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May 22nd 2023

Attracting Pollinators into the Garden

Written by
Floret

One of the big projects I wanted to tackle as part of the new farm design was finding a way to attract as many pollinators as possible to help with seed production and increase the overall life and biodiversity here on the farm. 

When it comes to pollinators, honeybees usually get all of the credit, but there are so many other hard-working creatures that aid in the important task of pollination, including bumblebees, honeybees, native bees, wasps, hornets, flies, moths, butterflies, and even birds. 

As I started looking for information about what plants were most attractive to pollinators, I found myself getting a bit overwhelmed. There were numerous wildflower seed mixes available specifically blended by region, but when it came to perennials, I couldn’t find any planting plans, suggested plant combinations, or design samples that I could use for inspiration. 

While many companies do a great job identifying which plants are attractive to pollinators (usually with a bee or butterfly icon), I found it hard to know which plants had similar growing requirements and would make good companions in the landscape.

So often when you see pictures of a pollinator-friendly garden it’s typically a jumble of color and feels chaotic and messy. While that effect is fitting in a wild, meadow-like setting, it’s not very suitable for a more curated garden. 

I wanted to see if I could find a way to create a beautiful pollinator-friendly garden that was also low maintenance, drought tolerant, and would provide a food and nectar source for pollinators and songbirds throughout as much of the growing season as possible. 

The first step in this experiment was to source as many easy-to-grow pollinator-friendly perennials as I could find. Rather than investing in large plants, I instead opted to order plugs, which are smaller plants, usually sold in trays of 32 to 50.

Buying smaller plants in bulk was the most affordable option and necessary given the scale of the project. 

If I were doing this on a smaller backyard scale, I would still choose to start with the smallest plants I could find because what I discovered was that nearly all of the perennials I grew as part of this project are fast-growing and fill in quickly, catching up to the size of a 1-gallon potted plant within a single growing season.  

When making my selections, I ordered everything that was noted as being attractive to pollinators and also easy to grow. I tried to select plants that had softer, more muted colors, rather than really bright and bold selections. 

Becky and I considered a number of different approaches when it came to designing what eventually became the pollinator strips. We are both huge fans of Piet Oudolf’s style and how he composes plantings in large drifts that are repeated in a loose pattern throughout the garden. It creates the effect of wide brush strokes of color and texture.

If you don’t already have Piet’s books, they are all really wonderful, but my favorite is Planting the Natural Garden

Becky organized the perennials based on color, size, and flowering time. For some of the pollinator strips, we opted for a monochromatic color palette of all whites or purples, while others included multiple colors in softer complimentary shades.

In the end, we settled on seven different color and plant combinations.

We decided to keep the design as simple as possible and plant the pollinator strips in long rows along the edges of our flower fields, similar to how our field crops are grown. This allowed us to use drip irrigation in the beds and landscape fabric to mulch the pathways in between, making maintenance much easier in the long run.

In the spring before planting, each bed was amended with a few inches of high-quality compost and natural fertilizer (I love Walt’s Rainy Pacific Northwest blend) and this mixture was incorporated into the soil with our walk-behind rototiller.

Each pollinator strip is roughly 3 ft wide and about 80 ft long with a 2 ft wide landscape fabric-covered path. Once the beds were prepared, Becky laid out all of the baby plants according to her designs and we followed behind tucking them into the ground.

We chose to space plants quite closely together (roughly 8 to 9 in) because we wanted them to establish quickly, essentially forming a living carpet so that they would be able to compete with the heavy weed pressure we have here on the farm. 

We normally grow our annual field crops in pre-burned landscape fabric to help with weed suppression, but since perennials spread from the base as they mature, using fabric on the beds wasn’t an option for this project.

Instead, we covered the bare soil around the young plants with a layer of straw mulch to keep the weeds at bay while they established. Shortly after planting, we laid down four lines of drip irrigation and watered plants deeply twice a week whenever there was no rain. Plants went into the ground in late March, and to my surprise, by July most were in full bloom and nearly filled in.

We went through and spot-weeded a few times in the summer, but overall they required very little maintenance and care. Plants established quickly and soon smothered out the weeds.

We evaluated each combination of plants over two full growing seasons.

Some planting schemes fared better than others, and I have plans to recombine the strongest performers from each into some new plantings to see if I can perfect the plant combinations.

Of all the plants that were part of this project, my very favorites were the yarrow, asters, agastache, nepeta, salvia, milkweed, Joe Pye weed, echinacea, and goldenrod. All of these plants were vigorous, filled in quickly, and didn’t have any major pest pressure.

Plus, the pollinators adored them. 

While I absolutely love echinacea and it’s hugely attractive to pollinators, we have such heavy vole pressure in the field, and plants didn’t survive the first growing season. If voles weren’t an issue, I would incorporate even more echinacea into future designs because they have so many wonderful characteristics. 

Below you’ll find a little more information about some of my favorite planting schemes. 

One of the pollinator strips I was most excited about was the one composed of all-white flowers.

This strip included echinacea ‘White Swan’, Shasta daisy ‘Alaska’, common yarrow, milkweed ‘Ice Ballet’, and perennial asters.

While it looked glorious in late June and early July, it didn’t hold its beauty all summer long like many of the others. By midsummer, the Shasta daisies had tipped over and everything else looked a little bit shabby and dingy.

While the floral display waned more quickly than I had hoped, this particular pollinator strip was a favorite with songbirds in the fall and winter so it still has a ton of merit in my book.

One of my favorite plant combinations was the one composed of all yellow flowers, including a mixture of different types of goldenrod (‘Golden Glory’, ‘Crown of Rays’, ‘Fireworks’, ‘Sunny Glory’, and ‘Romantic Glory’), various black-eyed Susans (including ‘Little Henry’ and ‘Goldrush’), and tansy. 

This pollinator strip had a kind of rugged feel to it and all of the plants were very textural and wild. I think the plant mix would look stunning in some type of meadow situation or planted on an even larger scale.

Of all the pollinator strips, this one was the most attractive to pollinators, especially wasps, native bees, and flies. 

Another lovely plant combination that Becky put together was all rosy pink and purple flowers.

It included yarrow ‘Sassy Summer Taffy’, pink tickseed, echinacea ‘Magnus’, milkweed ‘Cinderella’, Japanese anemone ‘September Charm’, agastache ‘Blue Boa’, and bee balm ‘Grape Gumball’.

It’s worth noting that we lost most of the echinacea due to vole pressure so there were a number of gaping holes in the design, but on the flip side the Japanese anemones filled in rapidly and put on a beautiful late-season floral show. 

To my surprise, the design that I was least excited about, which featured all blues and purples, turned out to be the longest-flowering and most beautiful one of all. 

Because all of the plants included in it had a more compact habit, they stayed upright without any support. The varieties bloomed in a nearly perfect succession from early May through September and whenever I stood next to it, it was literally humming with life! 

If I were to recommend one planting scheme of the seven, this is my very favorite and we’ve put together a printable planting plan and plant list which you can download at the bottom of this post.

As part of our low-maintenance approach to caring for the pollinator strips, we decided to leave all of the plant debris in place through the winter, rather than cleaning it up at the end of the growing season.

I had no idea just how many little creatures would feast on the remaining seed pods and make these wild spaces their home throughout the coldest months of the year. 

After realizing what an important role they were playing for wildlife, we’ve adopted a similar approach to all of the gardens on the farm and are now leaving the dead plants in place until early spring.

The plant skeletons give the winter garden a hauntingly beautiful quality—especially when they are covered in a layer of frost or a dusting of snow. 

