Winter savory

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

Small two-lipped flowers accessible to a wide range of bees, and produced in enough quantity that a plant hums. It supports the mint-family solitary bee specialists particularly well.

Worth knowing

An outstanding nectar source for its size, and one of the best small aromatic herbs for bees.

Flowering

In flower

July to September (northern hemisphere)

A late summer flow, running when the surrounding ground has burnt off.

What it does to the honey

Contributes an intensely herbal, distinctly peppery character over a warm sweetness.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun with sharp drainage on poor stony alkaline soil. It is thoroughly drought-tolerant and rots in wet ground.

Size

20-40 cm tall.

Native range

Southern Europe, the Balkans and North Africa, on dry limestone and karst.

Suits

Small gardens, Containers and window boxes, Walls and fences

• Let it flower rather than picking it continuously; the leaves are still usable after flowering.
• Sharp drainage is essential — it is short-lived on heavy wet clay.
• Trim lightly after flowering, never into old wood.

What it looks like

A low woody subshrub with small stiff dark green aromatic leaves and whorls of small white to pale pink two-lipped flowers along the upper stems.