Basswood report thread — the linden is dripping this year in Quebec, who else is on it?
The basswood (linden/tilleul) around my yard in the Eastern Townships opened about July 3rd and it has been an absolute event — you can HEAR the trees from 20 meters, and on humid mornings the whole row smells like honey. Hives put on 3-4 kg on the best days. Supers I added July 1st are capped and I'm stacking more.
Fresh off the comb it has that unmistakable cool, almost minty-menthol edge that mellows as it ripens. My favorite honey we make, and the most heartbreaking, because basswood is famously all-or-nothing: last year the same trees gave us basically zero. The old-timers here say the good years alternate and that heat plus a wet spring is what sets it up.
So, flow report: how's the linden treating everyone else this year? Curious if the alternation lines up across regions or if it's purely local weather.
#basswood#linden#flow-report#varietal-honey
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4 replies
BethsBees · Jul 17, 2026
Ontario checking in: same story, huge year. My mentor calls basswood "the two week lottery" — when it hits you win the season, and some years it secretes nothing while in full bloom. Enjoying the roar while it lasts, mine started fading this week.
PasiekaOlek · Jul 18, 2026
Lipa is THE honey in Poland — lipiec (July) is literally named for the linden tree. Małopolska had a decent but not spectacular flow this year, rain interrupted the middle of it. The alternation is real in my five seasons: 2024 huge, 2025 nothing, this year medium. The minty note is strongest if you extract it young.
HokkaidoHachi · Jul 18, 2026
Hokkaido's shina trees are a major commercial flow here and this was a good year for us too — cool start, then heat right as it opened. Interesting that the alternation shows on three continents. Our buyers prize the menthol note; we chill the honey slightly at bottling to keep it.
LindenNora · Jul 18, 2026
Uppsala's lind is only just opening now, we run a couple weeks behind you — this thread is making me impatient. Third year and I've never caught a real linden flow, so I've got two empty supers waiting and unreasonable hopes.