More Bees Please! It’s Time to Plan a Pollinator Garden

It’s ten degrees outside. The yard is crusted with snow, but don’t despair! It’s the perfect time to plan a pollinator garden.

Bee and butterfly populations around the globe have plummeted. Habitat loss, disease, pesticides, herbicides, and the changing climate are wreaking havoc on many species. This is not just bad news for bugs, it’s bad news for us. Three quarters of all plants and over a third of our food crops depend on animal pollinators. We need these little guys. Help them out by gardening and landscaping with wildlife in mind. You’ll be helping all of us.

Years ago, I thought that gardens were all about flowers and dramatic leaves, about pergolas and tidy paths that led around mysterious, leaf-shrouded bends. In short, I thought gardens were for people. Now I know better.

My garden thrums with life. In the warm months, the flowers are laced with bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, all sipping nectar and dusting the blossoms with pollen. Sometimes, the flowers appear to take wing as flocks of goldfinches rise from a feast of coneflower seeds. In winter, cardinals and cedar waxwings pluck shriveled crabapples and scarlet winterberries–gifts from the pollinators.

Here are some tips to help you create your own pollinator garden:

• It’s okay to start small. Even a few pots of flowers on the front steps or balcony provide nectar.
• Plant flowers that are favored by pollinators.
• Do not use pesticides or herbicides.
• Include native plants.
• Instead of cutting your garden back in the fall, leave the seed heads for the birds.
• Leave the edges of your yard wild.

Here are a few pollinator favorites to try:

• Beebalm (Monarda fistulosa and M. didyma)
• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia sp.)
• Liatris (Liatris spicata)
• Milkweed (Asclepias sp.)
• Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Soon it will be spring, so get ready to welcome our pollinator friends.