5 Easy Ways to Turn Your Garden Into a Pollinator Pit Stop This April – No Matter the Size of Your Space
Experts reveal the key to successful pollinator-friendly gardens of all sizes
Creating a pollinator pit stop can be easier than it sounds, and it's perfect for gardens of all sizes. If you want to support wildlife and build your own pollinator-friendly habitat, here are five key steps to get right.
It all comes down to using native plants, selecting different flower colors and shapes for different pollinators, and providing essential habitat and water. Going vertical is a great idea too, especially in smaller spaces, so you can pack lots of beneficial plants into a small square footage.
Article continues below1. Use Native Plants
Native plants are essential for pollinators. When choosing plants for pollinators, native species are always the best option, since your local wildlife has adapted to specific plants that meet their needs.
‘Flowering native plants have co-evolved with pollinators to provide forage at the time when specific pollinator species need those plants,' explains horticulturist and author Kim Eierman. ‘Always use regional native plants for the best pollinator support in your locale.’
‘The Biota of North America Program website is a great resource for determining the regionality of native plant species,’ recommends Kim.
Native plants also benefit gardeners as they are better adapted to local soil and climatic conditions. Adding these plants to flower beds and containers creates a pollinator pit stop that wildlife will flock to.
Some of the best native plants for pollinators include milkweed, bee balm (get a live Rockin Raspberry Bee Balm at Nature Hills), purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan (you can get a live black-eyed Susan plant at Fast Growing Trees), and butterfly weed. All of these plants can grow either in the ground or in pots.
You can easily build a container garden for pollinators using many of those plants, and they will even be happy in a thriving wildlife garden on a balcony.
Kim is an environmental horticulturist and landscape designer specializing in ecological landscapes and native plants, and the author of the best-selling book, The Pollinator Victory Garden, which is available at Amazon.
2. Plant a Mix of Flowers
Different pollinators will flock to different flower colors, shapes, or structures. For a busy pollinator pit stop, mixing different types of blooms and planting for a long season will attract the widest variety of pollinators into your garden.
Ana Herrera-Ruiz from Tudor Place Historic House & Garden in Georgetown (which is home to a diverse mix of native plants) highlights how color and shape are equally important in attracting pollinators.
‘Bees tend to go for blues, purples, whites, and yellows, while butterflies are more drawn to brighter pinks and oranges. Hummingbirds usually prefer red, especially tubular flowers,’ says Ana.
‘Flat, open flowers like coneflowers or black-eyed Susans are easy landing spots, while tubular blooms like bee balm and columbine are better suited for hummingbirds.’
Ana highlights milkweed or Joe-Pye weed as two particularly valuable plants for pollinators, as they flower in clusters and offer lots of nectar in one place. You can get a live milkweed plant at Fast Growing Trees that is a perfect plant for a butterfly border.
Consider size, color, and form when picking plants for your pollinator pit stop, and try to include something to accommodate all forms of wildlife.
‘A long-tongued bee or a hummingbird can access nectar from flowers with long corolla tubes, like Delphinium exaltatum (Tall Larkspur), while a shorter-tongued bee or a wasp will need to feed on flowers with a shorter corolla tube, like Mountain Mints,’ advises Kim Eierman. You can get live mountain mint plants at Amazon.
It is also recommended to plant for a long season. As not all pollinator species are active at the same time, a long succession of blooms ensures there is food throughout the seasons.
Think about spring insects with columbine and serviceberry, summer wildlife that will flock to coneflowers and bee balm, and plants for fall pollinators, like New England aster and goldenrod.
Ana Herrera-Ruiz is the Director of Buildings, Gardens & Grounds at Tudor Place Historic House & Garden in Georgetown. The 5+ acre site dates back to 1805 and was originally stewarded by Martha Washington’s descendants. The team cares for a really diverse mix of native plants, heirloom gardens, and some of the city’s oldest trees.
3. Add Vertical Elements
In smaller spaces, it becomes even more beneficial to take advantage of vertical elements, which can offer vital habitat space without robbing away square footage of a more confined garden.
There are lots of vertical garden ideas that can attract pollinators, such as living walls packed with native plants, while even certain fence colors, like pink, yellow, and red, will bring more pollinators into a space.
‘Vertical elements like trellises and wall planters help maximize growing space, while native plants can thrive in containers for a smaller yard,’ advises Ana Herrera-Ruiz.
The gardening expert adds: ‘Layering plant heights from groundcover to mid-level and taller species will also make an impact in attracting pollinators.’
Simple ways to add vertical planting to a pollinator pit stop include using hanging baskets, planting climbers like trumpet vine or passionflower (you can get a live passionflower plant at Fast Growing Trees) to scale trellises, or making a simple green wall using a modular system like this one from Amazon that features 12 pockets.
4. Provide Fresh Water
A well-rounded pollinator pit stop needs more than just flowers and nectar; also, think about providing a safe water source for beneficial wildlife.
Adding a shallow bee watering station or butterfly puddler means they have access to essential fresh water, which is especially valuable during drought periods.
It is not difficult to add a safe, accessible hydration station for pollinators to your garden, ranging from having a shallow edge of a garden pond to smaller-scale water sources in more confined spaces.
‘In a smaller space, this could include using a shallow dish or saucer and adding pebbles or stones for landing spots,’ says Ana.
Place the container in a shady spot to provide valuable respite from the sun and prevent overheating, ideally somewhere near some nectar-rich native flowers. You do need to refresh the water regularly to keep it clean.
5. Provide Habitat
Along with providing safe water, creating habitats will significantly support pollinators, and even a small garden can provide critical habitat.
Different pollinators require varying habitats, but you don’t need grand spaces to provide essential habitat for a wide variety of pollinators.
Ana shows how gardeners can easily ‘replicate natural ecosystems on a miniature scale’ at home.
She says: ‘Install bee hotels for native solitary bees, create small brush or twig piles in tucked-away corners, incorporate native grasses for seasonal shelter, and leave stems standing in winter, as many insects can overwinter inside them.’
Gardeners can leave a corner of the yard wilder as a pollinator strip where long grass, weeds, and piles of twigs or logs can be a haven for a range of beneficial insects.
Even a small patch of bare soil can be a perfect spot for those native bees that nest in the ground and seek out bare, sunny ground.
You can buy a bug hotel, such as this wooden insect house at Amazon, or make your own bug hotel using a combination of sticks, logs, dead stems, and old bricks put into an old wooden pallet. It doesn’t need to be too neat; just fill any gaps with natural materials and place the hotel in a warm, dry, and protected space.
This mix of wildflower seeds has over 7,500 live seeds of 23 different plant species. It is perfect for attracting pollinators into a garden.
These decorative flowers are designed to be filled with water for bees, butterflies, and more to drink from and bathe in. Simply insert the sharp side into soil among your flower bed and watch pollinators enjoy.
Get a fantastic selection of wildflowers into your yard by simply shaking this container of seeds over an area. It contains flowers that bloom at various times.
We mentioned earlier how some native bees nest in the ground and some prefer holes in wood. Indeed, not all bees want the same plants either. Therefore a good pollinator pit stop should try to have something for all different bees.
To make sure you are attracting as many as possible, our guide to types of bees and what to plant to attract them gives you lots of useful tips to entice lots of bees to your garden.
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