Overall, the pollinator strip experiment has been a huge success and I’m excited to continue working on it this coming season.

Most of the perennials that were used in this project were sourced from Bluebird Nursery in Nebraska. This wholesale mail-order nursery offers more than 1,500 different varieties.

If you’re looking for perennial plugs in smaller quantities, be sure to check out Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota because they are now offering native flowers and grasses for home gardeners. 

I am so excited to keep exploring plantings for pollinators and will continue sharing updates here on the blog.

Id love to hear about some of the pollinator-friendly plants that you have growing in your garden.


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144 Comments

  1. Kathryn on

    Five years ago, we retired to a home with an empty yard and absolutely no flowers or wildlife, other moles and voles tunneling through our one tiny patch of “lawn.” Two or three battery-operated, strategically-placed, anti-vole stakes effectively convinced those varmints to move out! As we began to plant trees, shrubs, perennial and annual herbs and flowers, our barren outdoor space began to transform into an oasis for desirable wildlife. The biggest draw for pollinators was the biggest surprise! We noticed a huge increase in birds, bees, and butterflies once we added water features throughouayt the yard, including a birdbath and several fountains. Amazingly, our birdbath literally gets taken over by honey bees every summer as the weather gets warm in late June, and even hotter in July, and August!!! Numerous times we have watched bees actually dive in for a swim! All our pollinators and other critters seem to love having water available!

    Reply
  2. Megan on

    This year I picked up a dying “free” Thai basil plant at a local greenhouse… in. a 3×3 plastic cup! I cannot believe the bees this plant has attracted. I ended up not deadheading when it went to seed and it has been bringing hundreds of bees per day – and is continuously blooming! It even looks like there is a constant wind blowing through the plant because it’s always moving from bees landing and taking off! I am so happy I grabbed it – I never would have known otherwise! I prefer sweet basil and barely make anything with Thai basil, but this plant will now be a staple for me – it brings me great joy to see the bees loving on it so much!

    Reply
  3. Monika on

    All of my Garden speedwell (Veronica spicata) are full of bumblebees – even when they look to be ready to cut after flowering – there are always some little ones on them. Verbena bonariensis and Gaura lindheimeri are also full of butterflies and bees.
    Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge and experience!

    Reply
  4. Tracy on

    We’ve recently moved to an acre property that has over 1/2 bare boundary. I have planted Portuguese Laurel across the front entrance because the rabbits leave it alone and I love the year round dark green. They lost one 70m boundary of Cypress in a storm 2 years ago ,so I’ll study your plan for a pollinator boundary planting.
    Thank you so much for sharing your findings.

    Reply
  5. Ann Lif on

    Swamp milkweed, Joepye weed, Ironweed, October Skye’s Aster, Wild Petunia, Hyssop, Common milkweed, whirl goldenrod

    Reply
  6. Heidi on

    I was gifted a small plot of plants from Prairie Moon Nursery. I made some beginner errors and lost a few plants. But this year’s growth is amazing and my pollinators love it. It’s actually in the center of my “seed” cut floral gardens. I’ve got room for more, too! Thanks for the info!

    Reply
  7. Janet on

    I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong, but I can’t seem to get the plans and plant list request to go through. I put my name and email in but when I submit it, the box just has the spinning circle in the center and won’t go through. I’ve tried several times, but no luck!
    Thanks for any help or suggestions!
    Janet

    Reply
  8. April Arnold on

    One of my favorite pollinators is Eryngium Sea Holly. The bee’s love it! After it flowers, the gold Finch can’t leave it alone. I use it surprisingly often in bouquets for an unusual twist. My Mom shared it from Sequim and I grow it in Oregon.

    Reply
  9. Yvette on

    I love this! I’ve wanted to give it a go, but seeing it described logically and successfully makes me REALLY want to do it.

    Can you share the list of plants please – I can’t seem to find it here. Thanks!

    From your site:
    If I were to recommend one planting scheme of the seven, this is my very favorite and we’ve put together a printable planting plan and plant list which you can download at the bottom of this post.

    Reply
  10. Deanne Hoehn on

    Here in Walla Walla, the bees think they own my 10-15 lavender plants, many cat mint (Nepeta) plants, and of course the patch of blooming mint that yearly needs to have it’s enthusiasm to spread, curtailed. The bumblebees think my Floret dahlias (5 started from seed last year, 6 more this year and already blooming freely) are theirs; and in the 2-acre grassy field that my husband has seeded with wildflowers, the bumblebees love the blooming vetch (it has persisted from past years.) Earlier, the penstemon was popular.

    I saw a hummingbird at my red salvia yesterday; and the butterflies do like the lantana.
    There are other blooming plants in my garden that bees visit, but those are the most popular.

    Reply
  11. Jayme on

    Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned! It reminded me a little of the online Ecological Gardening Summit held earlier this year by Joe Gardener and colleagues of the field. I think the Floret team would greatly enjoy it and gain even further knowledge and resources in your pollinator project. I still can’t believe all what I learned from the summit and hope it’s hosted again next year. Again thank you for further deepening my understanding and sharing your knowledge on this subject!

    Reply
  12. Mya Kesler on

    I live in the midwest, and the following combination is beautiful pollinator magnet – Pycnathemum muticum, Allium ‘summer beauty’, and Calamentha nepeta together with native echinaceas and Liatris ligulistylis

    Reply
  13. Cynthia Frattaroli on

    Hi, thank you for this information! I have a native pollinator garden where I am growing cone flowers, yarrow, Shasta daisies, mountain mint, bee balm, Russian sage, salvia and many other native flowers in a wide range of colors. It so wonderful to see the bees, butterflies and many other insects as well as the birds enjoying the flowers. I love your plan for a more cohesive garden, I’m inspired to start another pollinator garden maybe a little more like the plans in your blog. The one I have now is a bit more like a meadow, kind of wild. Thanks always for being such an inspiration!

    Reply
  14. Lisa on

    Victoria Blue Salvia, Truffula Gomphrena, Angelonia, scaevola and guara are feeding lots of bees and butterflies in my north metro Atlanta border.

    Reply
  15. Val Colvin on

    Is the link to the download working. I’ve been trying for two days. I surely appreciate the educational materials you provide!

    I was also thinking how this type of “garden” would be satisfying when we are unable to work an active garden in later years.

    Reply
  16. Jamie Fellner on

    Hi, Excited to read about your pollinator strips. I have a large organic garden of perennials, shrubs and trees in nw connecticut. Seeking to expand the number of pollinators the garden attracted, I planted two new meadow type gardens. I was delighted to be able to print out your purple blue polliantor plan. Will you be posting your yellow garden as well?
    I have a couple of questions: how do you keep the golden rods from running rampant? And, do you underplant youru perennials with any groundcovers?
    Finally I want to thank you for all you do for those of us who love gardens. I’ve been following Floret and buying from you for years. this year I bought and planted Foret zinnia seeds. The plants are just starting to bloom — so very beautiful!!
    Jamie

    Reply
  17. Faith Viot on

    I have pollinator garden’s & echinacea is a favorite. I have a painted lady butterfly living in it for 4 days now! A suprise was a parsnip that randomly started growing out of the garden. I noticed as they flowered a couple of lady bugs on it & their eggs. For the past 2 years I just let this parsnip grow & it attracts a couple of lady bugs who lay eggs on it & then it is covered with nymphs!

    Reply
  18. B. Phillips on

    I recently read a compelling reason to allow stems and stalks to stand through the winter. They provide cover for foraging birds, hiding them from airborne predators.

