Your Cool Home is supported by its readers. Please assume all links are affiliate links. If you purchase something from one of our links, we make a small commission from Amazon. Thank you!
Do honey bees like lavender?
Yes, honey bees absolutely like lavender, and it’s one of their favorite flowers to visit in any garden.
If you’ve been watching your lavender bushes on a sunny afternoon, you’ve probably noticed a constant buzz of activity as honey bees like lavender for its abundant nectar and pollen.
These busy foragers will travel from bloom to bloom, and the relationship between honey bees and lavender is a match made in floral heaven.
In this post, we’ll dig into why honey bees like lavender so much, the specific varieties that attract them best, and how you can grow lavender to support your local bee population.
Let’s explore this fragrant partnership together.
Why Honey Bees Like Lavender So Much
Honey bees like lavender because it offers a trifecta of benefits that bees simply can’t resist.
The first reason has to do with the shape of the flower itself.
Lavender blooms are tubular and open in a way that gives honey bees easy access to the nectar hidden deep inside.
Unlike some complicated flowers that require special tongue lengths or behaviors, lavender welcomes honey bees with an open invitation.
The second reason honey bees like lavender is the sheer volume of nectar produced per flower.
Lavender is a nectar powerhouse, and when you have a full row of lavender plants, you’re essentially laying out a buffet for every honey bee in the neighborhood.
And third, lavender blooms for a long period during the summer, which aligns perfectly with the time when honey bee colonies are growing fast and need the most food.
1. The Scent Is a Powerful Attractant
Honey bees like lavender partly because of the intense fragrance that we humans also love.
That distinct, calming aroma is produced by essential oils called linalool and camphor.
Honey bees have an incredible sense of smell, and they use those aromatic compounds to locate lavender from a distance.
Once a honey bee finds lavender, it performs a special dance when returning to the hive to tell other foragers exactly where the fragrant patch is located.
So, when you plant lavender, you’re not just attracting one honey bee; you’re recruiting an entire colony over time.
2. Easy Landing and Feeding Platform
Honey bees like lavender because the flower structure acts like a natural landing pad.
The wide lower lip of each lavender bloom gives honey bees a stable place to grip while they insert their proboscis into the nectar tube.
This means honey bees spend less energy hovering and more energy collecting.
That efficiency is crucial because foraging is hard work, and honey bees will always choose flowers that give them the best return on their energy investment.
3. High-Quality Nectar for Honey Production
Honey bees like lavender not just for the quantity of nectar but also for its sugar concentration.
Lavender nectar has a high sugar content, which makes it incredibly valuable for honey production.
When honey bees collect lavender nectar, they turn it into a delicately flavored honey that is prized by beekeepers and food lovers around the world.
Lavender honey is light, floral, and slightly sweet, and it’s a direct result of honey bees preferring lavender over many other garden flowers.
Which Lavender Varieties Do Honey Bees Like Best?
Not all lavender is created equal when it comes to attracting honey bees.
Honey bees like lavender varieties that have been bred for intense fragrance and high nectar production.
The most popular type, English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), is a top choice for honey bees.
French lavender and Spanish lavender also attract honey bees, but they may produce slightly less nectar depending on your climate.
If you truly want to create a honey bee paradise, plant several different lavender varieties with staggered bloom times.
1. English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
When you ask if honey bees like lavender, the answer is a resounding yes for English lavender.
This variety is cold-hardy, long-lived, and produces dense spikes of purple flowers loaded with nectar.
Honey bees will work these blooms from morning until dusk during the peak flowering period.
Varieties like ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead’ are especially attractive to honey bees and are easy to find at most nurseries.
2. Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia)
Lavandin is a hybrid lavender that honey bees like even more than some English types because of its larger flower spikes.
These bigger blooms hold more nectar, and honey bees can forage more quickly without flying from flower to flower as often.
Varieties such as ‘Grosso’ and ‘Provence’ are famous for attracting massive numbers of honey bees, and they are often grown commercially for lavender honey production.
3. Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
Spanish lavender features showy, pineapple-shaped blooms that honey bees also find very appealing.
Honey bees like lavender in this form because the top bracts create a striking visual signal that guides bees straight to the nectar-rich florets below.
Just keep in mind that Spanish lavender is less hardy than English varieties, so it’s best suited for warmer climates.
How to Grow Lavender to Maximize Honey Bee Visits
Growing lavender for honey bees is rewarding, but you need to follow a few key practices to make sure your plants thrive.
Honey bees like lavender that is healthy, well-drained, and basking in full sunlight.
If you provide the right conditions, your lavender will produce more flowers, and honey bees will reward you with constant pollination visits.
1. Plant in Full Sun
Lavender originates from the sunny Mediterranean region, so it craves at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily.
Honey bees are also most active in warm, sunny weather, so planting lavender in a sunny spot ensures that bees will be flying when your flowers are open.
The more sun your lavender gets, the more essential oils it produces, and the more attractive it becomes to honey bees.
2. Ensure Excellent Drainage
Lavender absolutely hates wet feet, and honey bees like lavender that is growing in the right soil.
If the roots sit in soggy soil, lavender plants will decline and produce fewer flowers.
Plant your lavender in sandy or gravelly soil, or add plenty of grit to improve drainage if you have heavy clay.
Raised beds are also a fantastic option for lavender, especially in regions with high rainfall.
3. Skip the Mulch and Fertilizer
Most garden plants love compost and mulch, but lavender prefers lean, rocky soil.
Honey bees like lavender that is slightly stressed because that stress actually concentrates the nectar sugars.
Avoid fertilizers rich in nitrogen, as they will promote leafy growth at the expense of flowers.
And instead of organic mulch, use a layer of small stones or gravel around your lavender to keep the base dry and warm.
4. Prune for Continuous Blooming
To keep honey bees visiting all season, you need to deadhead spent lavender flowers regularly.
After the first flush of blooms fades in early summer, trim the flower stalks back by about a third.
This encourages a second round of flowering in late summer, giving honey bees like lavender an extended food source.
You can also do a harder annual prune in early spring to keep plants compact and vigorous.
So, Do Honey Bees Like Lavender?
Honey bees like lavender more than almost any other perennial flower you can grow.
They like lavender for its rich nectar, its irresistible fragrance, and its easy-to-access bloom structure.
And in return, honey bees provide essential pollination services that help your lavender produce even more seeds and flowers next year.
If you want to support honey bees in your garden, planting lavender is one of the smartest choices you can make.
Whether you choose English lavender, lavandin, or Spanish types, you’ll be creating a buzzing haven for these vital pollinators.
And when you see those honey bees happily working your lavender on a warm summer day, you’ll know you’ve created something truly special for both your garden and the environment.