Simple Steps Help Pollinators

Most flowering plants need pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths, and birds. Unfortunately, pollinators are under stress from disease, destruction of habitat, and the overuse of chemicals. But you can help! Here are simple steps you can take that will have a big impact.

Simple Steps to help Pollinators:
• Add hanging baskets
• Add patio planters
• Add fresh water – pollinators get thirsty too!
*Bird bath
*Bee watering station
*Simple solar fountain
• Prevent exposure to pesticides

•Provide shelter for bees by leaving long stems standing during your fall clean up. 
• Add white clover to your lawn
• Add planting beds to your yard
• Plant annual flowers:
Winners in 4-year study: (U of MN)
“Music Box Mix” sunflower “Prairie Sun” black-eyed susan
“Lemon Queen” sunflower “Showstar” butter daisy
“Summer Jewel Pink” salvia “Dakota Gold” sneezeweed
“Purple Fairy Tale” salvia “Envy” zinnia
“Orange Fudge” black-eyed susan
Also widely recommended:
Alyssum Floss flower (Ageratum)
Calendula Lantana
Cleome Nicotiana
Cornflower Pansies
Cosmos Petunias
Daisies Verbena
• Plant perennial plants:
Especially for bumblebees: (Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources)
Virginia Bluebells Blue giant hyssop
Red Columbine Bee balms
Wild white indigo Blazingstars
Beardtongues Asters
Milkweeds Goldenrods
• Add native shrubs & trees:
Especially for bumblebees: (Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources)
Wild currant Willows

Entomologist Douglas Tallamy, University of Delaware, suggests that we plant keystone species – the ones that support the most native butterflies and moths -because they have the biggest impact.


• Perennial flowers and grasses:
Each of the plants below host at least 20 species of butterflies and moths in Golden Valley, according to the zip-code based National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder –
https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder.

  1. Goldenrod (Solidago): bog, giant, Missouri, zig-zag. {88 species}
  2. Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria)
  3. Sunflower (Helianthus): fewleaf, giant, hairy, Maximilian, paleleaf, prairie, sawtooth, stiff.
  4. Violet (Viola): alpine, arrowleaf, birdfoot, bog white, common blue, creeping root, downy
    yellow, Marsh blue, Peck’s, prairie, small white, smooth white, sweet white, white.
  5. Lupine (Lupinus)
  6. Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium): common boneset.
  7. Switchgrass (Panicum): fall panicgrass, switchgrass.
  8. Geranium (Geranium): Bicknell’s cranebill, spotted geranium.
  9. Hemlock waterparsnip (Sium suave)
  10. Willowherb (Epilobium): bog, downy, fringed, marsh, purpleleaf.
  11. False indigo (Amorpha): leadplant. {21 species}
    • Trees and shrubs
    Each of these host at least 100 species of butterflies and moths in Golden Valley.
  12. Willow (Salix): autumn, Bebb, bog, meadow, Missouri River, peachleaf, pussy, sageleaf,
    sandbar, shining. {355 species}
  13. Chokecherry (Prunus): chokecherry, pin cherry.
  14. Birch (Betula): bog, paper, Sandberg, yellow.
  15. Oak (Quercus)
  16. Aspen, Poplar (Populus): balsam poplar, bigtooth aspen, plains cottonwood, quaking aspen.
  17. Cranberry, Blueberry (Vaccinium): cranberry, lowbush blueberry.
  18. Maple, Boxelder (Acer): boxelder; red maple, silver, sugar.
  19. Alder (Alnus): gray, speckled.
  20. Elm (Ulmus): American, rock.
  21. Hickory, Pecan (Carya): bitternut hickory.
  22. Blackberry, Raspberry (Rubus): dwarf red blackberry.
  23. Hawthorn (Crataegus): dotted, downy, fanleaf, fireberry, fleshy, pear, red haw.
  24. Basswood, Linden (Tilia): American basswood.
  25. Ash (Fraxinus): black, green.
  26. Hazelnut (Corylus): American, beaked.
  27. Rose (Rosa) {101 species}

Serviceberry Spirea
Buttonbush American basswood
Native bush honeysuckle Lead plant
Plums & cherries Cranberry

Further information: https://www.beelab.umn.edu/bees/flowers/plants-mn-bees

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