9 Tips to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden

Bee, laden with pollen, at the Raymond, WA Community Garden. Note the orange pollen sacs. Photo Copyright: Gail Dutton

Bees kept the community garden I visited last weekend positively buzzing! White moths flitted from flower to flower, never staying long in any one spot. They were doing their jobs, pollinating a variety of plants and, in the case of bees, collecting pollen to help feed their hives through the cool winter months.

Here at home, two hummingbirds just buzzed past my window. They paused, inspecting the barberry bushes. Barberry isn’t flowering yet, so they moved on to the honeysuckle, which is bursting with nectar.

When I stepped outside, a honeybees busily gathered pollen from the clover and dandelions in our lawn. Some found the lavender interesting, too, but not all our plants attract pollinators.  

As it turns out, many pollinators, like hummingbirds, butterflies, and even bees have favorite food sources. Those favorites change as the pollinator grows to maturity.

Colors Matter

Hummingbirds favor red, pink, orange, and yellow petals that are long and thin, like honeysuckle. As they drink the nectar, pollen sticks to their bills and is carried to the next plant they visit. The National Audubon Society says some 8,000 plants in the Americas depend on hummingbirds for pollination!

Bees have short tongues and seem to prefer relatively shallow flowers with yellow, white, or blue petals, which explains why I see more bees – but usually not our honeybees – land on our lavender than on our red and pink roses.

Photo copyright: Gail Dutton

Pollinators also favor certain shapes. Bumble bees are large, so they prefer large flowers like wild indigo, where they can reach the nectar easily. The much smaller native bees enjoy the lavender we’ve planted. Our honeybees are especially fond of barberry and elder flowers, and, of course, clover.

Butterflies generally like plants “with lots of small nectar-producing flowers in each flower head,” according to The American Gardener. They also like to have a stable landing pad where they can perch and drink nectar from multiple florets sequentially. They’re partial to plants in the aster and mint families. To attract them, plant in color blocks rather than mixing colors in your garden.

Maps that Pollinators Follow

Bees and other pollinators don’t have Google Maps to find the nectar, but they do have nectar guides. These are signs in the plants themselves pointing them toward the nectar. For example, yellow centers denote pollen. Some petals have “landing pads” that point inward toward the pollen or nectar. Some, like Missouri irises, have lines on the petals that guide them toward the good stuff.

Other plants, like violets, resonate in the ultraviolet range to signal a food stop (rather like a neon fast-food sign along a highway). Butterflies can see this UV spectrum, so certain flowers have nectar guides that are patently obvious to butterflies and other pollinators that are invisible to our own unaided eyes.

I was amazed to learn that as the nectar declines, the guides become less visible. Nectar guides are, essentially, “open” and “closed” signs telling the pollinators whether to bother stopping for a quick drink or to pick up pollen.

Tips to Attract Pollinators

Here are eight strategies you can use to attract pollinators to your yard:

1.    Have a succession of blooms throughout the year to extend the feeding season.

2.    Choose a variety of types of blooms to attract many types of pollinators.

3.    Include native plants to attract native pollinators.

4.    Plant in groups, so the pollinators needn’t travel far.

5.    Choose some plants that thrive in sun and others in shade.

6.    Include a shallow water source (like a tray with pebbles above the waterline) so bees can drink without drowning.

7.    Choose plants that aren’t prone to pests, to minimize pesticide use.

8.    If you must spray pesticides, only spot spray, and do that in the early evening. At that time, pollinators are done feeding, so they will be less likely to be harmed. Winds typically will have decreased, too, which minimizes pesticide drift.

9.    Avoid systemic pesticides that aren’t “bee safe.” Always read the entire label!

Plants to Attract Pollinators

Columbine, showing landing pads for pollinators. Photo copyright: Gail Dutton

Oregon State University has identified the 25 best plants to attract pollinators in the Pacific Northwest. It includes things that bloom in late winter, like crabapple and willow trees. For spring, it mentions chokecherry and lupine; for summer, catmint, Russian sage, and blue giant hyssop; and, for late summer to fall, Michaelmas daisy, goldenrod, and Douglas aster.

For the best plants to attract pollinator in your region, check with your local state university. For example, here’s a lengthy list from the University of Texas. Interestingly, many of these plants or their close cousins thrive here in the Pacific Northwest, too!

Whether you’re planning your pollinator garden or adding to your existing plantings, try to add native plants. They already are adapted to the climate, so they are more resilient to the heat, drought, and pests common to your region. And, they often are surprisingly pretty!

As Washington State University notes, “Providing native flower-rich habitat…is the most significant action you can take to support pollinators.”

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