Strange's Garden Center: Butterfly Gardening! Tips for attracting pollinators

Hey there, fellow gardeners!

As plant lovers, we know how to get excited about new green shoots in the Spring and beautiful blooms in the Summer, and we know that all the wonderful things that happen in the garden wouldn't be possible without our good friends, the pollinators. So let's take a moment to get excited about the hardest-working visitors to our gardens--butterflies, bees, and other insects!

First up, the butterfly.

What a beautiful treat it is to watch these pretty little creatures flit among the blossoms of your garden!

In addition to adding color and fun to your garden, butterflies contribute greatly to the pollination that happens in nature. They typically like to pollinate bright, colorful blooms and they do most of their best work during the day.

Next up is the bee!

Talk about proficiency! Bees are the work horses of the pollinators; from dawn until dusk you can find more than a few bumbling buddies hard at work pollinating plants. There are several different species of bees that serve as pollinators, and together they are responsible for a good portion of the pollination that occurs.

Lastly, let's talk about other insects!

Though butterflies and bees are arguably the most easily recognizable pollinators, there are myriad other insects that play a huge role in pollination! Moths like the Cloudberry Clearwing Moth (pictured above) along with various flies, beetles and wasps are an integral part of the pollination team. Next time you're out in your garden, notice how many of these visitors are poking around!

As stewards of our environment, it's important that we actively encourage the success of the various pollination species in our own green spaces! Without pollinators, our plant culture (both ornamental and crop) would be in big trouble!

So what can you do to help determine the success of pollinators?

An easy (and enjoyable!) approach is to encourage the various members of the pollination team to visit your garden by featuring plants species that attract pollinators. Here are a few beautiful choices that do well in the Mid-Atlantic: