Honey Odyssey

Bee plant, Central Europe

Prunus avium

(L.) L.

Wild cherry, Sweet cherry

Wild cherry grows in forests and at woodland edges, is widely cultivated as sweet cherry, and flowers in April and May. Its white flowers open before the leaves in umbel like clusters. The Bavarian LWG rates it among the best nectar and pollen trees, and says cherry opens the fruit tree season for beekeepers.

Prunus avium
Photo: Thomas Schilling, CC BY-SA 4.0

What we know

How to recognise it

  • The white flowers develop before the leaves and sit in umbel like clusters on long stalks.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • At their base the flower clusters are surrounded only by bud scales, without small leaves.

    Confirmed fact[1]

When it flowers

  • Info Flora gives the flowering period of wild cherry in Switzerland as April to May.

    Confirmed fact[1]

Where it grows

  • In Switzerland wild cherry grows in forests and at woodland edges, mostly in the colline belt, and is also widely cultivated.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • Info Flora lists wild cherry as indigenous in Switzerland.

    Confirmed fact[1]

What it offers bees

  • The Bavarian LWG rates sweet cherry 4 for nectar and 4 for pollen on its 1 to 4 scale, and says cherry opens the fruit tree season for beekeepers from mid April.

    Statistical estimate[2]

  • LWG describes sweet cherry as a very good supplier of nectar and pollen.

    Reported by the farm[2]

In the garden

  • The LAVES bee institute counts all fruit trees among bee friendly trees.

    Reported by the farm[3]

  • LAVES warns that ornamental cherries with closed (double) flowers offer bees neither nectar nor pollen.

    Reported by the farm[3]

Sources

  1. Info Flora. Prunus avium L.. Online species page, Das nationale Daten- und Informationszentrum der Schweizer Flora (text from Flora Helvetica 2018). Link
  2. Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau (LWG), Institut für Erwerbs- und Freizeitgartenbau. Bienenbäume. 1. Auflage, Veitshöchheim, April 2019. Link
  3. Boecking O. (2010) Aktiver Bienenschutz: Verbesserung des Nahrungsangebotes für Bienen. LAVES Institut für Bienenkunde Celle. Link

Last checked: 20 October 2026. Every statement on this page was compared with the source it cites.