Plan to Plant Flowers for Pollinators

To reproduce, most flowering plants rely on animals to move their pollen. In turn, pollinators rely on flowers for food, including both nectar and pollen. If you’re a gardener, you might want to support this partnership by planting flowers. But if you live in an area without a lot of green space, you might wonder whether it’s worth the effort.

Research shows that bees don’t really care about the landscape surrounding flower gardens. They seem to zero in on the types of flowers they like, no matter what else is around.

Flower Plantings Large & Small

So, every single flowerpot or garden no matter how big or small can make a big difference to maintaining our precious pollinator populations.  Planting different types of flowers will provide a variety of food sources for pollinators.

Provide a Variety of Foods

For example, plants in the Mint family (Lamiaceae), provide a lot of sugary nectar and have easily accessible flowers that attract a wide variety of insects.  This helps to provide insects energy for flight.

Common Colorado flowers in the Mint family:
  • Bee Balm – Monarda
  • Bugleweed – Ajuga
  • Catmint – Nepeta
  • Hyssop – Agastache
  • Lavender – Lavendula
  • Sage – Salvia

Plus, many herbs including – basil, mint, oregano, thyme and rosemary

While some pollinators enjoy nectar, others get all their fat and protein from eating just the pollen itself. Flowers from the Sunflower family (Asteraceae) offer large quantities of both pollen and nectar and have very accessible flowers.

Common Colorado Flowers in the Sunflower family:
  • Aster – Aster
  • Blanket Flower – Gaillardia
  • Coreopsis – Coreopsis
  • Liatris – Liatris
  • Veronica – Veronica
  • Yarrow – Achillea

Plus, many Annual Flowers including – cosmos, dahlia, marigold, zinnia

Gardeners provide an incredible service to these valuable animals just by planting more flowers. As research shows, small patches of garden can help boost pollinators – even when the surrounding landscape has few resources for them. Insects love flowers. The more flowers and the more types of flowers, the more pollinators we will have.

Complete Creek Side Pollinator Plant List here