A precipitous insect decline has raised awareness of the importance of pollinators and encouraged more people to plant pollinator gardens.
For our very first episode of Homegrown NH, we talk with Kirkwood Garden's lead horticulturalist, Emma Erler, for her tips on how you can get started planting a pollinator garden.
Your efforts will help provide essential food and habitat for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, which are crucial for the reproduction of many plants, including those that produce our food.
To start small and do less, try out a "mullet" garden: tidy in front, a little shaggier in the back!
Here are Emma's tips:
- Mow less! Leaving an area of your lawn unmown, however large or small, can help create habitat for bees, butterflies, and many other insects. The downside is ticks like this habitat too.
- Clean up less. Stems, leaves, stalks, etc. can provide shelter and nesting habitat for all kinds of creatures. Moving away from a manicured look means creating better habitat.
- Planting a diverse mix of flowering plants that provides a sequence of blooms from early spring to late fall will have the most impact.
- On a budget? Perennials are the best choice. They have a higher up-front cost than annual flowers, but if planted in the right place, they will come back year after year.
- Pollinators visit flowers to collect food in the form of nectar and pollen. Select plants with abundant supplies of nectar and pollen.
- Emma’s must-have plants for pollinators: wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis), butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), mountain mint (Pycnanthemum sp.), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum), goldenrod (Solidago sp.), and asters.
See you in the garden!
Homegrown NH is a collaboration between Squam Lakes Natural Science Center and NHPR.
