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Flowers for Bees
FLOWERS FOR BEES – Honey, Bumbles and Solitary:
As gardeners, you can help the honeybee by providing plants, which flower in December through to March, when there is little around for the honeybee (which doesn’t hibernate) and also in June. The ‘June-Gap’ is a time of dearth of flowering plants between spring flowering plants and summer flowering plants, yet the colony is almost at a peak in numbers so actually need even more pollen and nectar.
| Period | Short Tongue e.g. Honeybee | Long Tongue e.g Bumble bee |
| Feb to Apr | Blackthorn | Bluebell |
| Crocus | Ground Ivy | |
| Dandelion | Lungwort | |
| Grape Hyasinth | Primrose | |
| Heather (erica) | Red Dead-nettle | |
| Hellebore | Rosemary | |
| Flowering Currant | White dead-nettle | |
| Pear | ||
| Plum | ||
| Pussy Willow | ||
| May & June | Bisort | Green Alkanet |
| Broom | Aguiligea | |
| Bugle | Bush vetch | |
| Campanula | Cowslip | |
| Ceanothus | Foxglove | |
| Cherry | Dicentra | |
| Chives | Honeywort | |
| Comfrey | Iris | |
| Cornflower, | Kidney vetch | |
| Corn Chamomile | Meadow vetching | |
| Corn Cockle | Red Campion | |
| Cotoneaster | Rhododendron | |
| Erysimum | Selfheal | |
| False acacia | Yellow rattle | |
| Firethorn | ||
| Gernaium | ||
| Hawthorn | ||
| Horse chestnut | ||
| Knapweed | ||
| Jacob’s ladder | ||
| Laburnum | ||
| Lime | ||
| Meadow rue | ||
| Medlar | ||
| Ox-eye daisy | ||
| Raspberry | ||
| Rose | ||
| Salvia | ||
| Speedwell | ||
| Thrift | ||
| Wayfaring tree | ||
| Wisteria | ||
| July & Aug | Allium | Blackhorhound |
| Angelica | Buddleia | |
| Bird’s foot trefoil | Burdock | |
| Borage | Bush vetch | |
| Brable | Everlasting pea | |
| Californian Poppy | ||
| Caryopteris | Fuschia | |
| Cardoon | Hedge Woundwort | |
| Catmint | Hemp agrimony | |
| Centaurea | Honeysuckle | |
| Cosmos | Lamb’s ear | |
| Culver’s root | Marsh skull cap | |
| Dahlia | Monarda | |
| Eryngium | Nasturtium | |
| Escallonia | Penstemon | |
| Euphorbia mellifera | Phacelia | |
| Evening primrose | Phlomis | |
| Field scabious | Plume thistle | |
| Figwort | Purple toadflux | |
| Giant hyssop | Red clover | |
| Globe thistle | Red vlerian | |
| Heathers (Summer) | Runner beans | |
| Helenium | Sainfoin | |
| Hemp agrimony | Snapdragon | |
| Hollyhock | Teasle | |
| Hydrrangea petiolari | Tufted vetch | |
| Hydrangea serratifolia | Verbena bonariensis | |
| Hyssop | ||
| Lavender | ||
| Leek | ||
| Lovage | ||
| Love in the mist | ||
| Lupin | ||
| Marigold | ||
| Marjoram | ||
| Meadowsweet | ||
| Mint | ||
| Mullein | ||
| Musk mallow | ||
| Phacelia | ||
| Poppy | ||
| Rosebay willowherb | ||
| Sunflower | ||
| Thyme | ||
| Viper’s bugloss | ||
| Wild carrot | ||
| White bryony | ||
| White clover | ||
| Wood sage | ||
| Sept to Oct | Chrysanthemum | Ice Plant |
| Devil’s bit scabious | ||
| Eleagnus | ||
| Goldenrod | ||
| Ivy | ||
| Michaelmas Daisy | ||
| Passion Flower | ||
| Nov to Mar | ||
| Mahonia | ||
| Winter-flowering honesysuckle (L. fragrantissmima) | ||
| Clematis Cirrhosa | ||
| Christmas Rose. (Helleborus niger) | ||
| Snowdrops |