attracting pollinators

Years ago, I started to incorporate more and more pollinator-friendly blooms into the garden. The results were amazing. Yes, the flowers made the gardens that much lovelier to look at, but the amount of life they brought in was astounding! Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, you name it…they all came in droves. The more flowers I sowed, the more pollinator pals that arrived, which of course led to much more successful harvests. It’s a winning strategy across the board, I get not only endless eye candy, but to be in the midst of all of that buzzing, flitting and feeding activity, which is…well…it’s heaven! The pollinators get to fill their bellies and the veggies get fabulous companion plants and pollination. So bring on the sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos and phlox!

Pollinators come in all shapes and sizes…they’re bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps, ants, hoverflies and even mosquitoes…yes, mosquitoes. Help create a beckoning playground for them with some of these tips below:

• Grow organically. You can’t build a pollinator presence if your garden and lawn are full of pesticides and herbicides that poison these precious friends. Rather, focus on Companion Planting and create a great growing balance between garden pests and garden heroes. For a few of my favorite companion plantings, please check out my listing here.

• You’ve got to be single to mingle. While many of the double or multi-petaled varieties of flowers like cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers may be eye-catching, they’re actually not too bee-friendly. Pollinators prefer single blossoms which offer more nectar and easier access to pollen.

• There’s gold in the old! Another key in selecting varieties is to choose both native blooms as well as heirlooms. Try to steer away from the hybridized varieties if possible as they do not produce that much pollen.

• Think seasonally. Plot out what point of the season your flowers will be in bloom and try to arrange your garden plantings so that you’ll be able to offer your pollinator pals non-stop flowers from spring to fall.

• Let Nature take the wheel. Probably my best garden successes come from me not getting in Nature’s way. The self-sown borage and calendula grow in wild abandon, creating a pollinator playground. Leave some logs and fresh water in a wild patch somewhere nearby for nesting and napping.

BEE-FRIENDLY BLOOMS:

  • Aster

  • Bee Balm

  • Black-eyed Susan

  • Butterfly Bush

  • Echinacea

  • Gilia

  • Goldenrod

  • Phlox

  • Pincushion Flower

  • Salvia

  • Sunflower

  • Sweet Alyssum

  • Yarrow

  • Zinnia

  • Flowering Herbs*:

    • Basil

    • Borage

    • Chives

    • Dill

    • English lavender

    • Fennel

    • Mint

    • Oregano (this is the bee’s knees around my garden)

    • Sage

    • Thyme

*If growing herbs for culinary use, then do not let the plants go to flower. Rather, harvest right before flowers open when the herb is at its highest essential oil content. Once the herb has gone to flower, it bitters the leaves, making them rather unedible. I always grow a extra patch of herbs to let go to bloom just for pollinators and edible flowers.

Check out my FAVORITE VARIETIES for a few of what are the bee’s knees in my garden.