These cold winter days are a great time to plan your 2025 pollinator garden. It’s tempting to dive right into ordering from those luscious seed catalogs–but before you start choosing plants, it’s wise to do a little planning. You may be focusing on your color palette or succession of bloom–but don’t forget that for the pollinator habitat, it’s essential to think in layers.
Naturally-occurring plants grow in many layers, including tall and understory trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and the ground layer. Each level provides a home for varying species. Missing plant layers = missing species.
A layered landscape provides food throughout all seasons. For example, bees benefit from the early-spring blooming flowers of native trees and shrubs, which offer food just when the bees are emerging from a long winter’s fast.
Want to see more butterflies in your garden? Many of the beauties we enjoy lay their eggs in native trees and shrubs. Native trees planted by Dr. Bob Snetsinger at the SBG were chosen specifically to support the caterpillars of various species of lepidoptera. Large yellow tiger swallowtails are frequently spotted gliding down from the treetops to nectar on their favorite flowers. Others, like fritillaries, depend on plants in the ground layer.
Layered landscapes not only support fellow creatures, but also create gardens that are beautiful! Trees and shrubs provide seasonal interest – aromatic spring flowers, gorgeous fall colors, and stunning architecture in the winter. Wonder awaits in every layer- a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on a spicebush, a bird flitting from branch to branch or a bumble bee emerging from beneath the leaf litter.
So whether you’re working around existing plantings or are starting from ground zero, don’t forget the layered landscape. A little planning now will reap endless rewards–both for you and your pollinator guests!
