In 2025, the Marimurtra Botanical Garden once again harvested an exceptional honey. A honey that is not only delicious, but also tells a unique story of biodiversity. After the retirement of Vicenç, this year we welcomed new beekeepers: brothers Àlex and Òscar, from Mels del Montnegre, a family business with a long history in artisan honey production and bee care.
In autumn, they brought the bees to Marimurtra’s 20 hives, located in a non-accessible but strategically chosen area, surrounded by the garden’s great plant diversity. During winter, the bees go into hibernation — that is, they reduce their activity to a minimum to save energy — and in spring, the intense activity begins: brood rearing and nectar collection, which they will transform into honey inside the hive.
This year’s figures are very positive: some hives reached populations between 80,000 and 90,000 bees, with an average honey yield of 30 kg per hive, and some reaching up to 40 kg. The amount of honey depends greatly on the number of bees in the hive and whether the colony remained stable or swarmed (meaning the colony became so large that part of the bees left with the queen to form a new hive).
This honey is special due to the wide variety of pollen collected by the bees: thousands of different plants contribute to its composition. One of the beekeepers joked that if we usually speak of “thousand flower honey”, in this case we might say it’s “ten thousand flower honey”.
To better understand the origin of this honey, a study of the pollen it contains is underway. This will help identify the plant species from which the bees collected the most abundant pollen and thus indicate which parts of the garden had the highest pollination activity. It will also give us a sense of the plants that contribute most to the honey’s flavour and aroma profile.
A taste of the land
Marimurtra honey is not just a local product. It is an expression of the territory, a natural synthesis of the garden’s biodiversity. Each spoonful contains aromas of Mediterranean, exotic, coastal and mountain plants, collected with patience and dedication by hundreds of thousands of bees.
This project not only offers us a unique honey, but also contributes to the pollination of the garden and strengthens Marimurtra’s role as a living, sustainable and biodiversity-connected space.
