How to plant for pollinators
Why Plant for Pollinators?
Populations of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators are in serious decline, threatened by a number of environmental issues. One of the largest contributing factors is a loss of suitable habitat and sources of food. As we remove suitable habitat and replace it with lawns, non-native plantings, or hardscapes, we eliminate large swaths of land that support pollinators, and leave only isolated “islands” of habitat.
Through the efforts of the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden, its Satellite Garden Program, and Certified Pollinator Friendly Gardens in our community, many “pollinator pit-stops” already exist.
We’re calling on our neighbors and community members to help us fill in the gaps– one yard at a time– to help us link pollinator- friendly habitats throughout the area.
Habitat = Home
A successful pollinator habitat provides food, shelter, and resources for pollinators at all the stages of their life cycle. Native bees are ground- or cavity-nesting, and need bare soil or decomposing wood in which to build homes for their young.
Butterflies, for example, require certain plants (host plants) upon which to lay their eggs. The caterpillars that hatch need something to eat and a place to pupate (form a chrysalis), and adults need flowering nectar sources when they emerge. Sometimes these needs can be met by just one plant– but more often, a variety of plants serve different purposes for every stage of the life cycle. (We’ll help you make the right choices in the next section.)
Most native bees are ground- or cavity-nesting, and need bare soil, plant canes or decomposing wood in which to build homes for their young, as well as food, water and shelter for adults.
Planning Your Habitat
Design Considerations and Plant Selection
Your pollinator patch may be tucked in a corner of your lot, integrated with current plantings, or a major showpiece depending on what’s appropriate for your style and comfort level. Use the tips below to help guide you in planning your pollinator paradise!
Layer Up
In nature, plants grow in many layers: Tall and understory trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and the ground layer. Each level provides a home for varying species, so missing plant layers equals missing species.
A layered landscape provides food and shelter throughout all seasons, for all stages of the pollinator life cycle. And layered landscapes not only support fellow creatures, but also create gardens that are richly diverse and beautiful. So when planning your pollinator paradise, layer up!
Soft Landings
Did you know that over 90% of butterfly and moth caterpillars must drop to the ground at some point in their lives to pupate? And when they do, they need to find a hospitable landing site!
Soft landings are native plantings underneath native trees that support the life cycles of countless insects. Providing perennial plantings from trunk to dripline creates a safe place for these insects to drop into. Fallen leaves and plant debris should be left in place to enrich the soil and provide a winter blanket for many caterpillars and other insects.
Water, Water Everywhere
Pollinators need to hydrate, too, so every habitat should include a water source. Create a ‘puddling area’–butterflies absorb moisture and minerals through their feet, while native bees use mud as nesting material. An upended wine bottle ‘planted’ in the ground, or a saucer partially filled with sand or stones, provide easy and safe access to water.
Shelter Me
Butterflies prefer to visit flowers in sunny, open areas near trees and shrubs that they can use for roosting, or for shelter in inclement weather. Queen bumble bees pass the winter in small tunnels just below the surface of the soil; the fallen leaves or branches of trees provide valuable shelter for them. Including native trees and shrubs near your perennial patch provides an essential retreat for many pollinators.
Don’t Stress over Sod!
Replacing an area of grass or lawn with a pollinator garden doesn’t have to be a daunting task. We’ll explain how to create a garden area without digging sod in our planting tips section.
Safety in Numbers
Large groups of similar flower types and colors are more noticeable to pollinators from a distance. Pollinators use less energy foraging when many flowers of the same species are planted close together. Another benefit is that if a caterpillar falls off of one plant it can easily find its way to another of the same species. Where space allows, plant in drifts!
Plant a Pollinator Pocket
Planting along property edges not only provides balance to your landscaping, but also provides wildlife corridors. If everyone in an area plants a small pollinator patch at the edges of their yard (or wherever space and conditions allow), a larger pollinator habitat is formed. Plant a Pollinator Pocket: Get the Garden Plan Here.
