How to Plant a Pollinator Garden This Fall

It is late September, tomato vines are going away, and your local garden center has begun throwing off perennials in order to stock winter merchandise. That stretch of grass there on the fence? It is a blank canvas at the moment. It can be planted this fall and by the next May can be swarming with bees and butterflies. This guide provides you with a three-level plan, a list of plants, and a weekend schedule.

Rapid solution: Find a sunny location, draw a circle 4-by-12 feet, and place native flowers of the area in three levels of height, growing each species in clumps of 3 or more. Plant all in the ground 6 weeks prior to your first hard freeze, water well, and mulch. Select plants with varying flowering seasons and you will have spring to frost-colored.

Why Fall Planting Native Perennials Will Have You Primed to Have a Better Bloom Year

Autumn is the secret of solemn gardeners. It is still warm in the soil left over summer and the air is cooler and rain is more predictable than in July. Even when the leaves have fallen roots continue to grow, and plants are busy in the cold months establishing themselves, rather than struggling against heat. (Source: state university extension services)
A fall-planted perennial has a real head start by spring. It does not need to survive its first season, so it can invest that in flowers. That is why a border planted to-day will usually be a year older than one planted next May.
Timing matters. Target to complete approximately six weeks prior to the average first hard freeze in your area. That is the case in the coming weeks in a large part of the Midwest and the Northeast (Source: state cooperative extension guidance). South and Southwest gardeners can continue planting until November. You can attach our fall garden checklist to your other fall chores to get them in order.

How to Lay Out a Pollinator Garden in a Simple Three-Tier Border

An effective border does not have to be complex. The strategy that works most effectively on the yard is a three level bed with the tallest plants at the back, the middle level ones and the low mounds in front. It appears neat to the neighbors and it serves as an insect buffet.
Begin with the location. Choose an area that receives no less than six hours of direct sunlight per day, as the majority of flowering natives will grow best in full sunlight. ( Source: Xerces Society planting guidance) Do not plant in a low area where water collects following a storm. A 4-by-12-foot strip, approximately 48 square feet is large enough to carry live wildlife and at the same time small enough to be completed within a weekend.

Then a bed divide into three layers

Back tier (3 to 5 feet tall):Tall and sturdy bloomers that provide the height of the border and support it at the end of the season.

• Middle tier (2 to 3 feet high): Workhorse flowers that bear the summer show.
• Front tier (less than 18 inches): Low mounds that flatten the edge, and seal gaps at ground level.

The design is held together by three simple rules to create an intentional rather than a random look:

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  Plant in drifts. Put each species into groups of three to five. Beees and butterflies can see big areas of one flower better than individual plants scattered about. (Source: Xerces Society)
• Repeat your drifts. Apply one species twice the length of the bed, to have the eye run freely across the bed.
• Frame the edge. People can see the wild appearance is intentional with a curved or crisp mulched edge. Browse border designs ideas for more shapes and layouts.

When you are currently lawn you can take two simple alternatives. You can cut the sod with a flat spade, and turn it topsy-turvy, and that is an afternoon. Or you may smother the grass with cardboard and mulch and plant stuff right over it. Both are covered in our guide to eliminating turf.

Native Plants for Pollinators: How to Match Your Region

"Native" is a local word. A flower, which grows in a prairie in Texas, is not necessarily at home in a Vermont meadow. Plants which are co-evolutionary with your local insects provide the food of which they are in fact aware and upon which they feed.
It would be difficult to overestimate their value. Approximately three-quarters of flowering plant species depend on insects like bees, flies, butterflies, and beetles to be pollinated. There are some relationships that are very thin (Source: U.S. Forest Service). An example is the monarch caterpillars, which feed on milkweed only. (Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
Begin by locating your area on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Next, enter your ZIP code into the Native Plant Finder of the National Wildlife Federation, which will include plants in your area that are likely to host the greatest number of caterpillars. Free ecoregional planting guides are also available by The Pollinator Partnership, which can get you deeper into your part of the country.

Shopping: Two things to remember when you shop

• Ask about pesticides. Systemic insecticides are used on some nursery plants which may be found in nectar and pollen. Select growers that say their plants are untreated. (Source: Xerces Society)
• Favor straight species. Cultivars which have been heavily bred, with double petals or unusual colors, may have less nectar and pollen than the original plant. (Source: university extension research)
  

Best Native Plants for a Small Pollinator Border

The following is a nine-species plan on the 4-by-12-foot bed with three plants of each species (27 plants in total). The majority of these are indigenous to the eastern and central parts of the United States. In the West or Southwest, with your own garden, substitute the above tools with local equivalents by a close examination.