    Reply
  19. Lexya on

    Thank you for the lovely summary of your findings! Giant Hyssop is a favorite perennial of mine; it is native to Alberta and attracts pollinators

    Reply
  20. Karen Dorsey-Jennings on

    Blue Salvia, Lantana, and Yarrow attract a lot of pollinators in Thousand Oaks, California.

    Reply
  21. Diane on

    I too am on the east coast of Vancouver Island and live on the edge of a forest – deer territory. Over the years I’ve added numerous varieties of salvias, lavenders, echinaceas, milk weed, native Oregon grape, bee balm etc. (all deer proof). Fun seeing the value to all our native pollinators while also providing beauty. Thank you for all you do, so inspirational and informative

    Reply
  22. Claire Hafer, The Garden Specialists LLC on

    What a wonderful opportunity! If you need any more professional help, I’ve been gardening in Central Oregon for the past 15 years and before that on the East Coast with a Master’s degree from Penn State creating a database of native plants for the garden. This is my passion!

    Reply
  23. Vea McDonald on

    Thank you for the lovely planting layout! And thank you for sharing what you learn!

    Reply
  24. Kerry on

    It’s a little odd that at no time had you thought of incorporating edibles & herbs into your pollinator strips, herbs for the most part, not being improved upon, attract so many pollinators, ask anyone that has grown “Greek oregano”
    As it comes into bloom.

    Reply
  25. Kimberley Allan on

    Thank you for the inspiration! We have been planting more perennial pollinator beds to support our vegetable and flower farm. I researched plants that are native to us on the east coast of Vancouver Island. We are working to help restore Oregon grape, Saskatoon berries, Salmon berries and many flowers while also removing invasive species.

    Reply
  26. Lina on

    Thank you for such a wonderful article. Erin. I love Solidago Wichita Mountains. It is a late bloomer. Very drought tolerant, attracts bees and butterflies by the boatload. One of the best pollinator plants I can think of and it blooms later in the season. I also get a lot of plants from bluebird nursery in the nebraska , they are wonderful

    Reply
  27. Amy on

    I have loved lavendar, hot lips salvia, lantana and my favorite – agastache! in my small little backyard garden here in Alabama. Butterflies, bees, wasps, and hummingbirds are always around.

    Reply
  28. Cynthia on

    I was surprised to read that the voles are a problem for your echinacea. We have huge vole pressure, but that is one thing they have never bothered here (we are in Maine). Don’t let your voles talk to mine! Plants that pollinators love in our garden include garlic chives, sea holly, and Armenian Basket Flower. Our garden is next to a field full of goldenrod, so of course they love that, too. I am trying to think of things they like earlier in the spring but none are coming to mind just now. Three years ago I had large patches of poppies (I think they were shirley, but a friend had just given me the seed and wasn’t sure) and blue breadseed and they were SO loaded with bees you could hear them from six feet away. Last year hardly a bee touched them. That’s a little scarey! Pollinators were similarly but not quite as drastically down on the other two as well – this is after years of them being just swarmed. I’ve been seeing more on things this year so hoping for a rebound. We garden organically but are adjacent to a corn field that is farmed with roundup ready corn.

    Reply
  29. Elizabeth Houde on

    Wow what an amazing post. Right in time as I was trying to find information in regards to the subject. Those Japanese Anenomes are amazing.

    Reply
  30. Georgina Bishop on

    Hi Erin,
    I am an admirer from afar – from the Noosa Coast hinterland in Sunny Queensland Australia. I have a very steep bank that I am currently terracing and scultping so that I don’t have to slip down the hill on my backside with the weed wacker pushed out in front of me. Salvia’s do very well in our sunny climate. I am about to try yarrow for the first time, to see how it copes with the humidity during summer. We have somewhat different climates! I am so inspired to try and replicate your pollinator strip on that hill, this spring/summer. Thank you for your informative and inspirational posts. Happy Gardening from Down under.

    Reply
  31. Renee on

    Thanks so much for the pollinator strip plan. I am inspired! Thanks for generously sharing your knowledge and creativity. You make the world more beautiful.

    Reply
  32. Susan on

    As a perennial gardener and bee keeper in the Southeast, I’ve seen nothing so attractive to a broad range of pollinators in my gardens as plain old oregano. It is blooming now and you can HEAR the hum of all the pollinators just walking past.

    Reply
  33. Mary-Alice Beneteau on

    Hi Erin
    I love this post. I am a passionate native gardener and I so appreciate you bringing this post forward. I’ve always thought that to really support pollinators that are native to your region you should use plants that are native to that particular region. I see you have planted some cultivars rather than natives. Can you speak to this point?
    Thank you for all you do!

    Reply
  34. Wendy on

    I live across the street from a place that plants a ton of what I think are liatris flowers. Most of them are purple although a few of them are white. These things attract the Bumblebees like nothing I have ever seen! They’re covered consistently and I think it makes a lot of sense because they just continue to keep blooming higher and higher up this stock and it just keeps attracting the bees over and over and over through the season that they grow, and I feel like they last quite a while. They’re very unique looking and definitely break up the typical flower bed with something interesting and unlike almost anything else growing a flower.

    Reply
  35. Mariangela on

    Totally in awe of the ambitious pollinator garden and your results! Thank you for sharing!

    Can I ask a perhaps naive question but since you are a seed oriented company was it just because you wanted quicker results that you bought plugs vs start the pollinator garden from seed?

    Reply
  36. Peggy on

    Thank you for this amazing information! All your research and trials are SO helpful! I hope to start a small patch of these recommended pollinator friendly flowers in Bend, OR. We have deer pressure here, though, so I’m curious to see how many they gobble up! Do you also have deer?

    Reply
  37. Akimi King on

    Planting plants that are native to your area to support native insects. Include milkweed native to your region to help a plethora of native flies, bees, and imperiled monarch butterflies. See the Xerces Society (invertebrate conservation) website for additional tips. It’s the little things that run our world. Yay for native gardeners! Some of my favorite native pollinator plants are meadow goldenrod, penstemons, buckwheats, Douglas spirea, showy and narrowleaf milkweed, red flowering currant, mock orange, pacific ninebark, wild ginger, Oregon white oak, California poppy, blue flax, Oregon sunshine, bleeding heart, columbine, foxglove, bee balm.

    Reply
  38. Roxann Satrang on

    We moved here to near Mt Vernon/Burlington area a year ago and inherited a splendid master gardener garden. This is our second spring and it’s totally different! We’re seeing flowers we never saw last year and so many wildflowers we don’t know what to do! Tons more dahlias, lupin, suddenly ox eye daisies are everywhere. So many others. I’d love to add a strip of plants more pollinator friendly even though the hummingbirds and bees etc love the lupin and many of the others. I have to look them all up on PlantNet. Even way more roses this year so I’m reading like crazy. Little black spots have appeared on a couple leaves.

    Reply
  39. Kristi Hein on

    I’m curious what it is about echinaceas that voles find so yummy. We don’t have voles, luckily, and I love to watch the little seed-eating birds perch and feed on the ripened seedheads. So sorry the voles have sabotaged yours!
    I already grow many of your recommendations; I love the hybrid new rudbeckias that surprise me every year. I grow goldenrod ‘Fireworks’ and love it — it attracts so many interesting tiny pollinators (much like Pacific ninebark, but that’s a brief flowering); a friend who does pollinator presentations came to take pictures. My ‘Little Lemon’ goldenrod got some browning malady the second year, so sadly I had to remove them. But I’m going to try more goldenrods in other spots. Borage, lavender, monarda, germander, seaside daisy, penstemons, snowberry, evergreen huckleberry, twinberry, ocean spray . . . the list is endless! Thank you for this glorious post.