Picking Plants for Pollinators
Go Native
Select native plants as the foundation of your garden stock. Natives are adapted to your local climate, soil and native pollinators. What is a native plant? Click here to learn more by visiting our Plant Directory.
The Spice of Life
Select flowers with a range of shapes, sizes and fragrances. Different pollinators favor certain shapes of flowers. For example, since butterflies are not able to hover, they need a flower shape with a wide surface or clustered flowers for a landing pad. Many native bees enjoy a range of flower shapes, including shallow, clustered flowers like mountain mint, or deep tubular flowers like bee balm and penstemon.
Succession of Bloom
Plan for a season -long buffet of flowers that bloom from early spring through late fall, and mix in annuals to help provide a continuous food source for pollinators. Not sure where to start? Our “Notes from the Habitat” section can provide information and inspiration!
Keep it Colorful
A variety of colors will attract a variety of pollinators. In general, bees are attracted to blues and yellows, while butterflies prefer bright colors, especially orange, red, yellow and purple.
Be a Good Host
Don’t forget host plants! Host plants encourage lepidoptera to make a home in your garden by providing essential food for caterpillars. Butterfly larvae often restrict themselves to a single plant or plant family. (A well-known example is milkweed, the host plant of the monarch caterpillar. ) And remember, ⅔ of butterfly host plants are trees and shrubs!
What to Avoid
Non-native invasives
Non-native, invasive plants are those that have been introduced from other parts of the world, spread easily, and outcompete native plants and wildflowers. Unfortunately, many such plants are sold at nurseries and garden centers, so it’s important to be an informed consumer. For a complete list of plants considered invasive in Pennsylvania click here. For other areas, consult your state’s Department of Natural Conservation or the USDA.
Modern Hybrids, Double Flowers
Though attractive to human eyes, the hybrids sold at your garden center have often been bred for size and color. Their blooms may be missing nectar and pollen, or have flowers that pollinators can’t access for these resources.
Cultivars
While they add interest for the gardener, many cultivars don’t always offer the pollen and nectar rewards that “straight species” do. During the breeding process, quality and quantity of nectar is often lost.
Sample Plant Lists and Garden Plans
To help guide your garden design, we’ve created some sample garden plans (complete with shopping lists) for a variety of landscaping scenarios. We’ve based these designs on approximately 100 sq. feet of space – scale these plans up or down depending on your needs.
Ready, Set, Plant
Planting Your Habitat
Preparing a Garden Area – the No-Till Way!
When establishing a pollinator garden, there’s no need for back-breaking digging or tilling of the soil. In fact, tilling the soil often brings up weed seeds, depletes organic matter, and disrupts soil structure.
If replacing grass/lawn:
- Cover the area you wish to plant in a thick layer of cardboard, or very heavy layer of newspaper (Tip: if using newspaper, to keep it from blowing away,lightly wet it before placing on the ground )
- Cover the newspaper or cardboard with a thick layer of compost and/or leaf litter. (We don’t recommend using mulch for this purpose as it may contain substances that will harm new plants.) Compost will break down over time and benefit your newly planted area by adding nutrients to the soil.
When starting with bare ground and/or existing bed:
- Lightly cultivate (weed) the surface.
- Only dig holes where plants are to be installed.
- A layer of thick cardboard placed around the new planting area, covered with compost and/or dead leaves, will improve the texture of your soil and provide a strong barrier to weeds.
Planting Prep Tips
Remove non-native invasive plants
These offenders can quickly crowd out native plants, and provide few benefits for pollinators. They are readily spread far and wide by birds and other wildlife. Remove existing invasives, before they escape to natural areas, and replace them with native alternatives. For more information about non-native invasives click here.
Water plants to be dug and/or transplanted the day before
This ensures that the whole plant will be hydrated when it’s time to transplant. Dig and/or transplant when it is overcast or during cooler evening hours. Never leave the roots exposed to sun, heat or wind. Remove the plant from its pot just prior to planting.
