Plants for Bees

Fighting the Summer Dearth

Our bees need a good source of nectar throughout the beekeeping year to make honey. Honey is their food supply and if they don’t have enough nectar from flowering plants, they may struggle to make honey stores for winter.

The spring and summer are when bee colonies are at their highest numbers of worker bees, but in the Metro Atlanta area, there is a dearth of high nectar producing plants in the summer. You can make a difference by planting trees, shrubs and forbs for the bees to visit!

Trees

  • Korean evodia (Tetradium danielii)

    • 40ft - Exotic

    • deciduous tree will bloom in July in about 5-6 years

  • Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra)

    • 15ft - Native

    • deciduous tree that will form a colony

    • blooms in June

  • Winged sumac (Rhus copallinum)

    • 15ft - Native

    • deciduous tree that will form a colony

    • blooms in July

    • HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

  • Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)

    • 15ft - Native

    • deciduous tree that will form a colony

    • not commonly seen in Georgia

  • Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)

    • 12ft - Exotic

    • deciduous, blooms in July

    • ideal replacement for Crepe myrtle

  • Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima)

    • 60ft - Exotic

    • large deciduous tree that produces strongly-flavored honey and spiky seed pods

  • American chestnut (Castanea dentata)

    • 60ft (in theory) - Native tree that was mostly killed-off during the chestnut blight

  • Basswood (Tilia americana)

    • 100ft - Native

    • huge deciduous tree

    • the Queen of the Honey Trees, blooms in June

    • HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

  • Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriaca)

    • 15ft - Exotic

    • deciduous tree or shrub, sometimes attractive to honey bees.

    • Booms in June

Not Helpful for Bees

  • Tree of Hell (Ailanthus altissima)

    • 40ft - Exotic

    • evil tree that resembles sumac, but whose broken leaves smell like rotten peanut butter

  • Crepe myrtle (Lagerstromeia spp)

    • 12ft - Exotic

    • ubiquitous, over-planted tree that might as well be a plastic tree.

    • Replace it with Chaste tree.

Shrubs

  • Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.)

    • 3-6ft - Native

    • wonderful, ideal replacement for azalea (Rhododendron spp.)

  • Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

    • 10ft - Native

    • grows in shade, blooms in June-July.

    • Toxic to pets, but so are azaleas

  • Buttonbush (Cephalanhtus occidentalis)

    • 10-20ft - Native

    • grows in water, ideal for ponds, streams, and low areas

  • Meadowsweet (Spirea alba)

    • 8ft - Native to northeast USA

    • will form a colony, prefers wetter soil

  • St. John’s Wort (Hypericum prolificum, et spp.)

    • 3-5ft - Native

    • shrubs that will bloom in July

  • Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)

    • 4-8ft - Native

    • deciduous shrub with fragrant flowers

  • Mountain sweet pepper bush (Clethra acuminata)

    • 8-20ft - Native

    • deciduous shrub or tree that is like a more tree-ish version of Summersweet

    • likes some shade

Forbs

  • Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp)

    • 2-5ft - Native, spreading

    • consistency nectiferous and easy to grow forb

    • ideal for Great Southeast Pollinator Census

  • Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

    • 3ft - Native to prairie states

    • highly-nectiferous forb

  • Milkweed (Asclepias spp.)

    • Native or exotic

    • host plant for endangered monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

    • HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

  • Sedum (Sedum spp.)

    • Hardy forb

    • blooms in September

Where to buy them?

Native nurseries listed on GNPS’s web site: https://gnps.org/georgias-native-plants/sources-native-plants/

Tennessee Nursery sells root cuttings that you should plant as soon as they arrive: https://www.tnnursery.net/

The Trees Atlanta: https://treesatlantatreesale.square.site/


Quick Tip

Sumac trees are different from poison sumac!

These trees produce delicious honey and are great for bees

Quick Tip

When a plant forms a colony, it means it spreads and multiplies easily.

Quick Tip

Two Basswood trees can helps bees produce as much honey as an acre of clover!

You may need to protect saplings from deer (who find them delicious)

Quick Tip

Although Crepe Myrtles are very pretty, there are beautiful flowering trees that do more for bees.

Thanks to Jimmy Gatt for providing plant information!