Beekeeping season at Tyler wrapped up with a final fall harvest on September 9. This honey has a dark amber color and a fruity, spicy flavor, with notes of licorice and toffee.
September honey’s color, aroma, and flavor differ significantly from the honey harvested earlier in the year because the bees were foraging on different flowers in July and August than they were in May and June.
We have a good idea of the nectar sources in May’s Tyler honey from an analysis performed by the Honey and Pollen Diagnostic Lab at Penn State University. This test revealed that the bees had been foraging from “Prunus/stone fruit” (almost certainly the Yoshino cherry trees along Painter Road), dogwoods, “Malus/apple” (likely the crabapple trees in the North Meadow), lilacs, and a variety of other blooms.
Analysis of honey harvested at Tyler Arboretum on May 27, 2026. For more information on plant identification in honey samples, click here.
Although we haven’t had the fall honey analyzed yet, we can make some educated guesses on the nectar sources by taking note of where we’ve been seeing the honey bees – sedum, boneset, jewelweed, goldenrod, and other fall blooms.
Over the next few weeks, the bees that are collecting nectar from the fall flowers will be replaced by “winter bees” that can live up to six months, unlike the spring and summer bees that live four to six weeks. Those winter bees will survive on the honey stores that Tyler’s beekeepers have left in the hives, along with supplemental feeding if necessary.
Here’s one way to experience Tyler’s fall honey, as described in “The Honey Connoisseur” by Marina Marchese:
Scoop up a generous spoonful of honey, coat your entire tongue, let it melt slowly and savor the flavors as they unfold. Take your time. It is important to distribute a generous amount of honey on your tongue and throughout your mouth to fully taste and acknowledge the flavors. Inhale through your mouth and exhale through your nose. As the aromas travel to your nose, you might experience flavors that are fruity, vegetal, fresh, or animal.
There are thousands of different flavors, called notes, found in honey, and we continue to perceive them even after we swallow.
Whether you drizzle honey on your morning cereal or yogurt, incorporate it into recipes, or scoop spoonfuls straight out of the jar, we hope you enjoy Tyler’s fall honey!
Note: A limited quantity is available for sale at our Visitor Center while supplies last!
Honey bee on goldenrod at Tyler Arboretum, September 2026.