A perfect planting technique
Dig a hole about twice as large as the diameter of the pot. Place the plant in the center of the hole. If the roots are loose, spread the roots gently under and around the plant. Fill the hole halfway with water and allow the water to settle the soil around the roots. Continue to add soil up to the point on the stem of the plant where its natural soil line would be. Lightly firm the soil around the transplant. Finally, water the plant once again.
Keep It Growing
Watering
Although many well-established native perennials require little water because of their deep roots, it’s important to make sure new paintings are kept well- watered in their first season. Apply water gradually to allow it to soak in and not run off.
Be sure to water regularly through the dry summer months. New plantings and annuals, in particular, need to be monitored frequently during long dry periods. Once fall comes, you can relax a little– but not too much, as plants need adequate water to carry them through the winter. If you get a good soaking rain, of course, you can adjust your watering schedule. Watering can be tedious, but it also can be a time to relax, observe, and reflect on the beauty of your planting area.
Weeding
Weeds steal precious nutrients, light and water away from your perennials if they’re not diligently removed. Beds should be inspected regularly so that weeds don’t have a chance to go to seed and turn a small nuisance into a big problem. As your pollinator garden becomes well-established, it will do much of the work for you by crowding out many nuisance weeds, requiring only light cultivation.
Pesticides and Herbicides
Do not use pesticides or herbicides in or near the habitat. These products kill beneficial insects outright, or change their behavior or ability to reproduce. Certain classes of insecticides known as neonicotinoids have been linked to Colony Collapse Disorder. Herbicides may eliminate sources of food for caterpillars, disrupt necessary chemical signals, and change pollinators’ behavior and ability to reproduce. Instead, be proactive and adopt Integrated Pest Management practices such as regular observation. Remember, most insects are garden allies!
Too Mulch, Too soon
As gardeners, we’ve been trained to see a thick layer of mulch as a sign of a neat, well- kept garden. But many wood mulches sold today contain wood waste materials, and are often contaminated with dyes, chemicals, and other hazardous materials. These materials can inhibit or cause harm to plant growth. Also, many important native bee species are ground nesting, and need access to bare earth to make their homes and lay their eggs. Just one inch of hardwood mulch is as impermeable as pavement to them!
If mulch you must, consider using compost instead. A thick layer of finished compost provides that tidy look and will inhibit weeds, while also benefiting the soil by returning nutrients as it breaks down. Or, try mulching just the front of garden beds, or only areas that are clearly visible, leaving the rest bare for pollinator nesting sites.
Leave the Leaves
If we give in to the urge to clean up the garden at the end of the growing season, we can do more harm than good. Leaf litter is garden gold! More than 90 percent of caterpillars that develop on plants hatch or pupate at the ground level, often beneath leaf litter. When we haul our fallen leaves to the curb for disposal, we’re also helping to dispose of next year’s pollinators. Instead of trashing your treasure, rake your leaves into your perennial beds and under trees, or compost the excess. Fallen leaves are the best mulch that money can’t buy!
Other pollinators, such as cavity-nesting bees and butterflies, overwinter in dried plant stalks and canes in the garden. Cutting down dead plant stems too early in the spring will disturb them before they have a chance to emerge. Additionally, water can enter the cut stems of perennials over the winter months and cause damage to the plant.And, songbirds rely on seedheads for winter food. Instead of cutting down dead plant materials in fall, wait as long as you can to do your garden clean up– ideally, after daytime temperatures are consistently in the 50’s. (At the SBG, mid- April is our Spring Cleanup target date.)
A Place for Everyone
Native bees such as mason and leafcutter bees are cavity nesting, and build their nests in hollow stems or brush piles. Carpenter bees use their powerful mandibles to excavate nesting tunnels in decomposing wood. Where space and conditions allow, consider leaving a small pile of logs or dead branches as habitat for cavity nesting bees and other wildlife. An out-of-the-way corner of the garden is the perfect spot!