Whether you’re looking to establish a new pollinator garden or enhance an existing planting, incorporating a diversity of flower shapes and bloom times is a great way to ensure you attract the most colorful cast of pollinators. A variety of flower shapes (spikey, round, flat, etc) helps ensure that pollinators with different mouth parts (like a butterfly’s proboscis or a bee’s long or short tongue) have flowers they can use. Having something in bloom from early spring to fall will make sure they never go hungry at critical times. Here are some of our favorite flowers for feeding the cutest critters around.
Early Blooming
Shooting Star
Shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia) blooms earlier than most perennials and has charming pink, dangling, reflexed flowers that are appreciated by early bees. Planted en masse they make quite a show in spring when some floral action is sorely needed. By midsummer, this spring ephemeral goes dormant, so put later blooming plants around it to fill the space.
Penstemon
Also known as beard tongue, this late spring bloomer is a great choice for bumble bees, honey bees, and hummingbirds. If you like watching bees stuff themselves into flowers (and who doesn’t?), penstemon is a garden necessity. Available in taller and more compact varieties, the numerous blooms never fail to attract fuzzy bumblebees!
Baptisia
Also known as false indigo, this is another bumble bee favorite and important source of early season food for native bees. It is delightful to watch the larger bumble bees use their great strength to pry open the blooms, a task that many smaller bees are unable to perform. This large plant can be used similarly to a shrub due to its dense and bushy habit.
Golden Alexander
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) is an early bloomer that provides food for hungry pollinators in spring and serves as a larval host plant for black swallowtail butterflies as well. The yellow blooms float above the foliage offering a dramatic pop of bright color when most plants aren’t even close to blooming.
Summer Blooming
Gallardia
Also known as blanket flower, these plants bring in the pollinators with their abundant blooms. Plant several in a group and make a game of counting how many different kinds of pollinators visit. With their long bloom time, bright colors, and wide pollinator appeal, you can’t go wrong! Good drainage and a sunny site will keep them looking their best.
Milkweed
In addition to being the larval host plant for monarch butterflies, milkweed also supports many other baby bugs that like to munch the leaves (don’t worry, milkweed can tolerate it). Nary a pollinator can resist the sweet smelling blooms of swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) or the colorful display of butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). A true pollinator hot spot!
Bee Balm
Bee balm (Monarda spp.) is a well known pollinator favorite and certainly deserves its reputation. Colorful blooms in a shape reminiscent of fireworks make an incredible show in summer, and the fragrant foliage and flowers are an added bonus. Bee balm is great to plant where you don’t mind if it will spread a bit- it likes to stretch its legs- but can be controlled easily enough with selective pulling.
Veronicastrum
Known as culver’s root, the candelabra-like flowers on this tall beauty are beloved by butterflies and bees. A handsome plant in general, the foliage provides architectural interest in the middle or back of the garden even before the blooms arrive. This is a good choice for wet spots and average soil as well.
Later Blooming
Asters
The darlings of the fall garden are excellent for both late season color and fall pollinator food. The explosion of color after other flowers have faded is irresistible to pollinators and gardeners alike. In a range of colors from pinks, purples, reds, pale blue, and white- asters have a lot going for them. Tall asters should be in the middle or back of the garden with plants in front of them for best presentation. Shorter types, like woods asters, are nice for the front.
Sedum
The late summer and fall blooms on many sedums are a fan favorite with bees and butterflies. The succulent foliage looks attractive all season, and the flowers are a treat at the end of the summer when lots of plants are winding down. Sedum is low maintenance and particularly attractive for dry sites, blazing sun, and hands-off gardeners.
Joe Pye
A bloom beloved by bees and butterflies as much as the blooms of Joe Pye (Eupatorium or Eutrochium) belongs in every garden. With tall and stately and more compact varieties available, it’s possible to fit this plant into any size garden. Excellent choice for rain gardens and wet spots. If you’re lucky, the blooms might even attract our state bumble bee, the rusty patched bumble bee.
Cup plant and compass plant
These tall Minnesota natives (Silphium perfoliatum and Silphium laciniatum) will be a hit with pollinators who are in need of fuel as summer draws to a close. Each features yellow blooms at dramatic heights and are sure to be a topic of conversation with your gardening friends. Not for the small garden, these plants easily reach 6 feet or more, but can be pinched by early summer to control blooming height.
Just the Beginning
The plants on this list are just a start! There are so many amazing pollinator plants to suit any garden style and color scheme that it would be impossible to fit them into one post, or one garden for that matter. As long as you cover bloom times from spring to fall, include different flower shapes for different pollinators, and throw in some host plants, you’ll be well on your way to creating a pollinator heaven. Let the feast begin!
