I’m a Garden Writer and This Is What I Plant for My Pollinators
Here are my tried-and-true picks to keep my pollinators happy.
Long before pollinator gardens were a thing, I’ve been interested in attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects to my garden. I love watching them do their work, happily zipping from flower to flower.
Whether you have just a few window boxes or containers on your patio or deck or a large, rambling backyard, you can offer pollinator-friendly plants to support biodiversity in your garden. Besides bees and butterflies, there are tons of other hard-working pollinators in the landscape, including moths, flies, wasps, and beetles. Hummingbirds also have their part to play.
Besides the appeal of hearing and watching these little wizards at work, many plants, such as fruits and legumes, require pollination to bear fruit. So, inviting pollinators will also benefit your edible garden to increase crop yields.
Of course, you also should limit your use of pesticides because they are not selective and will harm any insects and bugs present in your garden. And, actually, your best defense is a good offense: Inspect your plants regularly because many times a simple blast from the garden hose can take care of early infestations of pests such as aphids.
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While you may already know about milkweed and butterfly weed as pollinator favorites, here are my top picks for other sturdy garden plants that all sorts of beneficial bugs love. You also can check out regional plant lists at the Xerxes Society for Invertebrate Conservation or the National Wildlife Federation.
Lavender
Bees love this plant! But with its fragrant foliage and flowers, my very greedy deer and rabbits stay away from it. I usually snip some of the stems, too, to dry for arrangements. I especially love ‘Phenomenal’ for its long, graceful stems and ‘Munstead’ for its reliability.
Read more: How to Grow and Care for Lavender Plants
Sweet Alyssum
This annual is one I plant everywhere in window boxes, around vegetable garden borders, and in mixed containers. My favorite tiny pollinator, hoverflies, adore this plant, and it is surprisingly cold-hardy, lasting well into late fall. ‘Snow Princess’ and ‘Blushing Princess’ do especially well for me. But I also sow packets of these seeds everywhere I have an empty spot in garden beds as a sort of living mulch.
Read more: The Big Difference Between Annuals and Perennials
Stoke's Aster
This sturdy plant is a favorite of all kinds of beneficial insects. Plus, the brilliant blue color adds a layer of cool tones that contrasts well with other garden flowers. It has good drought tolerance once established. ‘Riptide’ is my new favorite variety for its compact shape and cold-hardiness.
Read more: How to Grow Asters: An Important Part of Your Fall Garden
Catmint
If you need a hands-off perennial with a long bloom season, catmint is the answer. This sturdy plant tolerates even poor soils, and its silvery blooms are topped with purple flower spikes for most of the summer. Bees and butterflies loves this plant, and it’s one of the easiest to grow. I especially like ‘Picture Purrfect’ for its early blooms and ‘Whispurr Pink’ and ‘Whispurr Blue’ for their extra-large flowers. Big plus: Bunnies and deer steer clear!
Read more: 33 Plants Deer Won't Go Near
Dill
You can’t go wrong with dill: It grows quickly and easily from seed, provides plenty of fresh leaves for cooking, and develops large, flat yellow flowers that pollinators, including beneficial bugs such as green lacewings and braconid wasps, love. I always plant extra in my garden so it can go to flower. The seeds often drop, too, popping up again on their own next spring. It’s also a host plant for swallowtail butterflies.
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Stonecrop
For pollinator support late in the season, add stonecrop, also called sedum, to your garden. I like the late-blooming varieties that put on their show in fall, such as the classic ‘Autumn Joy.’ But those with reddish tinge to their foliage, such as ‘Back in Black’ add variety to garden beds.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Growing Autumn Joy Sedum
Agastache
The tubular-shaped blooms of this plant attract tons of pollinators, and new cultivars come in a variety of lovely shades from peach to purple to yellow. It’s a must-have in my garden. I especially love the looks of new varieties such as ‘Summerlong Coral’ and ‘Summerlong Lilac.’
Cilantro
Cilantro is another herb that grows easily from seed. If allowed to go to flower, it attracts bees, butterflies, and lady beetles to the garden. It also self-sows in the garden. The flowers are quite lovely and makes a wonderful filler flower in cut bouquets.
Salvia
These plants have lovely tubular-shaped flowers that attract pollinators of all sorts. The scented foliage keeps nosy bunnies away. The culinary versions are equally attractive if allowed to go to flower. ‘Mystical Blue’ and ‘Pink Profusion’ offer a very long bloom time and require almost no upkeep. ‘Blue By You’ is one of the earliest to bloom in late spring.
Lamb's Ear
This old-fashioned perennial, transplanted from my grandmother’s garden, has velvety-soft leaves that resemble a little lamb’s ear. The tall spikes of flowers are unusual, and not everyone loves them. But one of my favorite fascinating pollinators, the hummingbird moth, adores this flower, so I always grow it in my garden beds.
Perennial Geranium
In late spring, my garden is covered with the blooms of this low-growing perennial. The spicy-minty scent keeps my hungry rabbits at bay, while delicate flowers on long stems dance like little butterflies in the breeze. It’s irresistible to bees. I grow a number of varieties, and all do equally well, so you can’t go wrong as long as you give them full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun) with some afternoon shade in hotter climates.
Read more: How to Grow Perennial Geraniums
Cuphea
This annual has bright, tubular flowers for the entire season, and it’s impervious to heat. There are many different varieties, but I find the bright orange-red hybrid ‘Vermillionaire’ to be an excellent choice for attracting hummingbirds.
Ageratum
This beautiful annual is underappreciated, but it’s smashing in mixed containers with its periwinkle blue blooms. ‘Monarch Magic’ attracts a constant stream of bees, moths, and butterflies, especially monarchs, late into fall.
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