• Honeybees rely on nectar and pollen for food.honey bee working image by Stas from Fotolia.com
  
  Honeybees keep busy in spring, summer and early fall creating a large store of honey to get them through the winter months when few plants bloom. Garden keepers can help bees by planting vegetation that flowers in the late fall, during the winter or in the early spring. Depending on the climate and soil quality where you live, you may be able to plant a garden that feeds the honeybees from late fall and into early spring.
  
  

Winter Flowers

• Plants with nectar or pollen flowers that bloom in winter include witch hazel, honeysuckle and butterfly bush. Pussy willow is an especially prized winter favorite for honeybees. Winter aconite is another possibility.
  
  

Early Spring Flowers

• Plants that bloom in early spring and provide food for bees include wisteria, California lilac, pride-of-Madeira, manzanita, hackberry, columbine, borage, clover, primrose, wallflower and hazelnut. Alder may begin to bloom as early as February. The common dandelion is one of the most important early bloomers for bees, and gardeners, unfortunately, often them cut down or weed them out.
  
  

Late Fall Flowers

• Goldenrod helps honeybees get through the winter. The bees feed on both the nectar and the pollen of the goldenrod. Other plants that feed honeybees in September and October include lesser calamint, aster, comfry, zinnia, echium. Anise hyssop and lavender also may attract honeybees in fall.