Summer Flowering Ironbark is currently flowering and yielding nectar in the box- ironbark forest where we have our bees in the northern country of Victoria. This species (Eucalyptus sideroxylon) is better known for its more abundant winter flowering form. It is hard to work out what percentage is summer flowering , but it is less than the other form. The trees look identical but simply flower in different seasons.
The honey is light in colour and of very high quality and the trees have yielded well at present which is great because they haven’t flowered for several years. These trees do not produce pollen and so the brood can decrease markedly when bees are working this species, so it is necessary to provide them with a pollen supplement to keep the numbers up for the forthcoming Grey Box trees which are just staring their autumn flowering at the same site.