All pollinators not just honeybees benefit greatly from home gardeners, the plant diversity choices they make and the care they give to garden habitat. Interest in raising honeybees as well as mason bees is high as people look for ways to help pollinators. Yet beekeeping is not practical for many of us, requiring time, energy, dedication, and knowledge to keep honeybees healthy due to erratic weather patterns and an increased number of threatening diseases and pests. Other pollinators need our help too, such as bumblebees, solitary bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, and bats.
Here’s a beneficial list of Pollinator Plants for Northwest Washington, more than 70 plants recommended by WSU Whatcom County master gardeners. The list helps tell you whether the plant is native, drought tolerant, or deer resistant, as well as which types of pollinators the plants attract with their pollen, nectar, leaves, and stems.
So, what can you do to help the pollinators? The most important thing you can do is to provide food for bees and other pollinators. Bees in agricultural areas suffer from a lack of variety in their diet due to acres and acres of the same crop being their only available source for nectar and pollen. Oftentimes, bees will fare better in urban areas because of the variety of plants available in home gardens. Also, in home gardens, gardeners often have different plants blooming throughout much of the year, making our gardens attractive not only to humans, but also to honeybees and native pollinators.
Oftentimes, bees will fare better in urban areas because of the variety of plants available in home gardens.
Most of the plants that pollinators are attracted to and provide valuable forage are also easy to grow and attractive. There are many herbs that bees forage for nectar and pollen, lavender being the best known to most gardeners. Some other common herbs that bees love are thyme, oregano, sage, chives, lemon balm, catmint, rosemary and basil. Hummingbirds particularly enjoy crocosmia and bee balm. I usually let a few kale, cabbage, carrots, onions overwinter and go to seed in the spring, leaving them in the yard as long as possible for pollinators to enjoy.
Another aspect to keep in mind when planting your garden is providing blooms in late winter/early spring and late fall. Heather and snow drops are popular and easy to grow choices for spring. In the fall, cosmos, asters and goldenrod will often bloom into October and November.
You can dedicate an area of your yard to bee forage plants and shrubs, or mix them in with your landscaping. I usually plant a border of clover, phacelia, and borage along the edge of my vegetable garden. I also mix in herbs along with my vegetables. These flowering plants have the added advantage of drawing more pollinators to pollinate the vegetables.
There are also quite a few pollinator-friendly PNW native plants, such as Oregon grape, ocean spray, vine maple (very small flowers for pollen, very early in spring), and Nootka rose. A great resource is the Xerces Society page Native Pollinator Plants, with lists and photos of the many native plants and shrubs, as well as growing tips.
– Karen Henriksen, master gardener, originally published in the Garden Beet, the Bellingham food bank garden project newsletter