Create a Year-Round Pollinator Paradise in Your Garden
Thinking of starting a pollinator garden? It’s a rewarding way to support local wildlife and beautify your outdoor space. Experts suggest growing a variety of native plants that provide year-round nectar and pollen to butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, and hummingbirds. Here’s how to get started:
Start Small
Visitors to the Pollinator Project Rogue Valley’s educational center in Phoenix, Oregon, often ask how to create a pollinator garden. The group’s advice: Start small. Purchase a few native plants that can thrive in your yard, based on its sunny, shady, or wet conditions. Even a small area can serve as a respite for pollinators.
Avoid Chemicals
One of the most important tips is to avoid using chemicals. Enjoy the natural cycle of bugs eating plants and birds eating bugs. This approach supports a healthy ecosystem.
Choose the Right Location
Select a location that attracts the desired pollinators. Butterflies and other pollinators like to bask in the sun and prefer areas with some protection from the wind. Know your soil type—whether it’s sandy and well-drained or more clay-like and wet. This will help you choose plants that will thrive.
Focus on Native Plants
Native plants are ideal because they require less maintenance and are heartier. They have co-evolved with pollinators for millennia, making them perfect for your garden. Find a local nursery that specializes in native plants and ensure the plants haven’t been treated with pesticides, insecticides, or neonicotinoids.
Select Perennials
Choose perennials to ensure your plants come back each year with minimal maintenance. Here are some plant recommendations:
Early Spring
- Buttercup Winter Hazel (Corylopsis pauciflora): Produces creamy blooms in late winter, providing nourishment for early pollinators.
- Golden Wintersweet (Corylopsis spicata ‘Aurea’): Features acid yellow foliage with a reddish tinge in bright shade, maturing to bright gold or chartreuse in summer.
- Redvein Enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus): A charming and elegant deciduous shrub with colorful spring flowers and incredible fall foliage.
- Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa ‘Bacchanal’): Clumping growth habit with wine-red blooms and striking blue-green foliage.
- Lungwort (Pulmonaria ‘Trevi Fountain’): Known for its cornflower blue flowers and broad silver-spotted leaves, with exceptional vigor and disease resistance.
Summer
- Bleeding Heart (Dicentra): Named cultivars don’t spread as aggressively as some species, making them ideal for gardeners.
- Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): Daisy-like blooms with open centers, providing easy access to pollen and nectar.
- Oxeye Daisy (Heliopsis helianthoides): Extended bloom season lasting well into fall.
- Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’: Easy to maintain, with profuse royal blue blooms on new growth beginning in midsummer.
Continuous Bloom and Flower Form
As the year progresses, pay attention to flower form and continuity of bloom time. Ray flowers, with open centers, allow pollinators to easily access pollen and nectar. Coneflower and oxeye daisy are excellent choices for this.
By following these tips, you can create a lively, year-round pollinator paradise that not only supports local wildlife but also brings beauty and joy to your garden!
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