Blooms for Bees: How to Provide Pollen and Nectar Sources

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) need your help. This fact sheet suggests plant species you can plant or maintain which provide supplemental forage for honey bees during their critical periods.

Honey bees directly or indirectly pollinate one-third of our food crops and contribute about $15 billion in increased crop value each year (USDA–ARS). Honey bees pollinate a diverse range of familiar crops including cranberry, blueberry, melon, squash, and apple. They provide a vital link in nature by moving pollen between flowers and ensuring the production of seeds and fruits. In addition to pollination services, honey bees produce honey and wax, creating an array of valuable consumer products.

While honey bees pollinate flowers like cranberry or cucumber, these food crops, however, offer insufficient nectar and pollen to maintain the health of honey bee colonies. Honey bee colonies transported between agricultural regions further stress colony food supplies and health. Recent losses from honey bee diseases and colony declines has left beekeepers, farmers, landowners and the public concerned about how they can help provide a healthier environment for honey bees.

The health of honey bee colonies depends on access to food, in the form of pollen and nectar, from a varied and plentiful sequence of flowers throughout the growing season, as well as clean water and nest sites. Whether you are a backyard gardener, maintain a home landscape, commercial beekeeper, farmer, or commercial grounds maintenance landscape manager, you can help honey bees by planting and protecting wildflowers, shrubs, and trees that provide pollen and nectar.

Food availability gaps during honey bee active periods from February through November can weaken colonies. Particularly difficult periods for honey bees occur during warm, early-spring days when bees emerge from hives searching for food but few plants are flowering. The natural environment often does not provide sufficient flowering plants for honey bees during active periods, so your plantings can help.

The chart below lists herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees that provide food for honey bees during the springtime. These flowering plants also feed beneficial insects such as wild bees, butterflies, and natural enemies of agricultural crop pests. By making plantings from the recommended listing below, you not only enhance honey bee services, but also augment landscape beauty, wildlife shelter habitat of birds and mammals, and overall biodiversity in your area.

The recommended plants listed on pages 2–3 are predominantly natives to the Mid-Atlantic, typically well adapted to regional climate and soils. The table on pages 4–6 advises on the growth habit, longevity, moisture requirement, mature height, bloom color and timing, and commercial availability of these plants. To provide food resources throughout the entire period of bee activity, you may want to add several recommended plants to your landscape. Learn more about these plants' usefulness to honey bees, other beneficial insects, and wildlife from the list of resources. A few weed or wetland species that can serve as a good spring food source for honey bees are listed (dandelion, skunk cabbage). You may already have some of these plants growing. They are not likely to be planted, but rather passively maintained and protected when their habitat is on properties under your management.

Listing of Food Sources for Honey Bees in Order of Bloom Time (earliest to latest)

1. 

   Hamamelis species

   Witchhazels
   February to March
   Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
2. 

   Symplocarpus foetidus

   Skunk Cabbage
   February to April
   Photo Credit: Illinois Wildflowers
3. 

   Salix species

   Weeping Willow, White Willow
   February to May
   Photo Credit: Virginia Tech University
4. 

   Claytonia virginica

   Virginia Springbeauty
   February to May
   Photo Credit: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
5. 

   Cercis canadensis

   Redbud
   March to May
   Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
6. 

   Acer negundo

   Boxelder
   March to June
   Photo Credit: Oregon State University
7. 

   Geranium maculatum

   Spotted Geranium
   March to August
   Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
8. 

   Lindera benzoin

   Northern Spicebush
   March to April
   Photo Credit: University of Connecticut
9. 

   Salix discolor

   Pussy Willow
   March to April
   Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
10. 

    Acer rubrum

    Red Maple
    March to May
    Photo Credit: University of Connecticut
11. 

    Mertensia virginica

    Virginia Bluebells
    March to July
    Photo Credit: Morguefile.com
12. 

    Acer saccharum

    Sugar Maple
    March to June
    Photo Credit: Iowa State University
13. 

    Scilla siberica

    Siberian Squill
    March to June
    Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
14. 

    Taraxacum officinale

    Common Dandelion
    April to June
    Photo Credit: Virginia Tech University
15. 

    Ranunculus fascicularis

    Early Buttercup
    April to June
    Photo Credit: Morguefile.com
16. 

    Itea virginica

    Virginia Sweatspire
    April to July
    Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
17. 

    Prunus species

    Peach, Plum, Cherry, Beach Plum, Etc.
    April to June
    Photo Credit: Virginia Tech University
18. 

    Amelanchier arborea

    Common Serviceberry
    April to July
    Photo Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
19. 

    Ribes missouriense

    Missouri Gooseberry
    April to May
    Photo Credit: Missouri State University
20. 

    Malus species

    Crab apples, Quince
    April to June
    Photo Credit: LBJ Wildflower Center
21. 

    Trifolium species

    Clovers
    April to November
    Photo Credit: Missouri Plants
22. 

    Vaccinium corymbosum

    Highbush Blueberry
    May to June
    Photo Credit: Michigan State University
23. 

    Cornus racemosa

    Gray Dogwood
    May to June
    Photo Credit: Virginia Tech University
24. 

    Aronia melanocarpa

    Black Chokeberry
    May to July
    Photo Credit: Jenny Carleo
25. 

    Hydrophyllum spp.

    Waterleaf
    May to June
    Photo Credit: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
26. 

    Blephilia spp.

    Pagoda-plant
    May to June
    Photo Credit: Missouri State University

Table of Plant Characteristics

Plant Name	Native to NJ	Growth Form	Type	Moisture Need	Height at Maturity (feet)	Bloom Color	Attractive to Honeybees	Attractive to Wild Bees	Comm. Available	Bloom Period
Witchhazels (Hamamelis species)			P		10	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)			P		2	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Weeping Willow, White Willow (Salix species)			P		70	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica)			P		0.5	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Redbud (Cercis canadensis)			P		30	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Boxelder (Acer negundo)			P		65	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Spotted Geranium (Geranium maculatum)			P		0.5	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)			P		12	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)			P		40	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)			P		68	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)			P		2.3	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)			P		90	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)			P		1	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)			P		0.5	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Early Buttercup (Ranunculus fascicularis)			P		1	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Virginia Sweatspire (Itea virginica)			P		10	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Peach, Plum, Cherry, Beach Plum, Etc. (Prunus species)			P		12	██				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Common Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)			P		36	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Missouri Gooseberry (Ribes missouriense)			P		4	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Crab apples, Quince (Malus species)			P		20	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Clovers (Trifolium species)			A		1.5	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)			P		12	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)			P		10	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)			P		6	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum spp.)			P		1–2	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Pagoda-plant (Blephilia spp.)			P		1–2	█				J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D

Key

	Yes
	No
	Herbaceous Flowering Plant
	Shrub or Small Tree
	Tree
P	Perennial
A	Annual
	Requires low soil moisture
	Requires moderate soil moisture
	Requires moderate-to-high soil moisture
	Requires high soil moisture

September 2015