Starting a Pollinator Garden

Lately, my husband and I have been talking a lot about what we can do as a family to take better care of our environment. We want our kids to grow up in a world where plants and animals are abundant and thriving, and nature can still be enjoyed. We decided that we can start making some small changes around our house and grow from there. One of the big things we could do right away was to add a pollinator garden to our yard.

I was already wanting to build a raised bed garden in our yard to try out growing some cut flowers. So, I changed my design ideas a little bit and planned out a pollinator and cut flower garden. I am so excited about it!

What are pollinators?

Pollinators are mainly all of the critters responsible for taking pollen from flowers and moving it to other flowers. This fertilizes the plant and allows them to produce seeds, fruits, and vegetables. Plants typically cannot pollinate themselves so we count on bees, honeybees, wasps, butterflies, and hummingbirds (to name a few) to help them out. They go to a flower to feed themselves and then move to another flowering plant carrying some pollen from one to the next.

We majorly depend on pollinators to take care of the fertilization of plants to grow food. But, recently there has been a major decrease in numbers due to loss of habitat and food sources and overuse of pesticides, among other things. This is where a pollinator garden can really help.

What exactly is a pollinator garden?

A pollinator garden is a place where you plant flowers and other plants that are native to the area and can provide food and habitat for pollinators throughout their life cycles. Although they may not be pollinating any food crops in your yard, chances are they may be traveling to a nearby farm or orchard to pollinate there as well!

The great thing about a lot of the plants that pollinators like is they are perennials! A perennial is a plant that will come back year after year. So once you get these plants established they should be pretty low maintenance in years to come.

Below I have outlined the steps I took to plan out and establish a pollinator garden in my yard. Check it out, and consider planning out your own pollinator garden this year!

Establishing my garden...

Selecting Plants...

The first thing I did when planning out my pollinator garden was to pick out the plants I wanted to use. I did a little research and was excited to find out that the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden actually has a pollinator garden program! It is called Plant for Pollinators, and their website provided a ton of great information! I used their site to learn which plants are native to my area and would be recommended to use in a pollinator garden.

Even better, the Plant for Pollinators program has worked with garden centers throughout the Cincinnati area and they use stickers to mark plants that are recommended for use in a pollinator garden. This really helped me while shopping at the garden center! Be sure to check your local resources such as the cooperative extension service, garden centers, botanical gardens, etc. for help in planning out native plants for your garden.

My list of plants...

• Black Eyed Susan- Autumn Sun (Rudbeckia laciniata)
• Black Eyed Susan- Goldsturm (Rudbeckia fulgida)
• Dahlia- XXL Taxco (Dahlia x hybrida)
• English Lavender- Hidcote (Lavandula angustifolia)
• Catmint- Walker's Low (Nepeta x faassenii)
• Dahlia- XXL Durango (Dahlia grandiflora)
• Swamp Milkweed- Cinderella (Asclepias incarnata)
• Dianthus- Garden Pinks (Dianthus kahori)
• Dahlia- City Lights (Dahlia hybrida)
• Zinnia- Benary's Giant Mix (Zinnia elegans)

Garden layout...

This is the layout I created for all of my perennials in the center of the garden. The dahlias and zinnias are annuals (plants that only live 1 growing season) and are mainly on the outer edges of the garden, which are not shown. The dahlias and zinnias are my cut flowers, but they also serve well for pollinators.

I love things to be well balanced so you will notice that my garden is planted very symmetrically.

I am using my raised garden bed for this garden. Check out my post DIY Raised Garden Bed to learn how to build a corner raised bed!

Care and maintenance...

Since I am just establishing my garden I am making sure to water the plants daily. I also have been harvesting my dahlias that have bloomed already. I also pruned back some zinnias. Regular harvesting or pruning should encourage new branches and even more blooms.

I also have given my plants a little bit of fertilizer. The fertilizer was used minimally, but plants need nutrients to grow and I want to make sure these plants have everything they need to get established in a healthy garden.

Also, I am keeping my eyes out for any pests, and recently discovered I might have some moles trying to take up residence in the soil in my garden. I'm trying to find a solution to remove them from the garden naturally. I do not want to use any pesticides in a pollinator garden because that will defeat the purpose.

What's next...

Since this is my first pollinator and cut flower garden there is definitely going to be a learning curve. I love to learn new things; establishing this garden and working on it definitely are opening my eyes to learning more about the perennials and the pollinators who depend on them. Not to mention, I'm interested to see how I do growing cut flowers. I hope that I will be able to keep them blooming all summer long.

I know that the main thing I am missing from my garden is a small bird bath. Bird baths or some type of water feature are a great addition to a pollinator garden because it allows the animals and insects to have somewhere to rest and get a drink of water. I plan on shopping for one of those sometime soon.

Hopefully into the future I can also add more pollinator friendly plants throughout my yard. I am also hoping to be able to grow even more cut flowers, maybe even starting some from seed next year. Most importantly I hope that I can influence others to think about establishing a pollinator garden!

Some other resources...

If you are thinking about starting a pollinator garden I would suggest doing some research first. Make sure you use websites that have factual information and provide you with information specific to your area. I found some great info through the Natural Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. You can also find your local county cooperative extension office or master gardeners and they can give you great resources as well.

Good luck in any and all of your gardening ventures! If you have a pollinator garden I would love to see/hear about it!