Richard Rickitt is co-editor of BeeCraft, the UK's best-selling beekeeping magazine. Richard first learned beekeeping over 40 years ago and as well as his own bees, keeps hives for a number of clients. He is beekeeper at Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, and gives talks and teaches courses on beekeeping, pollination and gardening for bees. He frequently speaks on the subject here, abroad, and on radio and TV, making him one of the UK's best-known beekeepers. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject and is author of the multi-award-winning book Beekeeping for Gardeners (Bloomsbury) which he will be able to sign on the day.
Want to know more? Join Richard at Jekka's May Herb Days - Tickets available online.
Lovely Lamiaceae - Herbs for Bees
Two thousand years ago, Virgil wrote bee hives on Mount Hymettus, saying “Let rosemary and wild thyme with far-flung fragrance, and a wealth of strongly-scented savoury, flower around them.” If you holiday in the Mediterranean today, you will be able to sample rich, aromatic honeys made from the nectar of herbs such as thyme, rosemary, lavender and sage – few honeys are so redolent of the landscape and flowers that produced them.
With their heavy scent and sugar-rich nectar, the flowers of many culinary herbs are hugely attractive to bees. Not all are Mediterranean, but many of the most commonly grown ones are. Most thrive in a sunny position with very well drained soil, meaning they are likely to become increasingly important and reliable bee plants as our summers get hotter and drier. During the hot summer of 2025, some of the only plants visited by bees in my garden were Mediterranean herbs which still produced nectar when many other flowers had run dry.
Many such herbs are members of the Lamiaceae or mint family, a large group of flowering plants almost all of which are important for bees. Rather surprisingly this includes the teak tree which in the tropics is visited by tiny, ant-sized stingless bees that produce about an eggcup-full of much treasured honey per nest each year. Other examples are the lavenders, salvias, thymes and deadnettles, all of which have petals fused into tubular flowers with an upper and lower lip. If you are wondering what to plant for bees, you can’t go wrong with any member of the Lamiaceae family.
Want to know more? See Jekka's herbs in the Lamiaceae family
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) is the source of the renowned French Narbonne honey. Its flowers are useful to bees at times when little else is available, blooming often from late winter until early summer, again in early autumn and sometimes also for periods in between. Honey bees, bumblebees and some solitary bees use it. Prostrate varieties will spill down steps and over walls and steps, turning otherwise unused spaces into feeding hotspots for bees. Rosemary flowers come in a range of purples and blues – the colours most visible to bees’ blue-sensitive eyes – but if pink is your thing, try S. rosmarinus ‘Roseus’.
Want to know more? Read Jekka's Guide to Rosemary
Sage (Salvia)
Sage, like rosemary, is a member of the salvia family and equally beloved of bees. Most people grow common sage (Salvia officinalis) for the kitchen, which has deep flowers enjoyed by long-tongued bees such as the common carder bumblebee and the garden bumblebee, whose tongue is longer than its body. The smaller Spanish sage (S. lavandulifolia) is ideal for containers and has shallower flowers that are more useful to shorter-tongued bees such as honey bees and some solitary bees.
Thymes (Thymus)
Thymes are another extremely useful herb for bees. There are hundreds of varieties and, if you grow the right combination, it can be in flower from May until October. The thyme beds at Jekka’s are a marvel when in flower; an undulating sea of blues, mauves and pinks being navigated by a variety of bees bobbing from one flower-foamed drift to another. If you are planting thyme, ask Jekka to suggest a selection to ensure flowers over a long period.
Thymol, an essential oil produced from thyme, is a key ingredient in some organic treatments used to treat for varroa, the parasitic mite that invades honey bee colonies. It is thought that honey bees might self-treat by visiting thyme flowers. Thyme honey has a slightly medicinal taste that suggests it is doing you some good.
Want to know more? Read Jekka's Guide to Thyme
Oregano (Origanum)
Bees visit Oreganos and marjorams with equal vigour when in flower. Wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare) and wild thyme (Thymus polytrichus) are native and grow extensively in areas of the UK with chalk soil. They can be lovely in a wildflower lawn or meadow and will contribute to a honey crop.
Want to know more? Read Jekka's Guide to Oregano
Mints (Mentha)
Mints in flower are a magnet for bees, particularly honey bees who after visiting can produce honey with a lightly minty tang. Water mints growing near rivers or in garden ponds usually flower from August, so are a useful late-season source of nectar. The hairy stems of some mints are collected by wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum) for their nests.
Want to know more? Read Jekka's Guide to Mint
Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)
The best plant for attracting this delightful solitary bee is lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), also in the Lamiaceae family. It’s hard to resist stroking the silvery-soft woolly leaves as you pass by, but they are also a favourite source of nesting materials for the wool carder bee, the female of which shears the wool off in strips like a miniature flymo. The male of the species defends their territory vigorously and, as well as chasing away rivals from a patch of lamb’s ear, will sometimes fly up and inspect the passing gardener face to face – it’s strangely intimidating being surveyed by a tiny bee, but they can’t sting. Lamb’s ear isn’t commonly considered an edible plant, but in fact the young leaves can be used in salads and teas, or cooked as a potherb. In Portugal they are battered and deep-fried for a delicacy called peixinho da horta – little fishes of the garden.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is closely linked to bees, not least because its genus name, Melissa, comes from the Greek for honey bee. The small, deep flowers suit longer-tongued bumblebees. However, the smell of lemon balm is highly attractive to honey bees and crushed leaves rubbed inside an empty hive are said to encourage swarms to take up residence. Some beekeepers grow lemon balm near their hives and rub their hands on it before inspections, believing the smell calms bees and reduces stings. If you do get stung, summer savory (Satureja hortensis) could be useful as it has traditionally been rubbed on skin as a sting relief. Both summer savory (an annual) and winter savory (S. montana – a hardy perennial) are very much enjoyed by honey bees and short-tongued bumblebees when in flower. They make a useful, shorter alternative to lavender as an edging plant.
Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
Hippocrates recommended hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) for chest complaints but you are probably better off simply enjoying the sweet anise flavour of the beautiful purple flowers in a colourful salad. Bees, on the other hand, gorge themselves on the nectar while picking up bright orange pollen from the spiky anthers.
Visit us
The Lamiaceae family are found growing in abundance at Jekkas and it’s always a pleasure to see bees visiting them. However, there are hundreds of plants from other families that can also be seen attracting in bees. One is worthy of special mention for the remarkable event that occurs when in flower. The Szechuan pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans) produces tiny, almost disappointingly unglamorous blooms that completely belie the powerful, zesty punch of the peppercorns they later produce. Those peppercorns will be the result of pollination by bees – a task that they seem relish more than with almost any other plant. The flowers are at their best for only a day or two but in that time every honey bee in the district seems to want to visit, making the small, shrubby tree buzz and vibrate with such energy that it seems almost as if it has been plugged in at the mains. Szechuan pepper typically flowers in late spring or early summer and if lucky you may be able to witness the phenomenon at one of Jekka’s fabulous open days – just follow the sound of contented, busy bees.
Want to know more?
Join Richard Rickitt at Jekka's May Herb Days - Tickets available online.
You can find more of Jekka's knowledge about herbs freely available online in Jekka’s blog, our past newsletters and videos as well as Jekka's latest book '100 Herbs to Grow' and Jekka's existing books, namely 'A Pocketful of Herbs' or Jekka's Complete Herb Book, and also by browsing Jekkapedia and exploring our herb based recipes.