Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

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Forage on the map in —

National map

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 36.9921, -79.6382

Estimated forage here is better than about 18% of sites in Virginia. Against other Virginia sites it stands out most in summer (53rd percentile) and lowest in fall (10th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi NW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.8 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 42nd percentile (spring 69th, summer 44th, fall 8th)
Virginia: 18th percentile (spring 12th, summer 53rd, fall 10th)
Piedmont: 26th percentile (spring 10th, summer 74th, fall 45th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Virginia, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
Main flow: Mar 16 to Jul 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

Corn: about 22 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms early Jun – early Jul
Soybeans: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms late May – late Jul
Corn: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jun – early Jul
Alfalfa: about 21 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi S, blooms late May – early Aug
Corn: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Jul
Soybeans: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms late May – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion; extra light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Soybeans, Dandelion; extra light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Dandelion; extra light amber

Things to watch

Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.