Honey bee forage in Boone, Colorado

When is the honey flow in Boone?

• First forage: Feb 16 (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion)
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Aug 15, peaking late Apr (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), native wildflowers, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster))
• Fall flow: Sep 1 to Sep 15 (fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Boone, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Apr 22.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), native wildflowers, dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), alfalfa, native wildflowers; light amber, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), native wildflowers, alfalfa; light amber, likely to set over some months

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Alfalfa: about 92 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Aug (grown 5 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 112 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul (grown 2 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Boone

Mostly: Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie; Western Great Plains Floodplain Herbaceous; Inter-Mountain Basins Mixed Salt Desert Scrub.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.15 mi E; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.28 mi SW.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How Boone ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

About 81% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Avondale 5 mi · Vineland 11 mi · Fowler 15 mi · Blende 17 mi · Salt Creek 18 mi · Olney Springs 18 mi

All towns in Colorado · National map · How the scoring works

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021–2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Boone (38.2506, -104.261); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.