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 37.5342, -79.3638

Estimated forage here is better than about 29% of sites in Virginia. Against other Virginia sites it stands out most in spring (58th percentile) and lowest in summer (21st). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 1.0 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.22 mi N.

Ranking

Continental US: 47th percentile (spring 81st, summer 31st, fall 23rd)
Virginia: 29th percentile (spring 58th, summer 21st, fall 39th)
Piedmont: 36th percentile (spring 48th, summer 49th, fall 87th)

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

Season

First forage: Feb 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Dandelion
Main flow: Mar 16 to Jun 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Dandelion
Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

Corn: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

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

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.