Tag: 230427

Plants to attract birds, bees and other pollinators

By Matt Ingersoll, Angie Sykeny and Katelyn Sahagian
mingersoll@hippopress.com

A gorgeous garden isn’t just about creating the perfect landscape. Choosing the right plants helps to foster an environment where native bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and other key pollinators can thrive.

“When we say pollination, what we’re referring to is essentially the fertilization of these plants to be able to reproduce, so part of it is maintaining and increasing that genetic diversity for these plants so that they can continue to survive,” said Stephanie Sosinski, program manager for home horticulture at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension’s Education Center in Goffstown. “Pollinators are such an important part of the greater ecosystem, and even birds who aren’t necessarily pollinators are also part of that. They eat the larvae of the insects that pollinate the plant.”

Most pollinators are not generalists. In fact, Sosinski noted that “a pretty high percentage” of them are attracted to very specific species of plants, sometimes even just by their color.

“For bees, it would be white, blue, purple and yellow flowers,” she said. “If we’re thinking about hummingbirds, they tend to be attracted to reds. … The quality of the flower will also sometimes give you a hint. The coneflower is easy for bees to land on to get the pollen.”

Pollinator-friendly plants include everything from perennials (which come back year after year) and annuals (which only live for one growing season) to herbs, shrubs and some trees, all with a wide range of blooming stages, from early spring to late fall. Choosing the right ones for your garden, Sosinski said, may come down to its overall layout.

“You definitely want to think about which plants fit the site that you have,” she said. “Look at what amount of light it gets, whether it’s full sun or partial shade, and you definitely also want to think about moisture. Is it a well-draining area, is it really sandy or is it wet more often? Those are all things to consider. … You want to give your plant the full ability to succeed, so you want to make sure you give them all the right stuff.”

When visiting a nursery or garden center, it’s important to understand the difference between a New England native plant and a nativar or cultivar — some are OK for pollinators and others are not, said Donna Miller, of Petals in the Pines in Canterbury.

“A nativar or a cultivar is a native plant that’s been bred for some reason,” she said. “A rule of thumb that we use is to strive for about 70 percent natives and 30 percent cultivars in your garden. … It’s OK to have cultivars, but you don’t want them to dominate your landscape.”

Cultivars are more likely to have a prettier bloom or nicer look, said Becky Stoughton, a master gardener for UNH. While the beauty is enhanced, it can take away from the benefits. Stoughton said there are coneflowers that have been cultivated to have double blossoms, but those flowers are sterile, meaning they don’t produce pollen, so they are useless to pollinators.

Stoughton said planting and cultivating plants for aesthetics alone is a habit that she and some of her gardening friends are still unlearning.

“Our dependence on plants for not just their beauty [but] for other things … we lost it for a while, we got focused on the aesthetic,” she said. “It’s not just us that has to benefit from [the plant].”

The big question becomes, when looking for pollinators, how do you recognize cultivars and nativars? Miller recommends reading the tag on the plant.

“It should have the scientific name for plants, the genus and species. It’s usually in italic print,” she said, “and following that, if there’s another name and it has single quote marks around it. If you see something that has a name like that, then you know it’s a nativar. There are some that are good for pollinators, but it’s one of those things where you’ve got to kind of do your research and know which ones are fine and which ones aren’t.”

Miller is part of the Pollinator Garden Certification Committee, a joint effort between UNH and UMaine Cooperative Extensions that encourages growers to get their gardens certified as pollinator-friendly. Gardeners can apply online through UMaine Cooperative Extension’s website.

“Most people, if they just fill it out with all the different required criteria, pass pretty easily,” Miller said. “The thing that’s significant is that it’s all straight native species, so nativars and cultivars are not included whatsoever. … Once you pass, then you can order a sign that says you’re certified, and you can put it in your garden or yard. It’s a great conversation-starter.”

Here’s a list of several pollinator-friendly plants as suggested by local gardening and horticulture experts. We’ve included details on the conditions they prefer, as well as the types of pollinators they will attract.

American cranberrybush

Viburnum trilobum

Life facts: Deciduous shrub that can grow up to 8 to 12 feet tall and wide, with multiple stems

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: According to Amy Papineau, landscape and greenhouse horticulture field specialist for UNH Cooperative Extension, this shrub naturally grows in boggy areas but also grows nicely in gardens.

“It has nice clusters of bright, red berries that are edible. They just have a hard seed in the middle and are a bit sour,” she said.

While a great option for pollinators, the American cranberrybush is one of several viburnums vulnerable to the viburnum leaf beetle, which can be a problem pest in some landscapes.

Who likes it: Blooming in the spring, the American cranberrybush does best in medium to moist soil and full sun to part shade.

“It’s a really valuable food source for those early-season native bees, and also butterflies,” Papineau said. “Those berries also persist into the fall, so they are a good food source for birds.”

