# what kind of flowers produce the best selling honey?



## Steed (Nov 23, 2015)

i am planting heather tips, wild flower and clover this year. tens of thousands of seeds.
heather honey from europe goes for good money.
clover is pretty standard in america.
wild flower creates good honey too.

what flowers in particular or mixes of flowers have helped boost your honeys quality?

i am hoping to get good flowers for the bees and could use some help picking out some seeds.

so far i have 5000 heather tips, 10000 wild flower and i am getting 50lb of green manure cover crop which includes clover among other flowers, and grains.

is there a particular flower that helps your bees produce a lot of honey?

i live in NY state.

input is appreciated thank you.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

You can try some fireweeds, sainfoin, cleome, phacelia, etc.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

You will really need thousands of acres to dictate a varitiel honey. You will also have to make sure that the choice is one that blooms at a time when little else is blooming, or nothing that is preferred. Clover for example blooms for an extended period after other plants have quit. Thus one can reliably predict that supers places on hives when the clover starts, and removed before the asters begin, would be clover honey. Just because you have a field of lavender near you does not mean that is the preponderance of the nectar is lavender even though you see the bees working it. 

A few years ago I planted purple tansy in stages as a cover crop. It bloomed at the same time as the clover. A microscopic analysis revealed that the tansy pollen in the resulting honey was grater in number then the clover, which greatly outnumbered the tansy in terms of acreage. Conclusion> the bees for whatever reason preferred the tansy!
Plantings for bees most often are supplemental rather than target crop.


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## Steed (Nov 23, 2015)

Good to know. I was hoping to give them a way to make good honey but I guess it's up to them really. Thanks for the info


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Sourwood sells well as does basswood and black locust.


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