Garden Plants for Honey Bees

I'm a honey bee educator, an I answer bee-related questions frequently.A very popular area that beekeepers and pollinator supporters want to know is what plants can they plant in order to benefit nature?Also, beekeepers want to plant in a way that supports the need for nectar and pollen throughout the honey bee productive year.This book is an excellent resource that you'll turn to frequently. Not only are the plants rated by their level of production (pollen and/or nectar), but the pollen images are also presented for those wanting to practice validating what they think the pollen source may be?Some of the plants have no rating.If you're going to plant, why not plant for pollinators?I absolutely recommend this very useful book without hesitation!Money very well spent! YES YOU NEED THIS BOOK

Finding good information on plants that are suitable for honeybee forage is difficult. Information on the internet is scattered, and often consists of individual’s conflicting personal experience, with no good explanation or understanding of why folks had different experiences. The better, more scientifically-based information is often oriented towards native pollinators, which frequently favor plants that don’t attract honeybees.There are only a few books that have been published on this topic, and some are more oriented to native pollinators than towards honeybees. Imagine my delight when Wicwas Press announced late last year that they had published a new book on the subject, Garden Plants for Honey Bees, by Peter Lindtner. Lindtner is a lifelong, retired Botanist, who also keeps bees. He is also a very gifted photographer. Lindtner has joined together his lifelong experiences with bees and plants, along with his many beautiful photographs, to prepare this book.While you will want to skim through Garden Plants for Honey Bees when you get it, it is not intended as a good read. Instead, Mr. Lindtner has organized it by grouping of the plants by the month in which they bloom (a very useful means of organization). This way you can use it as a reference when you want to look for plants that bloom during a specific time of year. Or, you can look up a specific plant in the back of the book that you’re interested in in order to read all about that particular plant. (Note, however, that the Index lists each plant by its botanical name, which can make locating them a little difficult for us, non-botanists!)Each plant is given a half page and includes a large color photograph, the plant’s botanical and common names, and the type of plant it is (e.g., deciduous, evergreen, tree, shrub, climber, annual/biennial/perennial flower). Concise information on the plant’s origin (e.g., W. Europe, China, N. America, etc.), plant’s height, leaf and bloom and descriptions, and typical length of the bloom period (e.g., 2 – 3 weeks) is included. But, the most useful information, which is hard to find anywhere, is the author’s rating of each plant’s usefulness to bees as a pollen source, indicated with zero to five stars (five being the best).An extra bonus are a couple of short sections in the back of the book that feature pictures of mixed flower beds (which is great if you’re trying to decide on what combination of plants you’re interested in) and really cool pictures of bees and hives. There are also some pictures of pollen grains examined with an electron microscope.The only (minor) shortcoming of this book is that it is based on Mr. Lindtner’s lifetime in the Delaware/Philadelphia area, so the plants and bloom periods reflect that part of the country. The good news is that the vast majority of plants in the books are found—or can certainly grow—in many other parts of the country.This book is a great starting point for anyone who wants to learn more about plants to support honeybees, and with it’s beautiful photographs, can even serve as a “coffee table” book in your living room.

I circled this book for over a year. It's expensive, and I had been burned several times, bought the Xerces Society book and it was useless... much propaganda, and more emphasis on general pollinators than honey bees. The I bought some other books, little information and what information was there, required combing through acres of verbiage. I was reduced to making lists from nursery catalogues like Forest Farm and Annie's Annuals which give information on what plants are good for bees...So I finally broke down and paid full price for this book... I am SO HAPPY I did. It couldn't have been more perfect than if I had written it myself.This is exactly what I needed. Plants listed by bloom times, with guidance for what produces the most nectar and honey. I've purchased several books, but they weren't as helpful as they weren't focused on honey bees. The photographs are excellent and the printing is high quality and allows you to see what the flowering tree/shrub/plant will look like in your garden. Again, really really practically helpful. There isn't much chatty text, but the author's personality comes through and he seems a very nice man. Buy this book if you are planning a garden and want to emphasize plants for bees!! So Useful!

My husband is interested in having bee hives and I'm interested in flower gardening. This book was highly recommended to me by experienced beekeepers and now I understand why. It contains hundreds of quality photos of plant blooms alongside just enough text to identify the plant's attraction to bees. The book is organized by month of bloom which helps with planning a garden. Sunlight, moisture and soil conditions for the plants are not included so be prepared to find that information elsewhere, such as your State Extension website. NC State Extension has an excellent plant toolbox (ces.plants.ncsu.edu) as does Missouri Botanical Garden's "plant finder."

Mr. Lindtner does well categorizing the plants by the month of bloom and assigning a pollen and nectar value on a zero to five scale. He also provides a photo and the country of origin for the plant which helped me to identify plants native to my country. I would have liked a little more detail on how he determined his rating system but this has been a great resource for myself, as a beekeeper and as an instructor for other beekeepers.