Arrowwood viburnum

Viburnum dentatum

Life facts: Deciduous shrub that grows about 6 to 10 feet tall and wide, with multiple stems

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: According to Papineau, the arrowwood viburnum blooms in mid-summer and is very easy to care for, due to its adaptability.

“It grows in a variety of soils and full sun to part shade,” she said. “It can look really kind of tidy and nice, and in the fall it has some really nice red or yellow foliage, so it’s something that people really like to plant for that fall color.”

Who likes it: The arrowwood viburnum has large clusters of lacy white flowers that are very attractive to native bees.

“This is one that honey bees are also particularly attracted to, because it has a lot of nectar,” Papineau said. “Butterflies also really like this plant.”

Bergamot

Monarda fistulosa

Life facts: This perennial grows 4 to 5 feet tall and yields pink blossoms in July and August.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online.

“It can spread easily, but also can be edited if it gets too aggressive,” Miller said.

Care: Bergamot can tolerate dry soil, enjoys full to part sun and grows well in meadows and old fields, but can also find its place in a perennial back border, according to Miller. When planting, be sure to give each plant space to grow for good airflow between them.

Who likes it: Miller said bergamot’s blooms are “one of the top pollinator attractants,” and that bergamot is one of the best plant choices for bumble bees.

Black-eyed susan

Rudbeckia hirta

Life facts: This annual is a forgiving flower to beginner gardeners. The 2- to 4-foot-high plant blooms later in the season, from June to September.

How it comes: Usually, black-eyed Susans are available in pots at nurseries and garden centers.

Care: These flowers prefer full sun, six to eight hours a day, and are very durable.

Who likes it: Because of their late-season blooms, Stoughton said, black-eyed susans are popular with many different pollinators.

“It’s a nice late bloomer, which is good at that time of the year,” she said. “There’s not a lot blooming [then] and it really catches your eyes and must catch pollinators’ eyes, too.”

Blazing star

Liatris

Life facts: This perennial flowering plant grows in clustered groupings and can be 2 to 5 feet tall. It needs full sun to thrive.

How it comes: While there are a few nurseries that sell it as a potted plant, Stoughton said she hasn’t come across many that way.
“It’s easy to order online,” Stoughton said. “Liatris is [received] more often that way, and you plant it as a bulb.”

Care: Like other drought-friendly plants, blazing stars need to be watered well until they are established in the garden. After it’s healthy and thriving, it can survive on very little water and maintenance.

Who likes it: Stoughton said blazing stars are enjoyed by a variety of pollinators, including different types of bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.

Common buttonbush

Cephalanthus occidentalis

Life facts: Deciduous shrub, can grow anywhere from 6 to 12 feet tall, with multiple stems

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: Papineau said the common buttonbush blooms from early to mid-summer, and thrives best when placed on a garden’s woodland border.

“It’s not something you’d put in the middle of a landscape, but it does really well kind of on the edge,” she said. “It really likes rich, moist soil. It can take shade but really needs some good soil to do well.”

Who likes it: The common buttonbush is characterized by its ball-shaped white flowers, resembling little pincushions.

“They’re a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball,” Papineau said. “Bees really love them, so lots of native bees, honey bees and also butterflies will all just cover this plant when it’s blooming.”

Coneflowers

Echinacea

Life facts: These perennial flowers are part of the daisy family and can grow up to 4 feet tall. They do best in full sunlight.
“[It’s] a good reliable garden plant,” Stoughton said. “They make a nice cut flower, too.”

How it comes: These plants are most often bought at nurseries and should be planted while still small.

Care: These flowers are remarkably sturdy and don’t need much attending once they’re established. The stems do need to be cut back in the late fall, after they wither or at the first frost. These flowers are also self-seeding, so once planted, it’s possible for them to grow into a large patch.

Who likes it: Coneflowers are extremely popular with bees and butterflies because of the bright colors, and birds, especially finches, are known to use the wide seed heads as a resting spot.

Golden alexander

Zizia aurea

Life facts: This perennial “brings a ray of sunshine to your garden in early summer,” Miller said. A member of the carrot family, it will grow to about 2 feet tall, with a 3- to 4-inch-wide bright yellow umbel-shaped flower that will bloom in May and June.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online.

“Seeds are easy to collect at the end of the season for propagating more plants,” Miller said.

Care: Miller said this “very low-maintenance and deer-resistant” plant prefers to live in average soil in part sun to part shade.

Who likes it: Black swallowtail butterflies find this one hard to resist, Miller said.

Goldenrod

Solidago

Life facts: This perennial flowering plant can grow up to 3 feet tall. It’s an aggressive spreader, but not considered an invasive species, Stoughton said, because it is native to New Hampshire.

How it comes: It can come in seeds or as a plant at nurseries.

