Creating a Pollinator Garden

SOURCE: Various

A pollinator garden is designed to attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial insect pollinators into your garden area. We’re going to look at some of the pollinators by name, as well as some of the plants best used to attract them.

We will also discuss how to create “micro” pollinator gardens that can be placed or moved throughout your larger garden as desired. This can be particularly helpful if you grow fruits and vegetables that bloom at different times.

Attracting Beneficial Insects

If you are trying to attract more butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and other beneficial insects to your garden you are not alone. More and more gardeners are realizing the importance of beneficial insects and are growing plants that support them.

Friendly pollinating bees include bumblebees, honey bees and sweat bees. Beneficial insects that eat aphids, whiteflies, mites and other garden pests

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Continued include ladybug larvae, crab spiders, snake flies and soldier beetles.

Pollinator plants (a.k.a. pollinator-friendly plants) are flowering perennials, annuals, or shrubs that provide the nectar and pollen essential for a flourishing pollinator population. Using pollinator plants to help maintain a healthy pollinator population will allow your crops and flowers to be insect-pollinated so they can continue producing seeds and fruits during the season.

Pollinator Gardens: Large and Micro

A pollinator garden is an outdoor space that is mostly filled with pollinator-friendly plants. Pollinator gardens can be created in large landscapes or small patio containers. It is the container held pollinator plants that can act as “micro” pollinator gardens you can move throughout your larger garden area.

If you grow vegetables as many do, a micro and moveable pollinator garden lets you easily place your pollinator plants near your vegetables when they are blooming. There are many pollinator-

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