    Reply
  40. Jane on

    We’ve planted a butterfly and pollinator garden as a community project in West Vancouver and we’re trying to get four seasons of bloom like you, too. Your planting ideas are super and will be rally helpful for us. Many of our favourites are yours like agastache, asters, goldenrod and salvia. We’ve added the caterpillar food plants like yours too. Two other favourites of ours are native hollyhocks (Sidalcea hendersonii that is dead simple to grow from seed) and beach strawberries (F. chiloensis, also dead easy to grow from seed). Both are are long blooming and known caterpillar food. We tuck the strawberries in everywhere even into the lawn areas. They are a great alternative to grass and grown with native veronica and prunella we get a lawn that flowers for three seasons. Other easy additions for more bloom are PNW native clover, violas, English daisies and nodding onions. We love bees and insects like you, too.

    Reply
  41. Luna on

    Thank you for your generosity at sharing your pollinator project, it is inspiring! I am in central Mexico in the process of developing and promoting pollinator gardens.

    Reply
  42. Chris B on

    A new volunteer (!) this year is winning the pollinator race, and it is a truly lovely plant. Linaria purpurea “Canon went” is a striking, spiky plant with fine blue-green foliage and beautiful barely-pink flowers like teeny snapdragons. The spikes are tall – up to 5 feet, and a great vertical accent. This is my first season with this plant (I did not plant it) and research shows it’s native to Italy, called both a perennial and readily-seeding annual, and drought tolerant. It’s not often that a plant that just shows up in the garden is the year’s best surprise.

    Reply
  43. Traci on

    I totally recommend annual borage for pollinators. It is especially helpful to bees and the flowers and seeds taste similar to refreshing cucumber. It is a plant known to create a calming effect when injested. The blue flowers are soft sky blue. Lovely.

    I recommend bee’s friend or Phacelia. It produces a lovely lavender flower and is fascinating to study as it opens from a cluster to a strip. Bees and pollinators enjoy. I never found it to be invasive at all.

    Comfrey is a wonderful pollinator and has beautiful soft blue or lavender flowers. Again, the plant is calming.

    Larkspur is my all-time favorite pollinator as pollinators and hummingbirds love it. It is especially easy to grow, often drops seed to continue and is never invasive. The cors are shades of lavender, pink and white. Gorgeous!

    White feverfew, love in the mist, cats mint nepeta, oregano, lavender, pineapple mint and snow on the mountain that isn’t variegated. The last looks like queen Anne’s lace, but is extremely invasive in NY. So, corral it if you wish to try. I can share seed and plants for things I mentioned to trial if you are interested.

    Reply
  44. Laura Moser on

    Chapter 11 of this book discusses how to attract beneficial insects with citations to peer reviewed studies on hedgerows, seed mixes, which flowers attract which insects including crop-feeding pests vs. beneficials. “Sustainable Food Gardens: Myths and Solutions” Robert Kourik 2022. You can purchase an Insectary Plant list here: https://robertkourik.com/drip_irrigation_garden_books.html
    “The bloom cycle of 191 plants is presented.
    13 beneficial insects are listed.
    117 plants have notations of which of the 13 beneficial insects the flower attracts.
    There are 30 full citations for further reading.
    It will also inform you on how to choose the best plants to lure beneficial insects outside of the window of midsummer bloom. Because so many beneficial plants bloom in midsummer, that time of year is a banquet of blossom for helpful bugs. As pests don’t magically disappear in the spring and fall, this chart will help you choose the plants that will bloom in your garden during the “in-between” seasons.”

    Most of the bloom periods came from http://www.Calflora.org which is, as would be expected, Californiacentric. Some are from the Missouri Botanic Garden database.

    Reply
  45. Jonnie Combs on

    I found this to be very interesting and want to thank you for sharing your vast knowledge and numerous thoughts and ideas with all of us!

    Reply
  46. Cindy Holshouser on

    We are currently building our forever home in Steilacoom, WA. I am excited about creating the landscape and gardens there. We’ve already planted several native plants and trees. There won’t be a typical yard, but instead clover and gravel beds, and raised beds for cut flowers and veggies. I hope to have a lot of pollinator plants, so I appreciate this information to help narrow down which plants I’ll get.

    Reply
  47. Suzanne Werneke on

    My absolute favorite bee food plant is Snake Root. It’s the last to bloom in the fall and the bumble bees love it as a last meal before the cold weather sets in. On a fall afternoon there will be a plethora of 🐝 bees slurping away. And the aroma is heavenly!!!
    I loved your blog post and it has given me some great ideas like leaving the plant debris in place for the winter. Thanks!!🪻

    Reply
  48. Amy on

    Thank you so much for the planting plans!! I have lots of voles around my yard as well (we’re surrounded by fields). Do you do anything to mitigate voles? Or just learn to coexist?

    Reply
  49. Tracie on

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been slowly trying to put together this exact thing in my backyard.

    Reply
  50. Zandria Mazzaferro on

    Just wanted to share that my huge pollinator plants are rosemary….blooms in winter and the first bumbles are out for them and Oregano varieties who keep the bumbles busy all spring and summer until they go to seed…
    Your gardens are lovely!

    Reply
  51. Helena Kot on

    I love this post and your idea to plant these. They are just so beautiful. I always leave all my plants for cleanup in the Spring. I think the plants love it and live on what is left after summer. It’s also great for insects that hide I the garden over Winter which, in Manitoba, last almost half the year. I’m sure other little creatures like bunnies and mice, feed off the leavings too. And birds love a nice place to sit in the sun on a cold day. I love what you are doing with your commercial plants. It’s quite enthralling and so much detailed work that involves a lot of patience and planning. Wishing you continued success. PS, my daughter introduced me to your site and gifted me seeds from your company.

    Reply
  52. Kelly Harms on

    I noticed that Tansy was one of the plants that was mentioned. As a livestock breeder and a gardener, I would use caution when recommending tansy. It is a poisonous plant that is really dangerous for livestock as it causes neurological symptoms and gradually decline that can lead to death over time.

    It also spreads in pastures very, very easily and is almost impossible to get rid of as you need to remove all of the roots — leaving any can cause the plant to regrow. We have found that it is likely spread by birds or animals as a single plant in a field can lead to multiple plants throughout an area. It literally took us several years to get our pastures clear and then a neighbor let tansy grow in their area and we were back to having tansy in our fields again.

    While tansy might be okay for urban gardens, it probably shouldn’t be used in rural areas near livestock pastures.

    Reply
  53. Sandy Andersen on

    I’m all for leaving debris as much as possible. I think it’s hard to know the ideal time of year to clean up. Is cleaning up always necessary in order to prevent disease? It seems to me that wildlife wants it all, all of the time! For example, many critters nest in it in the spring to have their babies- it’s needed for shelter, protection, and food. Thoughts?

    Reply
  54. Sherri Simpson on

    Thank you for this blog post. I will definitely use these plants on my flower farm borders.
    Right now, I have woodies on one side of my flower farm area that I’m nurturing to maturity (hydrangeas, mums, pussy willows, etc) with some larkspur I hope will return next year.
    In my “cottage garden” (the one just for me), I have gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) and Russian sage which honeybees and carpenter bees love!
    The gooseneck is prolific, so if you want to try it, be prepared to find it everywhere. I have to pull it out of my monarda every year because it takes over.
    I also have 3 echinacea. It’s been a hard one to grow, but finally got a pay off in beauty this year. We have voles but I haven’t noticed them bothering the echinacea yet.
    Since the Russian sage does so well in my zone, I will try that in my border as well.
    Thanks Erin for sharing ALL your knowledge!!