Care: This plant needs very little watering, as it is drought-tolerant, and does best in full sunlight.

Who likes it: The plant is native and is good for all pollinators and local wildlife. Stoughton did say that it grows incredibly quickly and might need to be cut back.

Highbush blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum

Life facts: Deciduous shrub, grows about 6 to 12 feet high but can be pruned to a manageable 3 to 5 feet high

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: According to Papineau, this is the native blueberry you’ll find growing in the woods, especially around lakes and ponds, and in local pick-your-own blueberry farms.

“Lots of people like to have a blueberry plant or several in their yard,” she said. “The flowers on blueberries … are like a bell-shaped flower that comes out in the late spring, early summer.”

Who likes it: The highbush blueberry, Papineau said, is a particularly valuable plant to our native bumble bees.

“You’ll see lots of very small native bees on the blueberry, but also bumble bees. It’s one of their favorite plants,” she said.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata

Life facts: Deciduous shrub that grows anywhere from 3 to 14 feet tall.

How it comes: The shrub is sold in 1- or 3-gallon planters.

Care: Stoughton said hydrangeas are easy to care for and do best in a full-sun environment.

Who likes it: What people think of as each hydrangea flower is actually made of dozens of individual blooms. This gives bees and other pollinators the perfect place to swarm and eat.

“It will be filled with several hundred pollinators when in bloom. It’s amazing,” Stoughton said of the shrub in her own garden.

Mountain mint

Pycnanthemum muticum

Life facts: The distinctive silver and green foliage of this perennial “makes it a very worthy choice for a meadow or perennial border,” Miller said. It grows 3 to 5 feet tall, and its button-like white and light purple flowers bloom in July and August.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online.

“As with all mints, it will spread, but not as quickly as peppermint or spearmint,” Miller said. “Pick a few stems to add interesting texture and color to a flower bouquet, but leave the rest for the pollinators.”

Care: Mountain mint prefers full to part sun and succeeds in most soil types, Miller said.

Who likes it: A wide range of bees and pollinators are attracted to mountain mint, according to Miller.

New England aster 

Aster novae-angliae, also known as Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

Life facts: This perennial is “perhaps the best-known aster,” Miller said. It will grow 3 to 6 feet tall and sprout bright purple flowers.

“When you see these blooming, it’s a sure sign of fall,” Miller said.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online.

Care: According to Miller, New England asters prefer full sun to light shade and do well in loamy soils but will tolerate most other soil types, except for dry soils. If you want to avoid having to stake them, cut the plants back by mid-July to keep them at a more manageable height.

Who likes it:New England aster is the host plant for the pearl crescent butterfly, and is an important nectar source for bees and other pollinators as well.

“You’ll likely find monarch butterflies feeding from it, fueling up for their migration to Mexico,” Miller said.

New Jersey tea

Ceanothus americanus

Life facts: Deciduous shrub, grows fairly low to about 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: The New Jersey tea, Papineau said, is adaptable to lots of different situations, whether it’s moist or dry soil or full sun to part shade.

“It blooms early in the season, so kind of like late spring, early summer, and it’s just a really easy plant to grow,” Papineau said.

Who likes it: New Jersey teas feature clusters of delicate white flowers, making them very attractive to all kinds of species of native bees.

“Hummingbirds will even take some nectar from these,” Papineau said. “It’s not the hummingbirds’ favorite plant, but they will eat from it. But mostly, lots of different bees, butterflies and moths all really like this plant.”

Pussy willow

Salix discolor

Life facts: Deciduous shrub, can grow up to 20 to 25 feet high with multiple stems, but can also be cut back all the way to the ground every two to three years to keep smaller

How it comes: Available as a potted shrub at local nurseries and garden centers, likely in a 1-gallon or slightly larger pot

Care: According to Papineau, pussy willows prefer moist soil and overall sunny conditions.

“This is one that doesn’t tolerate very dry soil,” she said. “Typically how it’s grown in a landscape is you let it grow for a few years and then chop it down to the ground and let it re-grow, and you can do that over and over.”

Who likes it: Pussy willows, Papineau said, grow small oval-shaped clusters of flowers with silky soft hairs on them called catkins.

“The ones with the male flowers, those catkins are bigger, and as they open up the stamens … get covered in pollen,” she said. “They open in very early spring. So this is a plant that the bees are out foraging pollen [from] right now to get their spring protein.”

Raspberry and blackberry shrubs

Rubus idaeus

Life facts: These fruit-bearing shrubs grow between 5 and 8 feet tall, with flowers showing in the late spring and fruit coming in the summer and early fall.

How it comes: They are sold as seedlings at garden centers.

Care: These bushes need to be pruned twice a year, need six to eight hours of sunlight, and need regular watering.

Who likes it: Any pollinator will use the flowers from raspberry and blackberry shrubs, Stoughton said.

