Good bee food

Good bee food healthy ecosystems

The world is covered in the most wonderful diversity of flowers, and in South Africa we are particularly abundant.

We have different soil types and climate with rainfall ranges from 50mm per annum to 800mm in some regions, not to mention temperature differences.

Large daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations are experienced in our dryer regions and frost up to 5 months in a year; with summer and winter rainfall regions too.

Our honey bees live in all these different environments and experience the same weather extremes as plants do, with periods of food scarcity a major concern, so planting with these periods in mind in your region is critical in supporting our honey bees needs for forage, and their sustainability.

Our honey bees survive by cooling down or warming up their brood nests, storing honey reserves or leaving their hives for ‘greener pastures’ so to speak; and because they exploit whatever food source is around for them they pollinate thousands of plant species, making them key to the sustainability of ecosystems.

Use our Good Bee Food section to understand your local Beekeepers Choice for feeding honey bees on in your province (this also gives you a good idea of what plants not to remove on your farms and open land or gardens) or as a good starting point on how to Grow Your Garden Buzzy.