Unpacking “Pollinator-Friendly” 🐝

The word pollinator-friendly is abundantly used in our world and for good reason. It’s a term that cuts to the core of what many of us are trying to accomplish in the landscape. But eventually, you might start to wonder what pollinators your plants are being friendly to. And also, what “friendly” means.

Plants are often grouped into categories based on how they support wildlife. For example, you’ve likely heard of host plants which provide essential food and habitat for an insect's immature stages (think like where butterflies lay their eggs and caterpillars feed). A nectar plant is, as it sounds, a source of nectar for adult pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Although these two categories are the most referenced when it comes to pollinator-friendliness, plants also provide pollen (a vital food source for many native bees) as well as nesting and overwintering habitat (e.g. hollow stems or dense grass clumps with dried stalks).

This newsletter will help you scratch the surface of the pollinator-friendly label and better understand, support, and track the real-life pollinators thriving in your landscape.

Resources

If you’re ready to start identifying what’s already growing in your yard, tools like the PictureThis app can be a great place to begin. We recommend building out an inventory of what’s existing so that you don’t have keep the bank of info all in your head. PictureThis has a great function for your inventory. Just snap a photo of a plant, the app will ID it, and you can save it to a collection.

For a deeper dive into which plants are beneficial to your local pollinators, the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder is an excellent resource. You can enter by zip code to see which native species support the most caterpillars and other insects in your region.

Homegrown National Park is a grassroots movement led by ecologist Doug Tallamy, aimed at regenerating biodiversity and ecosystem health by turning private land into pollinator, wildlife-friendly habitat. They have a new Keystone Plant database and an Ecoregion Identifier which are very helpful in getting your bearings on what to plant. A keystone plant is a native plant that supports tons and tons of wildlife. Without them, local food webs are at risk. Ecoregions are defined by unique combinations of climate, soil, and native plants and animals. Take a peek at the keystone species for your ecoregion. They’re a great starting point for worthwhile landscape design! Some companies even offer ecoregion keystone plant packs.

PictureThis allows you to create collections of plants that you identify in your landscape. Perfect for getting your virtual inventory started with ease. 

How to Find Gaps in Your Landscape for Pollinators

Are there times of year when your garden is quiet? Start to develop a bloom calendar and aim for continuous bloom from March through November, depending on your region. Look for:

• Early spring bloomers (vital for early native bees)
• Midsummer support (when everything’s buzzing)
• Late fall bloomers (to fuel migration and overwintering prep) 

Also, pollinators don’t just need food, they need shelter too. That’s where structural diversity comes in. Avoid cutting everything down in fall and leave plant structures standing until spring. Look for:

• Bare ground (for ground-nesting bees)
• Hollow stems or pithy plants (for stem-nesting bees)
• Brush piles or dense grasses (for overwintering habitat) 

Try to track what insects you’re finding too! Observing what visits your garden can help reveal what’s missing. Maybe try keeping a “pollinator journal” and use apps like iNaturalist or Seek. A lack of diversity may mean your garden lacks key host plants, bloom timing, or structural features.

Generalist vs. Specialist

Not all pollinators visit every flower. Some are generalists, happy to sip nectar and gather pollen from a wide variety of plants. Others are specialists, relying on just one plant genus or even a single species to survive.

Some Generalist Pollinator Examples

• Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) – Visit dozens of native and non-native flowers
• Painted lady butterflies – Feed on a wide range of nectar plants
• Hoverflies (Syrphid flies) – Generalist pollinators and great aphid predators

Some More Specialist Pollinator Examples

• Monarch butterflies – Caterpillars only eat milkweed (Asclepias spp.)
• Blueberry bee (Habropoda laboriosa) – Needs native blueberries (Vaccinium spp.)
• Squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) – Pollinates only squash, pumpkins, and gourds 

The Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly is a fun example of a specialist. It’s always in search of one of our all-time favorite native fruit trees: the pawpaw. The adult butterfly is attracted to the pawpaw’s large, maroon-colored flowers that emit a subtle, carrion-like odor to lure the butterflies. The butterfly lays its eggs (see photo above) on the leaves of the Pawpaw tree, which are the sole food source for the caterpillars. The leaves of the Pawpaw are rich in nutrients and provide a safe haven for the larvae, enabling them to grow and develop into mature butterflies.

PHOTO SOURCE A female Zebra Swallowtail laying an egg on a Pawpaw Tree. 

So, moral of the story: the term pollinator-friendly opens a door into a world of ecological puzzle pieces waiting to be put together. Find out Who specifically you're planting for, and decision-making in the landscape will gain new ideas, direction, and logic.