Red Clover
Trifolium pratense
flowerRed clover (Trifolium pratense) is a short-lived perennial legume with the classic three-part leaves often marked with a pale crescent and rounded, sweet-scented rose-pink flowerheads beloved by bumblebees and honeybees. Long grown as a forage crop and a nitrogen-fixing green manure that enriches the soil, it is also valued in the garden for its edible, mildly sweet flowers, used fresh in salads and dried for a pleasant traditional tea. Easy, cheerful, and hardworking, it improves the ground it grows in, feeds pollinators all summer, and self-sows to persist, making it as useful in the vegetable plot as in the meadow.
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Sun
full sun
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Water
Every 7 days
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Bloom
~90 days
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Difficulty
easy
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Lifecycle
perennial
Comes back every year
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Spacing
Broadcast; thin to 6 in. apart
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Planting Depth
About 1/4 in. deep
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Soil pH
6.0-7.0
Growing Details
Soil Type
Average, well-draining
Hardiness Zones
Zones 3 – 9
When to Fertilize
None; the legume fixes nitrogen
Fertilizer
None; low needs
🌱 Growing Guide
Sow red clover in spring or late summer in average, well-drained soil in full sun, broadcasting the small seed and raking it in lightly, or sowing it as an under-crop and cover crop among vegetables; it tolerates a range of soils and fixes its own nitrogen, so it needs no feeding. Keep lightly moist to establish. As a cover crop, cut or turn it in before it sets seed to return its nitrogen to the soil; as a flower and pollinator plant, let it bloom and it will draw bees all summer and self-sow. It is short-lived but persists by reseeding, and it tolerates mowing and light foot traffic.
🌼 Have a different variety?Cultivars of the same species usually share the same basic care, and they differ mainly in flower color, height, and bloom form, not in how you grow them. So this guide still applies even if your exact variety isn't the one shown.
Planting Calendar
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Direct sow
Apr 29
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Projected first bloom
Jul 28
JJan
FFeb
MMar
AApr
MMay
JJun
JJul
AAug
SSep
OOct
NNov
DDec
✅ Plant alongside
Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests
- Corn: A heavy feeder that benefits from the nitrogen red clover fixes when interplanted or grown before it
- Cabbage: A living-mulch undersowing of clover feeds brassicas and shelters the soil
- Grass: Classic in a flowering lawn or pasture mix, the clover feeding both the grass and the bees
🛡️ Pest & disease prevention
Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts. Tap a name with an arrow for its full guide
Hose colonies from the growth; the many beneficial insects clover attracts help control them
Notch the leaf edges but rarely cause real harm - vigorous stands shrug off the damage
🌸 Blooms & cutting
Pick the fresh pink flowerheads in full bloom on a dry morning, when they are sweetest, for use fresh in salads or for drying; snip the whole head, and a patch can be picked repeatedly through the long bloom season. Dry the flowers quickly and thoroughly in a shaded, airy place for tea, as the dense heads hold moisture. The young leaves are also edible cooked.
🥗 Nutrition & benefits
Red clover flowers are edible, mildly sweet, and pretty in salads, and are most often dried for a gentle, pleasant herbal tea with a long folk tradition; the young leaves can be cooked as a green. In the garden its bigger contributions are ecological - it fixes nitrogen to enrich the soil as a cover crop and is one of the best nectar plants for bees.
For educational and informational purposes only. HomeSown is not medical, health, or other professional advice. Always positively identify any plant before handling or eating it; some plants, and some parts of otherwise-edible plants, are toxic. Consult a qualified professional before consuming or otherwise using any plant, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a health condition.