The criteria used by councils, or charities, when selecting trees to plant often fails to include their usefulness to pollinators. Yet pollinators, especially bees, require forage from early spring through to late autumn, and native trees, including hazel, alder and pussy willow can provide early sources of pollen when few plants are in flower. The advantage of planting native wild flowering trees is that the larvae of many native butterflies and moths rely on tree foliage. However, there are some late flowering non native trees, such as Chinese privet, the bee-bee tree and loquat, which can provide a valuable source of autumn nectar. So it is important that a proportion of non natives as well as natives, are included in a selection of pollinator-friendly trees. If street trees are planted close to community gardens, urban farms, parks and other open green areas, then habitat can be created in those spaces for wild bumblebees and solitary bees, generating pollination streams or 'eddies' between street and garden, farm or park. Trails or 'rivers' of insect pollinated street trees can link these areas of urban forage with one another enabling flying insects to negotiate a less hazardous and a more nutritiously rewarding path through urban areas. |
Trees flowering in February |
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![]() silver wattle |
![]() common alder |
![]() Winter flowering Cherry |
![]() Pussy/goat willow |
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Trees flowering in March |
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![]() Hazel |
![]() Kentish Cob Hazel Kentish Cob |
![]() Cherry 'Okame' |
![]() Cherry Plum |
![]() Common Plum |
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Trees flowering in April |
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![]() Field Maple |
![]() Juneberry |
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![]() Sweet gum |
Crab apple |
wild cherry |
![]() European Pear |
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Trees flowering in May |
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![]() pseudoplatanuis Sycamore |
![]() hippocastanum Horse chestnut |
monogyna Hawthorns |
![]() Snow drop tree |
![]() Autumn olive |
![]() Rowan |
![]() Judus Tree |
![]() Common whitebeam |
Holly |
![]() Medlar fruit |
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Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Trees flowering in June |
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![]() Tilia europaea Common Lime |
![]() Hop tree |
![]() False acacia |
![]() Rose Acacia |
Tulip Tree |
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Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Trees flowering in July |
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![]() Sweet chestnut |
![]() Indian horse chestnut |
broad leaved Lime |
![]() Persian silk tree |
![]() American smokewood |
![]() Privet tree |
Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Trees flowering in August |
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![]() Indian bean tree |
![]() Brush bush/Nirrhe |
![]() Golden rain |
![]() Hibiscus |
![]() Dwarf horse chestnut or Bottlebrush buckeye |
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Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Trees flowering in September |
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![]() Pagoda tree |
![]() Bee-bee tree |
![]() Chinese privet |
![]() Harlequin glorybower |
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Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Trees flowering in October |
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![]() Loquat tree |
![]() Crape myrtle |
![]() Strawberry tree |
Trees flowering in Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct | ||
Plants for Bees and other pollinators |
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Trees for Bees and other pollinators |
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