Why should you consider adding a pollinator garden to your yard?
When we moved into our home several years ago, I never considered the possibility of having a garden for our pollinators because we had very limited space that received enough sun throughout the day.
At least this is what I thought at first until my Mother-in-Law gifted me with a Peony and I wanted to find the perfect place to plant it. 🙂 I realized before that, I wasn’t opening my mind to the possibility of simply creating a spot in the sunniest part of our yard for this sole purpose.
Before I really started gardening, I could only imagine landscaping around our house, but as I’ve continued my new hobby I’ve begun to become more confident in expanding my options.
So why add it to your yard?
We all know too well that we can’t survive without bees, so why not try to contribute to their success in providing them a place to nourish themselves. Bonus for you, the butterflies will love it too! I love checking on my own garden, and spotting these friendly pollinators jumping from flower to flower.
Where To Begin In Your Garden Planning
Consider Sun Requirements
Most flowering plants will do best under full sun, so try finding an area of your yard that you know receives sun most of the day, or at least 6 hours. This should provide you the best chance of success with plenty of blooming flowers.
Understand Each Plants Watering Needs
When I was choosing my plants, I tried paying attention to the drought tolerant plants because I do not have irrigation set up, and only plan to hand water this garden.
Note: Keep in mind that most plants getting established in their first year will require more frequent watering, but once you get through the first year they should be able to tolerate much less water.
It’s always advised to look into plants that are native to your location too. This way you should have great success in them flourishing since they are created to survive your exact growing conditions, and often do not require much water either.
I had not considered native plants in the beginning (although I’ve started to incorporate them this year when I had other plants fail on me). I started my garden only focusing on which plants fit my design I’ve drawn out, shown in the image below.
Consider Seasonal Interest
When you add plants to your pollinator garden, try paying close attention to when they will start to bloom. I sort of accomplished this in my own garden, but was so focused on the look of the plants, that I forgot to ensure they would look amazing throughout the entire season as well.
I do love each of the plants that I’ve added on their own, but if I could do it all over again, I would consider adding various types of plants that achieve the same look I was going for, but extend the blooming time.
For example: I absolutely love my purple Salvias, but they bloom earlier in the season during the Spring-time while everything else is still green, or waiting to come up. If I considered including later blooming Salvia’s, or what I believe to be Wild Lupine (native to Minnesota) that I’ve spotted around our neighborhood streets with beautiful purple flowers after my Salvia’s were already spent, I would be able to retain this same color when my other plants finally started to come alive mid-summer.
Know The Mature Size Of Your Plants
This is often one of the hardest rules to follow. It’s difficult to see all that space between each tiny plant when you start off your garden that first year. You can see in my picture below, that there was plenty of space left when I made my plant placements. It is so hard not to want to fill it in so that we can achieve that full look, and see all those pretty flowers next to each other.
However, even when I thought I was doing a good job at keeping my plants far enough apart so that they would not overcrowd each other once mature, I’m already finding that they are just too close and I will have to remove some of them from the garden next year.
You can see how my plants are starting to crowd each other in the image below.
Base Your Plant Placement On Height
As mentioned above, it’s important to know the mature size of your plants, which not only is regarding how wide they get but how tall as well.
Another thing I chose to ignore or overlook was the bee balm that I planted in my pollinator garden. I suppose I thought the bee balm I picked up was one of the taller varieties, but that was quite the opposite. I don’t believe these plants have gone over 10” in height if I were to take a guess, but you can see them hiding in the bottom right in the picture below.
If I considered this, I should have planted these on the outside or in front of the taller plants, but instead they were tucked in the middle and have been hidden since day one. I plan on moving this too next Spring so they have a better chance of seeing the sun. They really are a beautiful magenta color when they first bloom, and I’m missing out on getting to see it before they begin to fade.
Other than that, I feel I did a pretty good job with placement as I focused my taller plants in the back or closest to the fence that I included for added interest.
How To Start Your Project
As I’ve shared above, there is a lot that goes into planning out a garden, and I’m a true believer in having a good idea of what your next moves are before beginning a project. I think it allows everything to move a lot quicker, and you have more confidence going into it than you would if you were to make it up as you go.
Layout Your Design
I find it very helpful to have your physical plants before you start digging, because you can visually see what it may look like before even starting.
Of course, these plants are at a much smaller scale, but you will give yourself a chance to rearrange or reconsider the placement before putting them in the ground. I have done this with every garden project I’ve started. I’m a visual person, and struggle seeing the full picture without having it in front of me.
Mark Your Area For The Garden Bed
You may have already decided how far out your bed would be before your plant placement, but I have found myself expanding or reshaping my garden beds after I made my final decision on plant location, so be flexible and allow yourself more room if you can allow it.
Start Removing The Turf
I’ve mentioned this in other posts I’ve written, but this has to be my least favorite part of landscaping. Thankfully I’ve accumulated garden tools that have made this task a bit easier, but by no means do I look forward to this step. 🙂
Here is one of the garden tools I highly recommend if you have to deal with removing turf, or simply cutting out the shape in the ground. (Link Here for Ames saw-tooth edger)
Add Edging (If Using)
If you plan on using edging, I like to start placing this around the shape of the bed after I’ve removed all of the grass. It starts to pull everything together, and holds in the mulch when you add it at the end.
Start Digging
Now that you have your garden space cleared out, you are ready to dig the holes for your plants. I like to have a bag of Epsoma’s Plant-Tone All Purpose Fertilizer and Bonide’s Root & Grow Concentrate nearby as I have had great success in my plants growth when I’ve started them off right from the start.
Make sure to dig your holes wider than the pot the plant came in, but just as deep so you aren’t burying your plant lower than the current dirt level removed from the pot.
Tousle the side of the dirt to loosen the roots, but not too forceful to cause damage to them. Just enough so the plant will want to start feeding off and start growing through your own garden’s soil.
Sprinkle a small handful of fertilizer pellets, and water your plants with your root concentrate and finish by filling the rest of your empty hole with more dirt. Depending on the condition of my soil, which I work with a lot of hard clay soil, I like to incorporate some compost as well if I have it on hand.
Continue to water your plants once all have been put in the ground. This should hopefully keep them from too much transplant shock, and be happy in their new home.
Finish Your Project With Mulch
I like to include wood mulch in my gardens, directly surrounding my plants to provide insulation and shade from the sun. It also keeps the weed seeds from germinating and filling up my beds.
Besides serving the functional purpose mentioned above, I think mulch adds the final touch needed to your garden and makes it complete. You may notice after a year or two, you will need less and less of it as the plants start to mature and fill in the space.
Here is a finishing picture of my garden, including my little helper who was happy to know his mama was finished playing in the dirt and ready to play ball with him.
Final Comments
Now that I have been enjoying my pollinator garden for a few years, I’m starting to think about ways to update it based on my suggestions above. I think I will start by removing some of the plants I have multiples of, and that are too short for the space they’re in.
I’ll need to find a new home for those plants, which may just mean I need to come up with a new garden bed elsewhere. 🙂 Then I think I’ll look into other native plants that will fit the space and provide me with more seasonal interest that I can enjoy more than I do today.
