Consider planting for pollinators when choosing flowers for your garden this spring

It’s planting time, so visit nurseries to add annuals, perennials, flowering shrubs and anything growing in a pot from vegetable starts to big trees.

This spring, however, consider saving the world with your flower choices by planting for pollinators.

Why plant for pollinators?

About 75% of our plants need pollinating bees, birds or insects to keep them reproducing. One third of the food we eat needs pollinators to produce. Sadly our population of pollinators has been suffering as our area loses native plant material and as we plant fewer flowering plants.

Who are the pollinators?

It’s more than just the birds and the bees. Other pollinators include wasps, flies, butterflies, moths and beetles.

Do the bee houses one sees for sale actually work?

Yes! The best pollinators for our wet spring weather is a small native bee called the Orchard Mason bee. This docile, small bee likes to make holes in rotting trees but will adapt to using blocks of wood with pre-drilled holes or the hollow stems of bamboo gathered together.

Local garden centers now sell bee houses that appeal to our native bee or you can check online for plans on making your own bee hotels.

What else can gardeners do to save our pollinators?

Two things: First, avoid spraying pesticides that kill off our pollinators. And second (the fun part), invest in more flowers.

The best blooms are those that have long tubular shapes such as penstemon, lupine and fuchsias as well as flowers with flat heads such as sedum Autumn Joy, rudbechia, coneflower and other daisy-type flowers. But there are plenty of other plants that excite the bees, such as lavender, California poppy, oregano, Russian sage, mountain aster and the clover and dandelions in your lawn.

Native plants are the best for our native pollinators so consider low maintenance bur attractive native shrubs such as Oregon grape, golden currant, ocean spray and pussy willow.

Planning for year-round color in your landscape will delight you as well as the pollinators. The sourwood tree, rhododendrons, ceanothus, and wild roses are more examples of easy-to-grow plants that will help save the world.

More ideas about pollinators and changing gardens

▪ I will be speaking at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 7, at the Puyallup South Hill Library on “Pretty and Practical Gardening for Pollinators and Busy People.” To register for this free webinar, you can go to https://calendar.piercecountylibrary.org/events or make a call to the Puyallup South Hill Library at 253-548-3300.

▪ Also, a remind that my online workshop on “The Changing Garden: How we and our gardens change with age and how to create gardens that demand less maintenance and water as we cope with hotter summers” will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27. Register at bit.ly/NYCWWebinar1 then you will be sent an invite to watch the event live on your own computer.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.

This story was originally published April 23, 2022 at 5:00 AM.