May 19 Column: Pollinator Garden
I’ve been really excited about writing this week’s column and even more so about making our very own pollinator garden. It’s something we’ve been thinking about for the past few years and are finally doing this spring. Here’s a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Create an oasis for pollinators. Or you can read my column below (don’t miss my related video underneath it!).
I’m pretty sure most everyone has heard about the plight of the pollinators. With so much real estate development going on, their habitat is vanishing at an alarming rate. And even more worrying is the widespread use of pesticides, which are having a frightening impact on pollinators.
So, what’s a gardener to do? Create a pollinator garden!
Column:
by Susan Mulvihill
Ah, spring: we revel in the delightful weather, beautiful flowers and the background hum of buzzing bees. What would we ever do without those busy pollinators?
If it weren’t for these important creatures, our vegetable and fruit crops wouldn’t produce enough food to sustain us. Our world would be pretty dull, too. That’s because flowers rely on pollinators to help them set seeds and continue their species.
Sadly, pollinators are in a serious decline due to loss of habitat and the use of pesticides. Climate change is another contributing factor since many flowers that are critical to insects’ life cycles are blooming earlier.
Who are the pollinators? The obvious ones are honeybees and bumblebees. But there are also solitary bees, butterflies, moths, hover flies, wasps, beetles and even hummingbirds.
What can we do to help? If we add pollinator-attracting plants to our landscapes or create a garden dedicated to pollinators, we can make a difference. The goal is to provide pollinators with pollen- and nectar-producing plants. They also need habitat for nesting and hibernation and host plants for their young.
Important considerations for creating a pollinator garden:
Choose a sunny site with a water source nearby. Possibilities include transforming an unused area of your yard, an old flower bed or part of your front lawn. This will create a delightful place rich with color and buzzing with activity.
Once your site is ready, it’s time to select plants which is every gardener’s favorite activity. When possible, choose native perennials and shrubs although it’s certainly acceptable to include pollinator-attracting non-natives.
Select the hardiest plants you can find. Even though the Inland Northwest is in USDA hardiness zones 5 and 6, choose plants that thrive in lower zones. Look for selections that are drought-tolerant as well.
Choose a variety of plants and be sure to plant multiples of each. Ideally, your pollinator garden should be in bloom from spring to fall.
Tips for establishing the garden:
While planting, remember to leave some bare soil for bumblebees to nest in. And why not add a butterfly puddling pool while you’re at it? This involves placing a plant saucer or other shallow container on the soil and filling it with sand and water. Refill it with water on a regular basis. Butterflies are attracted to the salt and minerals in it and will typically visit during the warmest part of the day. One way to keep the puddling pool filled with water is to either locate it next to a leaky faucet or sprinkler. Or run a line of drip tubing from a sprinkler to the pool so it refills every time the sprinkler runs.
Once all of the plants are in, be sure to water them on a regular basis, especially for the first two years. This helps plants become established and even applies to drought-tolerant plants. Add mulch to the soil surface to help retain moisture and make it more difficult for weeds to grow.
Add in a mason bee house or insect hotel, and your pollinator garden will be open for business.
Remember to leave spent flowers on the plants so they can reseed themselves. While this can be challenging for gardeners wanting to keep things tidy, it’s important to allow the garden to renew itself. And besides, birds will enjoy eating some of the nutritious seeds during the fall and winter months.
Above all, avoid using pesticides since they ultimately cause more problems than they solve. These chemicals are non-selective, meaning that in addition to killing targeted insects, they also kill the beneficial predatory insects that would have helped resolve the problem. Insecticides can cause additional problems for pollinators that survive the spray, such as impacting their ability to navigate throughout their environment.
Susan Mulvihill is co-author, with Pat Munts, of “Northwest Gardener’s Handbook.” Contact her at Susan@susansinthegarden.com.
Local native plant and pollinator plant sources
Blue Moon Nursery, 1732 S. Inland Empire Way
Cedar Mountain Perennials, near Athol, Idaho
Desert Jewels Nursery, 9809 E. Upriver Dr., Spokane Valley
Friends of Manito plant sales, east of Manito Park’s Gaiser Conservatory, 4 W. 21st Ave.
