Planting Forage for Honey Bees in Canada

This guide provides an overview of where and how honey bee forage can be created in Canada. It provides general information to farmers, road, utility and land managers, as well as home owners who are interested in enhancing honey bee forage and bee habitat. The primary focus of this guide is forage creation for honey bees as well as native bees and other pollinators. The guide covers three strategies for helping honey bees and other pollinators under the headings: Preserve, Restore, and Maintain. Later in the guide, there are sections with more detail and considerations for different land types: 1. Farms, 2. Roadsides, 3. Utility Corridors, and 4. Gardens. Under each land type, links to additional resources are also provided.

The guide provides a plant list of honey bee attractive pollen and nectar plants. The list focuses on native plants as well some introduced species that provide valuable nectar and/or pollen resources.

This guide entitled Planting Forage for Honey Bees in Canada: A guide for farmers, land managers, and gardeners, was produced by Pollinator Partnership Canada. The guide was commissioned for discussion purposes by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on behalf of the Bee Health Roundtable, an industry-government forum.