What blooms when in Ontario

On a warm day in early May, Anne notices her bees coming home with bright yellow and orange pollen packed on their legs. In high summer the entrance is busy and the hive smells of nectar. Later, things go quieter. By late August the bees are busy again, and the hive smells sharp and sweet. What changed? The flowers did.

Your bees can only gather what's blooming within reach, usually within a mile or so of the hive. So the local bloom calendar tells you when the colony will grow, when it will store honey, and when it may go hungry.

A word of caution first. Bloom times vary from year to year, and across Ontario. The province's frost free zones run from more than one hundred and sixty five frost free days in the warmest parts of the south to ninety five or fewer in the north. So treat this lecture as an order of events, not a set of dates.

Early spring. In much of southern Ontario, willows, wild fruit trees, hawthorn and cherry give the bees their first nectar and pollen, typically from around the middle of April. Then the maples, sugar, red and Norway maple, bloom in early May. That early pollen is what lets the colony get brood rearing going in earnest.

Then dandelion, one of the first big nectar sources of the year. It's also a signal for you. The Ontario Beekeepers' Association advises that spring feeding can stop once dandelions are blooming.

Next comes the main summer flow. In the northeast, and typically in southern Ontario too, clovers, sweet clover and basswood bloom in early summer, and a strong colony can store honey fast. This is when your honey boxes go on.

After the main flow, many beekeepers see a quieter stretch in late summer, when less is blooming. Watch for it. A dearth, especially with weak colonies nearby, is when bees start robbing other hives, and robbing spreads disease and mites.

Then the fall flow, on goldenrod and asters, and alfalfa where it's grown, from about August into early September. In Ontario, honey boxes can stay on as late as mid September. After that, the bees need their stores for winter.

An old Ontario agriculture publication on nectar plants makes a useful point. Herbaceous plants, the clovers and wildflowers, are the province's most dependable nectar sources, and nectar flows best on warm, sunny days with good soil moisture. A dry summer can mean less nectar even when plenty is in bloom.

Now let's change one fact. Suppose Anne's hives sat in the middle of a huge field, far from any hedgerow, pasture or patch of wildflowers. The bees would have to fly farther and work harder for less. Same bees, same care, but a much harder year. Forage is part of choosing your site.

The mistake beginners make is trusting the calendar instead of the flowers. Walk your area. Notice what's blooming, and what the bees are carrying home. A local club can tell you what the flows look like where you are.

Here is the rule, in one breath. In Ontario the order runs from willow, fruit trees and maple in spring, to dandelion, to clover and basswood in early summer, a quieter late summer, and goldenrod and aster in the fall, but the dates change by region and year, so watch the flowers.

That's the end of module four. Next, we open the hive for your first real inspection.