Online resources:
- Plants of the Wild
- Xerces Society
- National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat
- National Pollinator Garden Network
Plant suggestions: (there’s also a table of what I planted at the bottom of this post)
- Alum root (Heuchera americana)
- Avens (Geum)
- Beardtongue (Penstemon)
- Bee balm (Monarda)
- Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
- Blanketflower (Gaillardia)
- Catmint (Nepeta)
- Cinquefoil (Potentilla)
- Columbine (Aquilegia)
- Coneflower (Echinacea)
- Creeping hummingbird trumpet (Zauschneria garrettii)
- False indigo (Baptisia)
- Fennel (Foeniculum)
- Goldenrod (Solidago)
- Helen’s flower (Helenium)
- Hyssop (Agastache)
- Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium)
- Milkweed (Asclepias – natives are showy and swamp milkweed)
- Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum)
- Red hot poker (Kniphofia)
- Russian sage (Perovskia)
- Scarlet Gilia (Gilia aggregata)
- Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum)
- Stonecrop (Sedum)
- Tickseed (Coreopsis)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
This week’s video:
For this week’s video, I’ve been filming the steps we’ve gone though to create our new garden. Yes, it’s a good-sized garden and we’re are really diving into this project! But no matter what size your pollinator garden is, it will still make a difference.
I wanted to clarify that you don’t have to go the same route as we did. Our goal was to decrease the size of our front lawn, and since we were anxious to get the pollinator garden in place, that meant removing the sod. The front lawn has been there a very long time and there was no feasible way to separate the grass from the soil, because we would be fighting the grass coming up again and again, which would be overwhelming! So we opted to take out the sod.
Another option would be to cover your sod with cardboard, weed-block fabric or black plastic for a year. By depriving the grass of sunlight, it will die and decompose. That way, you wouldn’t have to lose any soil.So if you can wait a year, that would be a good solution.
Take a look:
And here’s the plant list I promised you:
| Common name | Latin name | Height | Water requirements | Flower color | Native |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alum root | Heuchera cylindrica | 12-24" | Medium | Cream | yes |
| Aster, Western | Aster occidentalis | 12-24" | Medium | Pale purple | yes |
| Bee balm, Spotted | Monarda punctata | 24" | Medium dry | Pale purple | yes |
| Bee balm, Western | Monarda menthaefolia | 30-36" | Drought tolerant | Purple | yes |
| Black-eyed Susan | Rudbeckia fulgida | 24-36" | Medium | Yellow | |
| Blanketflower | Gaillardia aristata | 16-24" | Drought tolerant | Gold | yes |
| Butterfly weed | Asclepia tuberosa | 24-36" | Drought tolerant | Orange | yes |
| Catmint | Nepeta siberica | 24-36" | Drought tolerant | Purple | |
| Cinquefoil, Thurber’s | Potentilla thurberi | 15-20" | Medium | Red | yes |
| Coneflower, Bush's | Echinacea paradoxa | 36" | Medium dry | Yellow | yes |
| Daisy, Gloriosa | Rudbeckia hirta | 24" | Drought tolerant | Yellow, some reds or browns | |
| Goldenrod, Canadian | Solidago canadensis | 24-36" | Medium | Yellow | yes |
| Goldenrod, Stiff | Oligoneuron rigidum | 48" | Medium | Yellow | yes |
| White Vervain | Verbena urticifolia | 24-48" | Medium to moist (note: there was a mix-up at the mail-order nursery; they sent white vervain instead of hoary vervain which is more drought tolerant) | Pink | yes |
| Hyssop 'Bolero' | Agastache | 14" | Drought tolerant | Rose-purple | |
| Hyssop, Purple giant | Agastache scrophulariaefolia | 72" | Medium dry | Pale purple | yes |
| Indigo, white wild | Baptisia alba | 24-48" | Medium dry | White | yes |
| Milkweed, Showy | Asclepias speciosa | 24-48" | Drought tolerant | Light pink | yes |
| Milkweed, Swamp | Asclepias incarnata | 24-36" | Drought tolerant | Pink | yes |
| Milkweed, Swamp 'Cinderella' | Asclepias incarnata | 24-36" | Drought tolerant | Pink | yes |
| Milkweed, Whorled | Asclepias verticillata | 24-36" | Drought tolerant | White | yes |
| Oregon Sunshine | Eriophyllum lanatum | 12-24" | Drought tolerant | Gold | yes |
| Penstemon, Cardinal | Penstemon cardinalis | 30" | Drought tolerant | Red | yes |
| Penstemon, Cutleaf | Penstemon richardsonii | 6-36" | Drought tolerant | Pink | yes |
| Prairie Smoke | Geum triflorum | 12" | Medium | Rose | yes |
| Red hot poker | Kniphofia | 20" | Moist to medium | Orange/yellow/red | |
| Sneezeweed | Helenium | 12-36" | Drought tolerant | Yellow, some reds | |
| Yarrow 'Coronation Gold' | Achillea | 30-36" | Medium dry | Gold |