A couple of words on this list. Butterfly weed prefers not to be transplanted, and has a deep taproot, so it is better to purchase it in a pot and place it in a permanent location the first time. Goldenrod is blamed to cause the hay fever yet ragweed is usually in full bloom at the same time and the real cause.
Budget: Expect to spend up to $15/ gallon on most U.S. native nurseries and garden centers on perennial one-gallons. Adding mulch to this, that would make this entire border approximately 250-400. (Source: average U.S. nursery retail prices, depending upon location)

Pollinator Garden Bloom Succession: Color From Spring Through Frost

A border in July blooming and then silent leaves hungry insects with nothing to eat in the months of April or October. The fix has a staggered bloom plan. Have no less than two or three species in flower at the same time, a slight overlap between them.

The plan above works out during the year as follows:

Those people are fall bloomers who are forgotten, and they are the most important. The last large sources of nectar before frost are aster and goldenrod. To add even more spring color, insert some golden alexanders (Zizia aurea) in the middle layer.
You'll find some chewed leaves. The entire idea of a healthy boundary is caterpillars, and when you see holes in the leaves, you know that the strategy is successful. Omit the sprays, as even organic ones may be damaging the bees and other visitors.

How to Plant a Pollinator Garden: Your One-Weekend Timeline

This entire project can be completed within two days. The following sequence makes it easy.
Saturday morning: get ready the bed.

1. Take off the sod or put down cardboard then number the tiers using a hose or rope.
2. Skip the tiller. Tilling causes the dormant weed seeds and disturbs ground-nesting bees. (Source: Xerces Society)
3. Do not disturb the soil. The natives grow well in medium soils, and deep amendments cause them to be floppy. We have an explanatory guide on our soil basics when a soil test is worthwhile.

Saturday afternoon: plant.

1. Place all the pots on the bed and then tweak them until the drifts appear correct. Plants should be spaced 18 inches back and 12 inches front.
2. Turn holes approximately as deep as root ball and twice as wide.
3. Loose any encircling roots with your fingers, then put the crown even with the soil surface. The most frequent mistake is to plant too deep.
4. Backfill, stamp the soil and water each plant slowly and deeply.

Sunday: mulch and complete.

1. Sprinkle bed with two to three inches of shredded leaves or wood chips, but do not cover stems with mulch.
2. Maintain some small areas of undisturbed soil. A large number of native bees nest underground.
3. Add approximately an inch of water to the bed per week unless it is raining, and the ground is frozen. The way the organization operates is highly efficient.<|human|>Its structure is very efficient.

The entire job can be done much quicker with a short list of the right hand tools, including a heavy trowel, a hori-hori knife, and a hose with a soft nozzle.
Care in winter and spring: Do not cut out the dead stems. Overwintering bees nest in hollow stalks and birds feed on seed heads. (Source: Xerces Society) When new growth is produced in late spring, cut old stems (8 to 24 inches tall) back, leaving some remaining to bees nesting inside.

Your Next Step

You don't need a big yard or a big budget to give bees and butterflies a place to thrive. Mark out a sunny strip, choose plants for staggered bloom, and get them in the ground while autumn is on your side. Next May, you'll see the payoff. While you're here, keep the momentum going with our flower and ornamental gardening guides for more perennials, planting tips, and color ideas.

Reference:

• U.S. Forest Service: pollinator and plant-pollination information (share of flowering plants that depend on animal pollinators)
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: monarch butterfly and milkweed host-plant information
• Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: pollinator habitat guidance (sun exposure, planting in drifts, systemic insecticides, tilling and ground-nesting bees, leaving stems standing)
• State university cooperative extension services: fall planting benefits, timing before the first hard freeze, first-year watering guidance, and research on cultivars versus straight species (see USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture)
• National Wildlife Federation, Native Plant Finder: ZIP-code-based native plant lookup
• USDA Agricultural Research Service, Plant Hardiness Zone Map: interactive zone map for plant cold hardiness
• Pollinator Partnership: ecoregional planting guides
• Typical U.S. retail nursery pricing: for one-gallon perennials (estimate, varies by region and season)