Planting for Pollinators: Why Native Plants Matter in Your Garden

Spring is garden-planning season. Before you look online for ideas, the National Park Service suggests starting closer to home — with native plants, which help local pollinators such as bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and bats.

Image from the National Park Service's "I Didn't Know That!" page on planting for pollinators.

Why pollinators matter

• Pollinators are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat each day.
• They are essential to healthy ecosystems and to many food crops.
• Their populations are declining worldwide, largely because of habitat loss and pesticide poisoning.

Why native plants

Pollinators and native plants need each other. As a pollinator feeds on nectar or pollen, pollen sticks to its body and travels to the next flower. Over time, flowers evolved to attract particular pollinators, and pollinators evolved to feed on particular flowers — some relationships are so exclusive that a pollinator needs a specific plant species, or a plant a specific pollinator. Non-native plants may be inedible to pollinators or fail to meet their needs.

A bonus for gardeners: native plants are adapted to your area's climate, growing season and soil, so they're almost always easier to keep alive.

A bee's fuzzy legs collect pollen from flowers. Credit: National Park Service.

Three ways to help

1. Plant a native pollinator garden. The Park Service's Ecoregional Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Cards give easy steps, plant choices across the growing season and support resources for your region.
2. Cut back on pesticides, or stop using them. Pesticides — insecticides especially — are among the biggest problems for pollinators. Learn to solve pest problems without them, and to use and dispose of them properly.
3. Buy organic and buy local. Organic crops use fewer pesticides; buying local cuts carbon emissions and supports farmers who provide pollinator habitat.

The ecoregional native pollinator garden cards. Credit: National Park Service.

Pass it on

If you see a fellow gardener reaching for a non-native plant, share what you know — it's fine to say, "I didn't know that!"

Sources

Based on "I Didn't Know That!: Planting for Pollinators," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.