Including nectar- and pollen-rich plants in potted displays, or in your garden, can help support the native birds, butterflies and bees where you live. While pollinators require more than just a food source for survival — they’ll also need water, native plants for laying eggs, habitat for roosting and more — supplying our winged friends with a place to stop for a meal can help support them.
Include at least one flowering plant guaranteed to attract bees, butterflies or hummingbirds — or even all three.
1. Salvia
Honeybees have small bodies and longer tongues than solitary bees, allowing them to reach the nectar as well. Solitary bees may bite the base of the flower to access the nectar reservoir.
The more compact blue salvia (Salvia farinacea) has smaller, more shallow flowers that allow a broader range of pollinators to collect nectar from the blooms.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Partial to full sun
2. Lavender
Plant a few pots with sweet smelling lavender (Lavandula spp.) and your patio will soon be abuzz with visiting bees.
Growing note: Lavender doesn’t like sitting in wet containers. Plant in quick-draining potting soil in a spot that receives full sun.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
Design tip: Plant in swaths. To make it easy on pollinators, group plants they like in clumps and swaths. Imagine being insect-sized flying over a landscape. It would be far easier for you to spot a large purple clump of flowering lavender than a single plant. Once you reached the lavender swath, it would make for efficient foraging.
Masses of salvia (Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’) and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’) come together for a beautiful pollinator-friendly planting. If you don’t have room for a full swath of pollinator-friendly potted plants, including some as part of mixed ornamental containers is still beneficial.
3. Lantana
Bright-flowering bush lantana (Lantana camara) attract butterflies in particular, although hummingbirds and other pollinators will also frequent the blooms.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Full sun
4. Purple Verbena
With tall, wispy stems and flowers so rich in nectar that they smell like honey, tall purple verbena (Verbena bonariensis), also called vervain, is a great plant to consider adding to containers for pollinators. Plus, it adds height and movement to potted displays, as stems sway with the slightest breeze.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
Design tip: Flower color and shape matter. Different colors attract different pollinators. For example, honeybees are more attracted to bright blue and violet flowers while butterflies and hummingbirds prefer reds, red-orange and pink. Plant a range of colors to support various types of pollinators or, with limited growing space, grow a species of flower to support a specific native pollinator.
Likewise, blossom shape plays a role in inviting or excluding which species can access the nectar and pollen. The shape and length of a hummingbird’s peak and the length of a bee’s tongue enable both species to access the nectar of tubular flowers, such as salvia and penstemon, whereas other insects are locked out.
The flower shape of tall purple verbena (Verbena bonariensis) enables a broad range of pollinators — honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, dragonflies and more — to reach the nectar.
5. Sunflowers
The pollen-laden heads of sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) act as bright beacons to pollinators.
Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to grow from seed. Plant in containers with well-draining soil and water consistently, staking as needed to support plant growth.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Full sun
6. Coneflowers
Long-blooming perennial coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) provide a steady stream of food to pollinators from late summer until the first frost, when most warm-season flowers are becoming more scarce.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Full sun
Design tip: Favor native varieties. Not all pollinator-friendly flowering plants are created equal, and the native varieties — which have evolved alongside the pollinators themselves — often offer the most benefits. Along with providing nectar and pollen, many native plants are hosts to pollinators who seek out specific native species to lay their eggs.
7. Cat Mint
Beckon to pollinators, inviting them to pause and refuel in this oasis.
Catmint generally stays small and mounded, making it a great edger plant to tuck around the bases of larger containers in sunny spots or along the side of a raised bed.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Full sun
8. Agastache
Loved by pollinators for the nectar-rich, late-season flowers, agastaches — also called hummingbird mint or hyssop — make great additions to container gardens.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular
Light requirement: Full sun
9. Red-Hot Poker
A striking plant for low-water gardens, red-hot poker (Kniphofia sp.) stands out like a flaming torch in container gardens and attracts pollinators such as hummingbirds and butterflies.
Water requirement: Low to moderate
Light requirement: Partial to full sun
Houzz.com June 3, 2019