“Pollinators are necessary to get the parts we like,” Stoughton added about the bushes. “There’s a nice symbiotic relationship, because we don’t get the berries unless they pollinate the flowers.”

Swamp milkweed

Asclepias incarnata

Life facts: This perennial tends to get a bad rap as it’s often associated with common milkweed, also known as asclepias syriaca.

“[Common milkweed] is often seen growing aggressively in old fields and along roadsides, and if it has found its way into your yard, it has likely spread by vigorous underground rhizomes,” Miller said.

The difference, she said, is that swamp milkweed has a fibrous root system and won’t spread like the common variety, making it “a better-behaved alternative.”

Growing 4 to 5 feet tall, swamp milkweed is “a great back border plant,” Miller said, and will sprout pink and white blossoms in July and August.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online.

Care: You don’t need a swamp to grow this plant, Miller said, but it does prefer moist soil, so keep it well-watered in dry spells. Plant it in full sun for best results.

Who likes it:Milkweed is best known as the monarch butterfly’s host plant — you can expect its leaves to be covered with monarch caterpillars — but its blooms will also attract all kinds of bees and other pollinators, Miller said.

White wood aster

Aster divaricatus, also known as eurybia divaricata

Life facts: This perennial grows about 1 to 2 feet in height and “is a good candidate for ground cover under trees,” Miller said.

“Covered with white daisy-like flowers with yellow to purple centers, it will offer a nice pop of color in the early fall,” she said.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online. After its first season, it can spread by seed and rhizomes, without being “overly aggressive,” Miller said.

Care: This particular aster is very easy to grow, according to Miller, and is adaptable to most soil types and part shade.

Who likes it: Asters, along with goldenrods, make up the largest food source for pollinators in the fall, according to Miller.

“Bees will depend on it for food when fewer flowers are available, and birds will eat the seeds in the winter,” she said.

Wild cherry tree

Prunus avium

Life facts: This deciduous tree can grow to be 105 feet tall, with a trunk 5 feet in diameter.

How it comes: Unlike most of the plants on this list, the easiest way to get access to the wild cherry tree is through the New Hampshire State Forest Nursery, Stoughton said.
“Every year, in January and February, they take orders for plants and master gardeners take cuttings and divisions and prep them to be provided to the people that want them,” Stoughton said, adding that she’ll be bringing a sapling to a garden sale soon.

Care: Stoughton said wild cherry trees are some of the easiest to care for. She said that, since planting hers, she’s done practically nothing for it and it’s still thriving.

Who likes it: Stoughton said that, because the tree blooms so early in the year (hers are getting ready to bloom now), almost all pollinators like the flowers. Wild cherry trees give the pollinators a good source of food for the beginning of the season.

Wild columbine

Aquilegia canadensis

Life facts: This perennial woodland flower, with a red bell shape and yellow center, will bloom in May and June and is “a great choice for the early season,” Miller said.

“The 12- to 18-inch flower stems come up out of the center of a beautiful mound of green foliage,” she said.

How it comes: Well-established potted plants, available where plants are sold, or by seed, which can be ordered online. After the plant’s first season in your garden, let the flowers dry on the stem after blooming.

“You will be able to hear the seeds rattle inside by the end of the summer,” Miller said. “They can self-sow near the mother plant, or you can cut the stem and sprinkle the seeds where you would like them to grow. This is a fun activity to do with kids.”

Care: Easy to grow, wild columbine will thrive in part sun and part shade in well-drained soils, Miller said.

Who likes it: This nectar-rich flower is a favorite among hummingbirds and long-tongued bees, according to Miller.

Deer-resistant plants
While considering which pollinator-friendly plants to add to your garden, you may also be thinking about what can possibly keep the deer away. Deer-resistant plants are those that deer are known for being much less likely to eat.
“The key word is ‘resistant,’ but not ‘deer-proof,’” said Stephanie Sosinski, program manager for home horticulture at the UNH Cooperative Extension’s Education Center in Goffstown. “Deer will eat just about anything if they’re hungry enough.”
Despite this, Sosinski said there are several plants deer are less likely to gravitate toward, whether it’s because of their unattractive taste, texture or smell. Joe Pye weed (eutrochium purpureum), beebalm (monarda didyma) and common milkweed (asclepias syriaca), she said, are a few examples of well-known deer-resistant plants for these reasons, as is lamb’s-ear (stachys byzantina).
“If you’re familiar with lamb’s-ear, it’s a very fuzzy leaf and the deer don’t really want to eat that,” Sosinski said, “but it is a pretty addition to your garden’s aesthetic. … Part of it, I would say, is all about observing what’s in your own backyard and seeing what’s growing there already and creating a balance. You can certainly plant things that they won’t go after and put those around what they would go after.”

Featured photo: courtesy photo.