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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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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 48.5688, -122.4337

Estimated forage here is better than about 37% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in spring (64th percentile) and lowest in summer (26th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi N, grown 2 of the last 5 years); blueberries (nearest 0.3 mi E); clover and wildflowers (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 68th percentile (spring 74th, summer 71st, fall 47th)
  • Washington: 37th percentile (spring 64th, summer 26th, fall 41st)
  • Puget Lowland: 3rd percentile (spring 2nd, summer 22nd, fall 74th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 16 — Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Caneberries
  • Main flow: Apr 1 to Aug 15 — Clover/Wildflowers, Blueberries, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 95 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 964 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi S, blooms late Jun – early Aug
  • Blueberries: about 151 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi NE, blooms early Apr – late Apr
  • Blueberries: about 56 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms early Apr – late Apr
  • Corn: about 120 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Aug
  • Clover and wildflowers: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late Apr – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Blueberries, Clover/Wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Clover/Wildflowers, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Pumpkins, Squash, Garden flowers; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clover/Wildflowers, Blueberries, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Blueberries: insecticides used on about 91% of acres in Washington (2025); Squash: insecticides used on about 71% 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.
  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.