All NZ apiaries, by region

Subtropical, frost-free at the coast — Northland's mānuka stands flower earlier than the rest of the country, kicking the season off in late November. Strong pohutukawa harvest along the eastern coast over Christmas, and a long bush-blend season into autumn. Heavy varroa pressure means most apiaries here run intensive treatment cycles.

Steep, bush-clad peninsula with isolated mānuka stands — the kind of remote sites that produce the highest UMF readings because there's nothing else flowering nearby. Helicopter-placed hives are common. Coromandel mānuka is some of the country's most consistently monofloral.

Rewarewa country. The native honeysuckle that grows through the Bay's hill bush flowers Oct–Dec and produces the dark, malty single-flora honey that locals defend fiercely against the mānuka hype. Strong multifloral bush blends from the same stands later in summer.

Iconic mānuka territory — the whenua most associated with the highest-grade UMF honey on the market. Iwi-owned apiaries have led much of the region's production since the early 2010s, and the East Cape's bush is among the most aggressively protected mānuka land in NZ.

Sounds-edge mānuka, plus inland clover from the Wairau and Awatere valleys. Marlborough mānuka tends to test slightly lower MGO than East Cape but with more consistent year-on-year harvests thanks to drier conditions. Big pasture-clover production for blending.

Plain-and-foothill country — the heart of NZ clover production. The Canterbury Plains' irrigated dairy clover supports massive winter pasture flowering, and a small but excellent kānuka-and-bush band hides in the Banks Peninsula and the foothills.

Dry, continental, sub-alpine — Central Otago's wild thyme and tussock-flora honeys have a national reputation. Small-batch apiaries dominate, and the region is one of the few where you can still find pure thyme honey commercially produced. Cold winters limit hive numbers.

Rata, kāmahi and beech honeydew country. The Coast's wet bush produces some of the country's most distinctive monofloral honeys — rata in particular is rare, intensely buttery, and weather-dependent. Honeydew gathered from beech-forest scale insects is its own underrated category.