpeting the woodland floor.
- Native range
- Europe and northern Asia, in damp deciduous woodland, particularly on base-rich soils.
- Suits
- Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area, Small gardens
- Plant in the green or sow fresh seed; dry bulbs establish badly.
- It spreads vigorously in damp shade and can dominate a small woodland garden — plant it where that is acceptable.
- Goes dormant by midsummer, leaving the ground bare, so plant something to follow.
What it looks like
Broad glossy strap-shaped leaves smelling strongly of garlic when crushed, with rounded heads of white six-petalled star-shaped flowers on triangular stems.
Sources
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- How to make a garden genuinely useful to beesMost bee-friendly advice covers flowers in June, which is the one thing bees are least short of. The gaps are at the ends of the year — and half the problem is not flowers at all.
- Spring plants for beesSpring forage decides how many colonies exist by summer. A bumblebee queen who cannot find pollen in March does not found a colony, and a honey bee colony without early pollen cannot build.
Tools for planning planting
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?