The best autumn plants for bees
September and October forage is worth disproportionately more than anything else you can plant, because it determines what survives the winter.
What to prioritise
This is the highest-value gap in most gardens. Ivy first — allowed to reach adult growth and flower, which means not clipping it. Then the late daisies: Michaelmas asters, sedum, rudbeckia, helenium, Japanese anemone. Then autumn-flowering shrubs like abelia and seven-son flower. A garden that flowers into November is doing something almost no garden does.
The autumn mistake
Clipping ivy, which prevents it ever reaching the flowering growth phase, and pulling out annuals that are still in flower because the border looks untidy. Both remove forage at the moment it is most valuable and least replaceable.
How this list is built
Every plant in the catalogue whose flowering window overlaps September to November. The heaviest nectar section below is a filter to the top nectar band present this season and preserves catalogue order within it — there is no ranking, because nothing in the records would justify one.
Months here are northern-hemisphere temperate. Southern-hemisphere readers should shift by roughly six months — but that shift is an approximation rather than a translation, because day length, rainfall pattern and the local flora do not shift with it. Records that genuinely span both hemispheres say so.
The heaviest nectar plants of autumn
- White cloverTrifolium repensMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- BrambleRubus fruticosusJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- IvyHedera helixSeptember to November. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- HeatherCalluna vulgarisAugust to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Wildflower meadowMixed native floraApril to September. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- EucalyptusEucalyptusJanuary to December. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- SidrZiziphus spina-christiOctober to December. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- BorageBorago officinalisJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- PhaceliaPhacelia tanacetifoliaJune to October. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- Rosebay willowherbChamaenerion angustifoliumJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Viper's buglossEchium vulgareJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- SageSalviaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MarjoramOriganum vulgareJuly to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- CatmintNepetaMay to October. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- ComfreySymphytum officinaleMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- GoldenrodSolidagoAugust to October. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Major honey crop
- Red cloverTrifolium pratenseMay to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- KnapweedCentaurea nigraJune to September. Nectar very high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
In flower through the whole of autumn
- IvyHedera helixSeptember to November. Nectar very high, pollen very high.Minor honey crop
- EucalyptusEucalyptusJanuary to December. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- VerbenaVerbena bonariensisJune to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CalendulaCalendula officinalisMay to December. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- CarobCeratonia siliquaSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- Dead-nettleLamiumJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- GorseUlex europaeusJanuary to December. Nectar none, pollen very high.Not a honey source
- DahliaDahliaJuly to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- WallflowerErysimumMarch to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- JarrahEucalyptus marginataSeptember to January. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Scots pinePinus sylvestrisJuly to November. Nectar none, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Brazilian pepperSchinus terebinthifoliaSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- MopaneColophospermum mopaneSeptember to December. Nectar moderate, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Lesser calamintClinopodium nepetaJuly to November. Nectar very high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- AbeliaLinnaea x grandifloraJuly to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Not a honey source
- Fodder radishRaphanus sativusAugust to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Greek heathErica manipulifloraSeptember to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- TulsiOcimum tenuiflorumSeptember to February. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- MoringaMoringa oleiferaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
- BabulVachellia niloticaAugust to November. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Coconut palmCocos nuciferaJanuary to December. Nectar moderate, pollen high.Minor honey crop
- Niger seedGuizotia abyssinicaSeptember to November. Nectar very high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- Oil palmElaeis guineensisJanuary to December. Nectar low, pollen very high.Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus
- BushwillowCombretum speciesAugust to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Major honey crop
- Spanish needleBidens albaJanuary to December. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- AngicoAnadenanthera colubrinaSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen high.Major honey crop
- ChañarGeoffroea decorticansSeptember to November. Nectar high, pollen moderate.Minor honey crop
What this group covers
12 of 12 months have something in flower. Nectar and pollen are counted separately and a month counts only where at least one plant offers that resource at moderate value or better — a plant in flower is not the same as a plant worth visiting.
| Month | In flower | Nectar | Pollen |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25 | Yes | Yes |
| February | 19 | Yes | Yes |
| March | 12 | Yes | Yes |
| April | 10 | Yes | Yes |
| May | 24 | Yes | Yes |
| June | 62 | Yes | Yes |
| July | 100 | Yes | Yes |
| August | 113 | Yes | Yes |
| September | 124 | Yes | Yes |
| October | 72 | Yes | Yes |
| November | 52 | Yes | Yes |
| December | 35 | Yes | Yes |
By what you are planting
Check these against your region before planting
22 plants in this group carry an invasiveness or legal restriction note somewhere in the world: Bramble, Ivy, Mānuka, Eucalyptus, Viper's bugloss, Buddleia, Honeysuckle, Goldenrod, Knapweed, Gorse, Purple loosestrife, Oxeye daisy, Fennel, Yellow starthistle, Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed, Common ragwort, Brazilian pepper, St John's wort, Babul, Sweet thorn, Spanish needle. HoneyHQ does not know where you are and will not guess, so it flags rather than filters.
Bees these plants are recorded with
Taken from the relationships on each plant record. These are the well-attested associations rather than an exhaustive list of visitors, so treat the number as a floor.
Honeys from these plants
- Clover honeyWarm, mild and rounded — sweet with a faint cinnamon-and-hay note underneath. The taste most English-speaking readers picture when they read the word honey.
- Wildflower honeyVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
- Berseem honeyMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint hay note — the archetype of an unassuming everyday honey.
- Sunflower honeyStraw, beeswax and pollen, with a slightly waxy mouthfeel and a fresh, faintly herbal edge.
- Urban honeyVaries enormously and is frequently more complex than a rural multifloral, because the flowering succession is longer and the species mix wider.
- Ivy honeyStrong, faintly bitter and distinctly herbal — closer to a dark honey in character than its pale colour suggests.
- Heather honeyStrong, smoky and slightly bitter, with a lingering woodfire-and-toffee character. One of the most complex honeys produced anywhere.
- Tree heath honeyStrong, malty and slightly bitter, with a burnt-caramel depth and a woody finish — assertive in a way that divides opinion sharply.
- Tibetan highland honeyDense and strongly herbal with a resinous depth and a faintly smoky finish — a concentrated honey that reflects both a short intense season and traditional processing.
- Mountain laurel honeyReported as bitter and sharp with a burning sensation in the throat, though the toxin is not reliably detectable by taste — which is the single most important fact about it.
- Alpine meadow honeyComplex and aromatic, with a herbal lift over warm caramel and a distinctly clean finish — the flavour of a great many plants rather than of any one.
- Karakovan honeyComplex, floral and herbal at once, eaten with the wax. Its character is a mountain and a year rather than a species.
The rest of the year
Plan the season
- Seasonal bee planner
It is this season and I want to do this — what should I plant?
- 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?