Click below to listen to my Garden Bite radio show: Pollinator plants and hummingbird attractors
Whatever all the reasons are for the bee decline or colony collapse, we can still plant for pollinators. That includes butterflies and hummingbirds as well as bees!
Planting native species is a good thing and there are plenty of nurseries that offer good native stock. Check out my Favorite Links tab. I just planted Prairie Smoke last year. It’s just a baby…
Prairie Smoke
What it will look like…
Echinacea purpurea is a great attractor.
Echinacea – native purple coneflower
Another wonderful native is Aquilegia Canadensis aka Columbine. The one pictured below is our native American Columbine. It will grow nearly anywhere!
I also enjoy new cultivars. The one thing we have to understand is that there is always a trade-off of some sort. While you can have a spectacular rose, you may lose some of it’s fragrance. Or perhaps you get a disease resistant tomato that lacks that full flavor you love.
Echinacea – Salsa Red
Salvia is another standout for pollinators. It’s a standup plant that grows to 2 feet tall and again that wide. ‘Lyrical Blues’ is one I planted 2 years ago and really love it.
Salvia – Lyrical Blues
Hummingbirds love the color red but they’ll be attracted to most tubular shaped flowers. They also like petunias and fuchsias. Oh, and for a perennial – try honeysuckle vine!
List of Plants for Pollinators from the University of Minnesota Extension
Grasses are places for pollinators to take refuge, coneflower, monarda, salvia, cannas are growing in the background