    Reply
  55. Katherine K on

    Curious about straw mulch – been reading that straw, the crop, is often grown with persistent insecticides. How did you find organically grown straw?

    Reply
    • Team Floret on

      We get it from a local friend, who has organic pea hay.

  56. Marlena Hirsch on

    Thanks for more inspiration and suggestions.
    I may have found a chart with the nectar and pollen value for flowering plants on Xerces.org. It listed annual lacy blue Phacelia at the top of the list. We are collecting seed of other native phacelias also, as pollen is used as food for baby bees. Sorry that I can’t find it now.
    I also remember reading that golden yellow and blue purple flowers together are attractive to pollinators. This was in one of Bernd Heindrick’s books, probably Bumblebee Economics. He’s a biologist who lives in Maine.
    Thanks again for sharing.

    Reply
  57. Alicia A. on

    How incredibly grateful I am that you share your expertise with us. Thank you so much

    Reply
  58. Colleen on

    Question, are you mowing in the Spring or leaving it to do it’s own thing?

    Reply
  59. Heidi on

    Oh, and I’m in upstate SC.

    “Mountain mint (both muticum and pilosum) and agastache (Blue Fortune) are the most loved by the bees and wasps where I live. Zinnias are the most loved by the butterflies. Nicotiania is loved by the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.”

    Reply
  60. Heidi on

    Mountain mint (both muticum and pilosum) and agastache (Blue Fortune) are the most loved by the bees and wasps where I live. Zinnias are the most loved by the butterflies. Nicotiania is loved by the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.

    Reply
  61. Stephanie on

    This is amazing to see! Thank you for doing this and hope it will inspire others. We have a pollinator patch we started last year and we included sedum, asters, native milkweed, golden Alexander, tickseed, coreopsis, coneflowers, daises, lavender, zinnias, cosmos, blazing star and many more. We are going through a bad and dry heat wave now so keeping up with watering has been a challenge.

    Reply
  62. Deb on

    The birds absolutely went crazy for catnip seeds in late summer/early fall in Gearhart OR. One of the biggest bee magnets that I’ve grown to date is sedum Autumn Joy. I live in the Pacific Northwest.

    Reply
  63. Lauren C. on

    Thank you for the detailed information on how you established and now care for the strips at the end of the season! I have a large garden space (100l’x30’w) which required I plant for maintenance! I follow Charles Dowding’s no—dig which has beautifully paid off as those older areas hold moisture and are so fertile. I plant for pollinators and add new plants in each year. Shirley poppies free seed (they are the glory of my spring garden-I added Renee’s Garden Lauren’s Purple this year!), as well as borage (which I have to clean out often), sun flowers, purple sea mist, salvia (diff varieties), pinks, arugula, other herbs (the oregano flowers bring in the most unique pollinators!) and a corner of wild flower mix which threw out black eyed Susan’s, and Oenothera this year, flax, and phlox. It is literally humming with so many different pollinators including sphinx moths and hummingbirds. My echinacea live in a different front planting where I have a prairie garden with grasses and monarch, lupine, geum and yarrow (always a favorite). Thanks for letting me share! I love it so much!-Lauren in Walla Walla P. S. I added your Unicorn mix zinnias to my big garden this year and can’t wait to see them all in full bloom!

    Reply
  64. Nicole Tilde on

    I’ve tried to find a source for plugs with little luck. Does anyone have a source that might be more appropriate to the SouthEast? Also, you mention these are wholesale growers. I’m wondering if I need a live plant license to order plugs. Absolutely love these designs. Can’t wait to get the pollinator plan. Yay. ♡♡♡

    Reply
  65. Anna Compton on

    Thank you for so freely sharing the knowledge you are collecting. I loved this post as well as the one on hedge rows, as we have a large 6.5 acre property and there are so few resources for landscaping a larger than city lot personal property. Pier Odoulf has been a favorite mine for his large scale gardens and whimsy drop dead gorgeous plantings. One star performer in my yard is Speedwell (aka Veronica), it is adored by the pollinators and so many visitors insist they must know what it is so they can add it to their yards. It needs no staking and even holds its form beautifully through the winter.

    Reply
  66. Erika on

    Thank you so much for sharing the plan. I didn’t do any clean up last fall/winter, and I saw all kinds of birds resting on dead stalks, eating seed heads, etc. during that time. It may not have looked great, but I think the little birdies were appreciative. :) (And I only have a little strip about 1.5′ x 20′).

    Reply
  67. Kathy on

    I’m from the Midwest and bees absolutely love anise hyssop, mountain mint is another insect favorite and a nice white flower. Hands down Echinacea also. How about sunflowers!

    Reply
  68. Barbara on

    I am in the Mid-Atlantic. All my gardens are designed to support pollinators. Like you, I have been experimenting for years, trying to find the best of the best. A few that I think are worth their weight in gold and bloom for many months are : Salvia ‘Blue By You’, Veronica longifolia ‘Blue Skywalker’, Monarda ‘Electric Neon Pink’, Calamintha ‘Montrose White’ or C nepeta subsp. nepeta (neither of these seed around), Dwarf Buddleia ‘Pugster Blue’ (which is sterile and does not seed anywhere), Helianthus ‘Autumn Gold’ flowering Sept – Oct. These have all been well behaved, low-maintenance, and covered in pollinators ALL the time – what more could we ask?

    Reply
  69. Megan Z. on

    I’m growing Mountain Mint this year for the first time. The pollinators love it. I have firelight hydrangea and the bees adore it. They fly around it all day long and sleep amongst the blooms at night. Caryopteris is another that doesn’t seem to get much attention but is loved. I feel like I could go on and on.

    Reply
  70. Hillary on

    I have a large native garden. In addition to some you’ve mentioned, blanket flower, penstemon, and new england aster are majorly loved by the native bees here. Plus completely drought tolerant. One thing to remember is to not just plant the pollinator favorites, but also host plants for the caterpillars. That’s why I also have some native grasses.

    Reply
  71. Emily on

    I started growing for pollinators a few years ago, but after a bad couple of years with thrips, I began changing what I grow to attract more beneficial insects to the garden like; green lace wings, lady bugs, hover flies, minute pirate bugs, etc. For these I interplant with cosmos, yarrow, fennel, dill, coriander and sweet alyssum. The sweet alyssum is key for me because I have a short growing season and it takes a while for things like the cosmos to bloom and they start booming very early. For regular pollinators (lots of bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc) my top 5 are lavender, nepeta, salvia, lambs ears and penstemon.

    Reply
  72. Eileen Johnson on

    Blanket flower, zinnia and flax are the favorites for the pollinators in my north Idaho garden. I share the seeds with friends every year too.

    Reply
  73. Carol on

    I have a large patch of raspberries that bloom twice a year. The canes are loaded with flowers and humming with pollinators for weeks. I also get to pick delicious berries to eat fresh, bake desserts, and make jam. I’ve even used berry laden canes in flower arrangements. My only maintenance is an early spring pruning and occasional weed whacking. A winner!

    Reply
  74. Gretchen on

    Thank you for all your information on your pollinator strips. How often do you water once the plants are established and which plants were truly drought tolerant/did the best on the least amount of water? I have a space I want to fill with plants that can survive on minimal summer water besides the native plants available locally.

