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Use plants that will attract pollinators to your garden
The Environmental
Gardener
1
Erica Glasener
is the Community
Involvement and
Events Manager for
the Piedmont Park
Conservancy. She
also serves on the
advisory board for
Trees Atlanta.
The terms “pollinator” and “pollinator-
friendly gardens” are popular today, and
with good reason. But what do they mean
and how do they translate to actions that
home gardeners can take?
According to pollinator.org,
pollinators, “including bees, bats,
butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, beetles and
other small mammals that pollinate plants,
are responsible for one out of every three
bites of food we eat.”
While this is impressive, it is not a
recent finding. In 1996, in their book
The Forgotten Pollinators, co- authors
Stephen Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan
estimated that “animal pollinators are
needed for the reproduction of 90% of
flowering plants and one-third of human
food crops.
Pollinators — especially bees (there
are over 4,000 species of native bees in
the United States) — have been affected
by habitat loss, disease, and pesticide use.
As home gardeners, we can create a haven
for pollinators by eliminating the use of
chemicals in our gardens and creating
habitats that will attract pollinators and
support wildlife. This in turn leads to a
healthy ecosystem.
If you are a gardener, it’s likely you’ve
seen pollination in process if you’ve
observed insects visiting flowers to drink
nectar or feed on pollen. Nectar, a food
source, is mostly a solution of sugars, but
also has traces of proteins, salts, acids, and
essential oils.
When a bee moves from flower to
flower in search of nectar, it carries pollen
grains from the anther (the male part of a
flower) to the stigma (the female part of
the flower). This is the start of the process
that results in the production of seeds and
fruits and the next generation of plants.
Pollination also happens through self-
pollination, as well as by wind and water.
Insects and animal pollinators are
drawn to certain plants more than others.
For this reason, your plant choices in your
own garden can make a difference. FFere
are some ways you can attract and support
pollinators.
1. Plant and encourage native
flowering plants.
2. Plant both host and nectar plants.
A host plant provides a place for butterflies
and moths to lay eggs and then the plant
becomes a source of food for the caterpillars
before they become butterflies. Certain
butterflies require a particular species of
host plant.
3. Remove invasive plants which
crowd out natives.
4. Plant groups of a single flower
species in the same area. This reduces the
energy required for foraging.
5. Plant a diversity of species (at least
FFere are some plants you can use to attract
pollinators to your garden. The pollinators
that are attracted to each type of plant are
listed and if the plant is also a host plant, that
is indicated.
Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabermontana)
provides blue flowers in April and attracts
butterflies and hummingbirds. It also is a host.
Eastern Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias
incarnata var. pulchra) blooms with pink
flowers from July to September and attracts
butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, beetles,
wasps, flies and is a host plant.
A Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
provides orange flowers from May to August
(and may rebloom in the fall). It attracts
butterflies and honeybees and is a host plant.
Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis) sprouts
blue flowers in April and May. It attracts
butterflies and bees and is a host.
Green and Gold (Chrysogonum
virginianum) produces yellow flowers in
March, April and May and attracts bees and
flies.
Lobed Coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata)
produces golden yellow flowers in April,
May and June and attracts butterflies and
hummingbirds.
Threadleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillate)
provides yellow flowers from May to July
and attracts butterflies, syrphid flies and
honeybees.
5-10 different species, to attract a greater
number of pollinators.
6. Choose plants for every season and
make sure something is always blooming.
7. Provide pollinator nesting sites.
Leave areas with dead logs, leaves and water
if possible. This will provide habitat and
shelter for certain species including ground
nesting bees and other insects.
By planting a garden for pollinators,
you can make a positive impact on your
community, provide habitat for insects and
wildlife and have a beautiful garden that
offers blooms for every season.
Hairy Sunflower (FFelianthus resinosus)
grows lemon yellow flowers from June to
September and attracts bees and butterflies.
American Alumroot (FFeuchera americana)
produces white flowers from April to June and
attracts hummingbirds and sweat bees.
Piedmont Smooth Phlox (Phox glaberrima)
yields pink flowers from April to June, attracts
butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and is a
host.
Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), a
biennial that reseeds freely, grows yellow-
orange flowers from September to frost and
attracts butterflies and birds.
Sweet Goldenrod (Solidago odora) produces
yellow flowers from July to October and
attracts butterflies, bees, beetles. It is also a
host.
Shrubs and Trees
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) produces red
flowers from March to April, and attracts
hummingbirds and bees.
Oak-leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia),
produces white flowers from May to July and
attracts flies and wasps.
Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)
produces white flowers in April and May and
attracts butterflies and bees. It also is a host.
American Holly (Ilex americana) produces
tiny white flowers in April, May and June. It
attracts bees.
Piedmont Azalea (Rhododendron
canescens) —there are lots of varieties of native
azaleas to try — grows pink flowers in April
and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. It
also is a host.
Rabbit eye blueberries (Vaccinium ashei)
grows white to light pink flowers and attracts
bumblebees. nn
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Perennials that attract pollinators
38 MAY 2022 | DU
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