Pollen is the honey bee's source of complete nutrition, containing 20-35% protein, sugars, enzymes, minerals and vitamins. Pollen is essential for the development of young bees.
Pollen from some plants may not contain all the nutrition a honey bee needs. The best sources contain at 
least 25% protein. The amount of nutrition in pollen is dependent upon the plant and it's growing environment. Pollen nutrition from plants in the same genus is usually the same. A plant that produces a large amount of pollen doesn't necessarily mean it is providing high quality pollen. Plants with pollen that provides 20% or lower protein means a honey bee has to collect more of it to provide for their needs. Plants providing 25% or higher protein mean less work for the foragers.
Pollen color doesn't have much bearing on the nutritive value a plant provides. Plants in the same family tend to have the same color of pollen. Pollen comes in a rainbow of colors from white to black. Here's a short list of plants that provide different colors of pollen collected by honey bees.
Siberian Squill Blue
Snowdrops Red
Asparagus Orange
Sweet Almond Brown
American Elm Grey
Large Flowered Clematis White
Honey be
es need a variety of different colored pollen for good health just as we need different varieties of food for the same reason.
Are you providing a colorful bounty for your local honey bees?
Sweet Almond, Clematis and Asparagus photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Peach blossom thumbnail is my own
Nutrition information courtesy of Fat Bees/Skinny Bees a publication produced by Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation which can be found here:
https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/05-054
For more discussion on planting to attract honey bees and butterflies, please visit our forum: Gardening for Butterflies
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