We gardeners are becoming more aware of our changing world, not just the climate but also the habitat reduction for pollinators. Landscape designers are becoming more aware and responding by adding more pollinating plants to designs. How to integrate more pollinating plants into a mature garden is a bigger challenge. Here is a short list of simple but effective ways to help pollinators survive and be useful in our gardens:
Before you start adding plants to attract them, you first you must familiarize yourself with the various types of pollinators. Many of us think of hive bees first, but there are many different types of pollinators that work in our gardens: beetles, flies, butterflies and moths, and native bees. But bats, birds, and even lizards also act as pollinating animals. We’ll focus on the insect pollinators below.
Beetles: In the Pacific Northwest region, these pollinate native populations of magnolia (Magnolia spp., Zones 3–9) and tulip tree (Liriodendron spp., Zones 4–9) as well as small flowering cluster flowers like asters (Aster spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9), spirea (Spiraea spp. and cvs., Zones 4–8), and goldenrod (Solidago spp. and cvs., Zones 2–9). If you already have these plants, you’ve got a good start on attracting more.
Butterflies and moths: These need host plants for their larvae and nectar plants to feed on. Specific butterflies often need specific types of plants as hosts; if you don’t have these plants already, they can be added to a vegetable garden or little-used corner of the property not cultivated yet. This way, if you’re worried about holes in leaves from hungry caterpillars, those host plants won’t be front and center. Many common butterfly flowers have their nectar hidden deep within the
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