Now that you’ve decided to step up to the plate and help our vital pollinators, I’ll provide you with some ideas for planting habitat that will attract them to your surroundings. When one thinks about it, these critters are not that choosey. They will be drawn to their habitat on every type of landscape you could offer them. Window boxes, planters on the deck or porch, community and individual gardens, corporate campuses, roadside medians, utility corridors, schools, city parks, and farmland are all acceptable to them. If you plant it, they will come. And when they come, they will ‘plant’ some for you too. For example, we have had Milkweed, Evening Primrose and a Royal Catchfly ‘gifted’ to us in our gardens by a passing pollinator!
It’s important to choose native plants for your location and/or those plants that are non-invasive. They can be purchased as plants, plugs or seeds. For our Prairie Garden, we chose several different types of native plants amounting to a total of 300 plugs based on the size of the area. To name a few that do well in the Midwest, we chose New Jersey Tea, Bee Balm, Coneflowers, Beard’s Tongue, Compass Plants, Little Blue Stem, and Goldenrod. In other garden beds, we chose plants such as Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, Campanula, and Russian Sage. We planted wildflower seeds in our Butterfly Garden that have produced flowers such as Zinnias, Cosmos, Borage and Sunflowers. All grow very well and have flourished through the years. Through sculpting and/or thinning our different beds, many of these plants have been shared with our family, friends and neighbors, providing pollinators more areas from which to choose for their habitat.
It is suggested we plant in clusters so the pollinators can zero in on them easily. Choosing those that bloom throughout the growing season will give you (and the pollinators) more enjoyment. Site choice is important, in that it should be sheltered from wind if possible, allows partial sun throughout the day, and will provide water.
I invite you to read my next Blog post, Plant with a Passion for Pollinators, where I will once again use www.pollinator.org as a source of information to pass along to you for the upcoming Pollinator Week. I also invite you to use my website to order my book “It’s a Great Day for Pulling Weeds” (see Buy the Book tab). It’s a wonderfully illustrated educational children’s book about nature and includes information on bees, butterflies, habitat and gardening practices.