    Reply
  75. Wendy Story on

    I loved this blog. I have just been growing my first cut flowers and been through this exact process to figure out combinations of colors with biodiversity. Great ideas and experimentation. Thanks.

    Reply
  76. Fenton Hsu on

    I grow Tetrapanax papyrifer, Sambucus formosana Nakai and Allium fistulosum to attract butterflies and bees in my garden. And
    bumble bee loves to visit Lagerstroemia indica. Rhus semialata Murr.var.roxburghiana provides abundant pollen for bee also. Most of the plants above are native plants.

    Reply
  77. Nancy C on

    My favorite Piet Oudolf quote is “I like dead plants.” If you haven’t seen his movie “Five Seasons” I highly recommend it. You can stream it directly from the movie web site for a small fee. It really captures his philosophy of design and the photography is dreamy.
    Glad to see you embracing this too, Erin. Hope you inspire your many fans to follow your lead. Pollinators everywhere will benefit!

    Reply
  78. Heather Cannova on

    I have started to add native plants to my yard to encourage pollinators throughout the spring and summer. I am planting from seed for most of these so it is a lesson in patience for sure. I have loved everything that I have created so far and am anxious to continue to develop little areas around my property. Since I started pollinators are soaring and my veggie garden is doing so well.

    Reply
  79. Rachel on

    Here in Northern California, I have swaths of purple and pink Linaria that are always popular with our pollinator friends. One bonus is that they are prolific self seeders!

    Reply
  80. Sarah on

    These pollinator beds are so beautiful and inspiring!

    I have only low-maintenance sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds planted this year (hello hot and dry south-Louisiana summers…and busy life with toddlers), but the bees and hummingbirds are happy!

    Hoping to make some of your suggestions work for next year though!

    Reply
  81. Kate on

    I planted a multicolored pollinator patch in a corner of my front garden bed where the walkway meets the driveway. There’s native coneflower, bee balm, bee blossom, orange (butterfly) milkweed, coreopsis, lavender, primrose, and yarrow. It is an explosion of color and activity, and it’s so much fun to observe the pollinators that visit. I like that it lends a cottage garden look to the space, and it’s small enough that even though it includes a ton of color and plant varieties, it’s also contained so as not to become untidy and overgrown.

    I love the idea of planting various shades of one or two colors in a bigger area. I’m going to try to do this along my split rail fence and perhaps by my deck. A large swath of purple and blue would be beautiful!

    Reply
  82. Kristine on

    One of my favourites, both for pollinators and arrangements, is any of the Eryngiums, or sea holly. It is always covered with a huge variety of pollinators and has the most unusual colours. Deer and rabbits don’t touch it, and it lasts forever in a vase, which makes it a perfect plant in so many ways

    Reply
  83. Lolita on

    Thank you so much for sharing this experience. I love the tales of the excitement of the white flowers turning into disappointment because I love the whites also and would not have seen that outcome. Then the surprise of another comes into play.

    Reply
  84. Ruby on

    I didn’t think I was going to read this blog cause you said it was ‘long’. It wasn’t and I’m so glad I read it. Now, I won’t be in such a hurry to cut down and clean the garden in fall.

    Reply
  85. Alison on

    The best plant I have for attracting butterflies is my lovely, strong, tall, bouncy, verbena bonariensis! I just love how it randomly sticks up above my other plantings like a joyous exclamation point and never fails to be very long without a visiting pollinator! It self seeds so it will be back next season. I have even seen goldfinches on the plant fishing out seeds to enjoy!

    Reply
  86. Hope on

    Here in Westchester, NY, bees seem to go bananas for the St. John’s Wort shrubs, spirea and anise hyssop. Some early mornings, the SJW seems to have bees of various varieties on every one of its multitude of flowers.

    Reply
  87. DJ on

    The Lamb’s Ears in my garden are always covered in bees.

    Reply
  88. jane anne on

    Hello from South Carolina! I downloaded the plan and need to see which plants are compatible with our summer heat. Bee Balm is a favorite in my southern garden. While in the UK last month, we saw a plant that the bees loved called Sicilian Honey Garlic. It looked like it would be related to foxglove but was told it is in the allium family. It grows from a bulb, planted in the fall. The bees were all over this plant that can grow up to 5-6′ in height. I’ve ordered 5 bulbs but not sure how it will do here – however might do well where you are. Thank you for this information!!

    Reply
  89. Becka on

    Beautiful photos
    Awe you all did so great on designing the plan
    but also the actual design of the downloadable (I like the cat nice touch)
    love Oudolf and his scattered natural vibe (I also love looking at his plans they are art

    I have a New Perennial style garden (well technically 5 areas of them) mainly with plants that would be natural to the region I live
    they come and go in waves throughout the year – it’s structural (but with a few English-style blooms) so even in the winter it’s just beautiful being left as is.
    We also get a ton of holes. Rabbits just sit around chilling.

    I will have to email you all a video.

    The bees are always on the Lavender and Russian Sage (Calotropis Gigantea)
    I mean like whoever’s hive is here should give me a discount on honey.
    Moderately on Giant Milk Weed (Calotropis Gigantea).

    My fav is Wild Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) – It just looks like something out of a fairy tale book.

    I have a lot of guests grab clusters of plants for their yards – everyone grabs blue flax (mines a wispy “screen” of a thing in many areas). It’s transplanted well for everyone (from what I can tell).

    Reply
  90. Joy on

    Thank you! Thank you. Thank you! I love my garden and especially my flower garden… We recently moved and are working at getting our garden established. My vegetable garden is in and we plan to fence it in and surround it with flower gardens. I’ve been anxious to plan it out and get started on it but between being mom to 6 young children and all I haven’t gotten very far but this will help so much!! Thank You!! I just love how you share so much information freely!! It’s a true blessing to us who are busy and trying to make ends meet and can’t afford a course but also don’t have a lot of time to search all over… I am very grateful for your organized beautiful resources… Your resources and mini courses etc have given me inspiration and answered questions more than once.

    Reply
  91. Pauline on

    I very much recommend the ‚Pollinator Path‘ maker by the artist Daisy Ginsberg. It‘s an AI tool that you feed parameters (size of bed, light and soil conditions) and it suggests a planting plant that provides pollinators all round with food sources. It‘s amazing and as the planting outside Berlin‘s natural history museum proved BEAutiful!!! https://pollinator.art

    Reply
  92. Liz Krieg on

    Well done post, and timely at that!
    Thank you Erin for this article, which will help so many thriving things and hence, people!

    Reply
  93. Melanie D on

    Thanks so much for this! I’m a beekeeper and trying to develop my garden into a nectar producing powerhouse! I look forward to planting more of your recommended plants.
    I have also seen the bees very interested in Scabiosa, Sedum, Sage, Penstemon, Gaura and Russian Sage in my garden too. All these plants tolerate frost and drought too.

    Reply
  94. Julie on

    This would also be gorgeous done ROY G BIV.

    Reply
  95. Mary Beth on

    This so so amazing! I’ve been wanting to do something like this for awhile but feel overwhelmed with knowing where to start. Your generosity in sharing your knowledge in a thoughtful and thorough way is such a gift. Thank you!

    Reply
  96. Denise on

    I have loved Piet’s work also, and his inspiration!
    I do a kind of wildscaping here in 9b, foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s. Salvias and valerian does really well in our hot dry climate. Centaurea cyanus (Batchelor button) has been a delight, reseeding readily and has brought in the pretty yellow finches.
    Thank you for this article. I love your work too!

