How to attract pollinators to the garden.  

Learning how to attract pollinators to your garden is the foundation of success when it comes to getting your plans to produce food. 

Plants that produce food have flowers that need to be pollinated in order to give you something to harvest.  While some plants are self-pollinating, this is not the case for everything.  This is where the pollinators come in. 

I learned my first season in PA that the tiny flowers on my pepper and tomato plants were not enough to attract bees on their own.  Therefore, many of my blooms just shriveled up and died.  It was clear that the garden needed my help in the form of adding flowers to attract more pollinators.  

Luckily, my local farmers market has a pretty sweet deal on a flat of flowers.  I filled up a flat, took it home, and immediately got to work tucking flowers in between my tomato and pepper plants.  

Watching how big of an impact this very small change made was amazing.  In just a week, I had already seen several more bees tending to my plants.  By week 2, I no longer had any dead blooms. 

Which Flowers are Best to Attract Pollinators? 

Most flowers will attract bees in some capacity, but some plants will bring them in droves.  Lavender is a great example of this.  If you ever walk into a nursery or box store that is open to the air, you will very likely find the lavender covered in bees.  Bees tend to be most attracted to ultraviolet, blue, yellow, and white blooms.  They also go after the flowers that have the most nectar and pollen.  

Certain flowers may attract other types of pollinators such as hummingbirds and butterflies.  Tubular shaped flowers are favored by hummingbirds, such as salvia, cardinal flower, and honeysuckle.  Butterflies enjoy brightly colored flowers that either have flat-type tops or are clustered together.  This includes things like coneflowers, phlox, verbena, etc.  

While wasps may not be a favorite in the garden, it is important to note that they are passive pollinators.  While they don’t collect pollen, they do transfer it as they go from flower to flower. If this is your only pollinator, you might leave them be until bees start to arrive.  

Also note that parasitic wasps are beneficial to your garden because they take out pests for you. One of the most commonly known ways they help is by laying their eggs on the bodies of other insects.  This parasitic relationship effectively kills the host over time.  This is most notably seen on tomato hornworms. 

Flowers to Avoid

When adding flowers to your beds that procedure your food, make sure you do your research.  Things like marigolds and zinnias are annuals that do not easily reseed themselves and have fairly shallow roots.  This makes them an optimal choice for tucking them in amongst your plants.  

However, flowers that easily reseed themselves, such as cosmos, may overrun your beds. Calendula is also a great example of one that easily reseeds.  I have a flower bed that has about 30 volunteer calendula plants.  

Others have roots that will choke out plants below the surface.  Herbs for example bring in a lot of pollinators, but they tend to have extensive root systems.  You would never want to plant mint in a garden bed intended for other plants.  The same goes for many perennial flowers.

Safety Around Pollinators 

How many bees/wasps you want to attract is something to be mindful of if you have anyone coming into your garden, who may be allergic. Some can be so allergic that a sting can mean death. 

This is something I am very cautious of because my father is highly allergic and I had venom testing done that says I am as well.  So in addition to having a medical emergency kit, I employ certain strategies to mitigate risk of being stung.

I avoid planting the types of flowers like lavender that attract a severe amount of bees.  If I do have something like tomatillos for example that are fairly decent attractors, I place these away from walkways and at the furthest end of the garden away from the porch. 

Utilizing the time of day is also another way to lessen potential danger. Getting up early in the morning provides a window of time where the pollinators have not come out to work yet.  In the evening, as the sun is going down, is also another opportune moment to get some garden work done as well.

Even if you yourself are not allergic, this is always something you should be thinking about and respectful of.  Many people try to shrug this danger off by saying “if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.”  This is all great in theory, but in reality, the stinging insect is the one who gets to decide whether or not you bothered it, regardless of how cautious you were being.  

Overall Thoughts

Do your research, be mindful, but also, just have fun.  Use this opportunity to plant things that bring you joy because they will keep you engaged in your garden journey.   

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