    Reply
  97. Jeannie Hardy on

    Awww thank you for this! I am just starting to farm flowers but have been working on providing native plants for pollinators and friends!
    Love what you are doing!
    Jeannie

    Reply
  98. Kim on

    I live in the north Georgia mountains and we have a lot of deer. Did you have any problems with deer eating everything?

    Reply
    • Team Floret on

      Thankfully we don’t have a huge deer problem. I’d recommend the book ‘The Field Guide to Specialty Cut Flowers’ by Dr. Allan Armitage. Each plant in this book is given a “deer browsing” rating, which is very helpful.

  99. Kaylen on

    I have a pollinator garden and use almost all the varieties you noted. They will come back bigger and better next year, too!

    Reply
  100. Cheryl on

    We have only been in our victorian house less than 3 years. So its a blank slate. I’ve been thinking of turning the 3 ft beside the street into something like this. I’ve been starting perennials from seed but that is so slow to see blossoms. Just now seeing the white daisies I started 3 years ago. Since I live in Nebraska I may check into that nursery.

    Reply
  101. Jamie C on

    I live in Texas and I love pugster blue butterfly bush – attracts all the butterflies and stays small and mystic spire salvia – it gets very tall and all kind of bees adore it!!

    Reply
  102. Brian Ambrose on

    I transformed a third of my lawn (side yard) into a pollinator meadow using mostly seed broadcasted onto the prepared soil in zone 7a. Lots of Monarda, Culver’s root, coreopsis, coneflower, yarrow. This is year 3 of the project and I’ve started cutting in paths and adding plugs here and there to increase diversity and add different colors. Very satisfying.

    Reply
  103. Shelley on

    Thank you for this. I am a fan of perennials and this gives me some great ideas and tips. So appreciate it.

    Reply
  104. Charlotte on

    Thank you for the wonderful Pollinator Strip Plan.

    I used to work at a garden center, and have collected many perennial pollinator plants over time. I also like to experiment with different annual varieties each year, that are grown from seed. This keeps costs lower, and it’s a great way to change up the look of the garden. I leave the annuals and perennials over winter for critter food and habitat. Plus, the spent and dormant plants add a bit of structural interest in winter.

    Practice Integrated Pest Management.
    All critters are welcome in my garden…even aphids! By leaving the “pests”, a mini-ecosystem is created, and the beneficial insects and animals come to my garden to do the work for me.

    No Pesticides Please! Pesticides do not discriminate. They will kill the pollinators too.

    Reply
  105. Amy on

    Thank you so much for these plans, we’re going to use the purple one this year. I’m having trouble finding Aster Pink Chiffon anywhere, tho, would you be able to suggest a replacement?

    Reply
  106. Shawn Walker on

    I started a pollinator garden on a hillside on my property. It is about 50 feet from one of my cut flower gardens and about 100 from another. I started out with Echinacea (purple, white and cream colors), then added Salvia, Lambaba (Bee Balm), Phlox (pink), Liatris and Spirea shrubs. Then in the front planted Mother of Thyme. I was so surprised the first year by all the insects that visited the garden. Some of the blooms were harvested and used within floral buckets and arrangements, the others were left on the stems to die back naturally. When I went to check the blooms that had died back, almost all of them had their seeds eaten by the birds. That made my heart happy. Such an exciting thing to know that naturally we are feeding our pollinators and are able to enjoy watching them and the flowers grow at the same time!

    Reply
  107. Sarah on

    I have hundreds of different plants in my pollinator gardens, but by a landslide, the favorite of bees is the catmint. They go crazy for it! I have probably 30 catmint plants dispersed through my gardens and there are times that I can while away an hour just watching the bees crawl over the blooms.

    Reply
  108. Brooke on

    I planted borage back in 2016 because I was trying for edible plants only. It smells like cucumber, tastes like cucumber and the blooms are pretty (and our dogs will have a taste as well occasionally). I discovered it self seeds like crazy and every year since I have fought all the volunteers from that original planting and it’s offspring.
    This year I let them go and no matter the weather or the time of day, there are tons of bees of all species. I can’t bring myself to get rid of them because if there is a plant the bees love and I’m bothered because it doesn’t look as nice as I want it to, I will let the bees thrive on the overly enthusiastic borage. Plant it somewhere where it’s self seeding won’t be a problem or that you are willing to chase the offspring for years to eliminate it.

    Reply
  109. Chelle Warren on

    Hello! Brand new here -have only planted in containers prior but now I have 2 rather large rectangle beds that I am trying to map out my plan for Zone 8 Austin Texas heat. I watch flowers that I can enjoy in arrangements and give as bouquets! I love the cupcake zinnias and my ultimate favorite are the peony’s! I want to have a variety of flowers in colors that match well together and blend sone lavender in as well. Let’s not forget hydrangeas!! Unsure if zone 8 will work for them? I just haven’t a clue if I need a pollinator area or do i just buy seeds and plant? I do want it to be artistic in nature and loved the lines of yours. How do I figure this out? Thanks!

    Reply
  110. Betty on

    Beautiful! I inherited a perennial garden on the easement in front of our new house (approx 20×60 feet) in Detroit last year. I added a bunch of pollinator friendly plants last spring, planted 150 bulbs last fall and focused on adding more Michigan natives this year. Thanks for the recommendations! I’ve been very inspired by our Piet Oudolf garden on Belle Isle and I’m trying to create that lush meadow look instead of the mish mash of plants the previous owner had. Ideally, I want to get rid of all the grass in our yard and expand the gardens to create a pollinator paradise.

    Reply
  111. Lynne James on

    Two of the best pollinator plants I have in my garden are the ordinary oregano (Origanum vulgare) and what we call Michelmas daisies, Aster amellus. The oregano flowers mid-summer, and the daisies are a late summer/autumn flowerer. Comfrey is also a big hit with the bees, but doesn’t have showy flowers so may not be suitable for garden beds. And there’s borage too, super popular!

    Reply
  112. Laura on

    This plan has been so helpful in designing my own pollinator bed in my backyard in Portland. I also love Piet Oudolf’s books, but have struggled with making my perennial beds feel natural. As a vegetable gardener it’s hard to break out of my square foot grid mindset, and seeing the way you mapped out the flower groupings in a painterly, organic way has changed my approach to my garden planning. Would you ever consider sharing some of the plans for the other beds? The one including yarrow and echinacea (I think the pink/purple bed) would be especially helpful, as those are two of my favorite natives. Thank you for this valuable resource!

    Reply
  113. Dganit Eldar on

    Thank you so much for this post. I have a question though regarding you other flower beds. I am new to the business. Are you not encouraging pollinators throughout your cut flowers beds? If not, how do you keep pollinators away?
    Thank you,
    Dganit

    Reply
  114. Lyn on

    Hi! Thank you for this pollinator plan. Do you have a flowers, fillers, foliage combination plan for small area like 2000sqft land? I get so overwhelmed, I don’t know which ones to plant first. Thank you!

    Reply
  115. Brianna on

    I really appreciate this being broken down by plant and also including the nurseries, AND including the plan!!! I hate when people take a picture and just say “bee friendly plants” because I want to know exactly what the plants are!! Love love love!!

    Reply
  116. Lou on

    Where’s the planting scheme? Love the purple strip the best; great job on all of them.

    Reply
    • BriAnn, Team Floret on

      Towards the bottom of this post you can sign up for the Pollinator Strip Plan. It will automatically pull up on your web browser after clicking “Get the Plans”.

  117. Mya on

    Love this post. Here in Minnesota, the honey bees and small native bees love Calamintha nepeta and Pycnanthemum muticum in my garden. Bumblebees like my penstamon. And I’ve noticed that my monardas attract the very largest bumblebees ever – guess they are the only ones with tongues long enough to access the nectar. And monarch really flock to my Meadow Blazing star (Liatris ligulistylis) in late summer – (this seeds everywhere which for me is a plus but might not be for everyone)

    Reply
  118. Robyn on

    I LOVE your site! Gardening has been an important part of my life for many years in zone 5. I recently moved into a condo community in a new-to-me planting zone 10a. The back of our building faces a pond and gets full sun. It is currently planted sparsely with basic green shrubs. I would like to plant as many perennials as possible to use for cutting and feeding pollinators, while enjoying a beautiful garden outside of my lanai with as little maintenance as possible. This article is a tremendous help! While I know these plants are sun lovers, zone info would be helpful in future articles as well. Thank you for sharing your knowledge so freely with home gardeners like me and with retailers also. You truly are a gift to the gardening community!

    Reply
  119. Allison on

    Our place in Skagit was owned by a nursery owner in the 60s/ 70s and has a wide variety of plants. Currently working to catch up on deferred maintenance, and add more cut flowers! Thankful for your resources – hoping to add more pollinator friendly plants around our orchard and berry patch.

    Reply
  120. Dolores Delgado, Portland, OR on

    Are pollinators meant to help other plants grow? I have raspberries, so would pollinators like lavender, daisies, zinnias help them?

    Reply
  121. Susanne Osmond on

    do you follow the work of xerces society? great resources on creating habitat for pollinators and butterflies; also on avoiding pesticides and herbicides on bee-friendly plant material. xerces.org

    you might also be interested in the work of john little from the uk. he’s experimenting with all sorts of simple waste materials and techniques to create habitat for pollinators. grassroofcompamy.co.uk

    Reply
  122. Kyle on

    If you have a low, wet spot, definitely check out Henderson’s checkermallow. I’m in year 3 of my planting and it has sprang to life like crazy this year. Has no problem with Washington’s wet winters. Native bees were all over it today. Lovely pink blooms and the plants basically take care of themselves.

    Reply
  123. Grace on

    Would you mind sharing where you bought your plugs from? I have been trying to create a garden with a similar purpose for awhile, but am having a hard time sourcing small perennial plants/plugs.

    Reply
  124. Susan on

    I love my lavender. Not only are bees all over it in the summer, but it smells fabulous on the walkway up to our front door. It also likes dryer soil and needs very little water. When the blooms are finished, I love how the goldfinches descend on it, clinging to the long stems as they pluck out the seeds. It’s nice to feed the birds and the bees!

    Reply
  125. Stephanie on

    High Country Gardens and Native American Seed are some additional great resources for pollinator and waterwise plants, especially if you live in Texas, Oklahoma, or the western mountain states.

    Reply
  126. Lori Gross on

    I have been expanding native flower plots over the past five years and have found Echinacea purpurea to be a favorite of so many pollinators both as a host plant and for adult nectar. Asclepias tuberosa is also in that category. Right now the Penstemon digitalis is putting on quite a floral show and is covered in bumblebee queens. The Monarda bradburiana is a new favorite. The plants I started from seed last spring really filled in and are blooming heavily in their second season. Pycnanthemum tenufolium seems to be pest free and attracts a wide variety of butterflies, wasps and bees with white flower heads during midsummer. It is also drought tolerant and can fill in a large area. All of my plants have to tolerate a lot of heat and wind without ideal moisture. I have always been pleased with the quality of plants from Prairie Moon Nursery. This year’s experiment is white moon garden with native plants. Loved your comment in the new season about “maybe I tried to do too much”. Thanks for all you share.

    Reply
  127. Caro on

    How do you deal with voles. They destroyed my spring garden. They are all of my bulbs.

    Reply
  128. AMS on

    I love this post, as focusing on pollinator friendly plants has been a big goal of mine as I build my garden.

    When I put in my information to download the pollinator strip plans it only provides the purple. Is that intended?

    Reply
  129. Christy Washut on

    I love Bee Balm, but have trouble getting to come back for more than a couple for years. Any hints? I also have a location where I had a huge clematis. It had to come out due to the construction of a new porch. I have tried to re-establish another one in the same location for 3 years now. No luck…. Any help you can offer would be so appreciated. Thanks in advance. Christy

    Reply
  130. Kari Ferguson on

    Several years ago I decided to plant leeks and let them go to seed. Not only are the giant seed heads stunningly beautiful, they also attract the most pollinators of any plant I’ve seen. They look whimsical planted amidst other perennials, and require little to no maintenance.

    Reply
  131. Beverly Ash Gilbert on

    What a lovely pictorial tour of your pollinator strips – thank you!

    In addition to the purples you’ve listed, I’ve found pollinators love to hang around my rhododendrons (esp. the purple ones) at the edge of the woods and the alliums (chives, garlic, onions and leeks) in my veg patch, so I’ve been tucking garlic into my flower beds and edge some of them with chives!

    Reply
  132. Eowyn on

    Just glorious. Thank you for the example you set with these plantings! I’m curious if you’ve come across professor Doug Tallamy’s work and considered incorporating more straight species versions of our US natives? They are now known to be far more important and nutritious to our native insects and other wildlife than cultivar versions of native plants.

    Reply
  133. Mary Wordsman on

    I live at 5500 ft elevation and I started with a blank slate when we built our home in 2015. I like tidy, symmetrical garden beds but in the front yard, I decided to leave a large, pear shaped area for pollinator favorites and I let them go to seed the first couple of years. It contains daisies, lupine, dianthus, black eyed susan, echinacea, yarrow, foxglove, salvia, veronica, Russian Sage, bearded Iris, blanket flower, Korean lilac, bachelor button, and monarda. In late summer, it is a riot of color and you can hear the bees buzzing. Hummingbirds and butterflies also visit regularly. While it looks a bit chaotic, it always brings a smile to my face. Helping birds and pollinators is important to me as they are all in decline. Season 2 of Growing Floret will help others to see that providing for pollinators is so very important.

    Reply
  134. Susan on

    I LOVE this so much! I have been a fan of Floret for probably a decade and have been so inspired over the years! I have a garden mixed with perennials, a few cut annuals like zinnias, veggies, and herbs. The last few years I’ve gotten so much more interested in native plants and plants that beneficial to butterflies and birds. I’m on a quest to add as many butterfly host plants as I can! I’ve started leaving my plant material up over the winter the last few years as well, for the reasons you mentioned, and am so happy to see you all sharing that you’re doing this! Other pollinator favorites for me in Michigan are blue wild indigo, liatris, rattlesnake master, and stiff goldenrod. I also take care of the butterfly garden at my kids’ elementary school. It has a lot of pollinator plants. Here is a blog post I wrote how on it evolves over the season https://maybeillbecomeafarmer.wordpress.com/2022/10/14/the-parkwood-butterfly-garden/

    Reply
  135. Eva on

    Absolutely love this idea. We are in the early stages of planting a cutting garden & harvest garden & I have been thinking of bringing in pollinators but didn’t think to do them in rows. I love it!

    We have noticed the following plants are brilliant for pollinators, bees & other native insects: sedum autumn joy, cat mint, lavender & cosmos.
    We are in Victoria Australia but probably similar slightly milder conditions

    Reply

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