Be a Pollinator Pal

Consider being a pollinator pal by employing some or all of the suggestions listed below.
  1. Plant flowers that bloom throughout the spring and summer and into the fall. Examples are listed below.
  2. Plant flowers and shrubs to create a green corridor connecting with your neighbour's plantings or natural areas. Even plants in pots on balconies and decks will work.
  3. Provide nesting sites such as bare soil, rotting wood, stacked rocks, even water, to encourage pollinators to move into your yard.
  4. Reduce or eliminate pesticides and herbicides. If you must use them, spray pesticides at night when pollinators are less active.
  5. Mow less! Consider leaving a portion of your landscape untended to act as a natural area for pollinators, birds and other wildlife.
  6. While out in nature, act with care. A misplaced footstep on bare ground or in fallen leaves can destroy a nest and its inhabitants. If you pick up a rock or log, put it back where you found it; you'll be putting the 'roof' back on something's home.

Pollinator Plants

The plants listed below will provide a nectar and or pollen source from early spring to late autumn in parkland and prairie ecosystems. They are listed according to their bloom period, with the earliest blooming being first on the list to the latest blooming being last on the list.

All plants have been successfully grown in the parkland ecosystem and none spread aggressively either by seed or roots.

There are many good pollinator plants, both indigenous and non-indigenous, that are rhizomatous. Rhizomatous plants can be useful, particularly where soil stability is an issue or where plants with aggressive root systems are necessary to compete with existing vegetation. In most garden settings, however, plants with rhizomes require more attention and can end up monopolizing the site. For this reason, plants listed here, with the exception of saskatoon, have bunch root systems; none are rhizomatous.

The indigenous species included are those that have cultivars of the species that can be found in most nurseries.

INDIGENOUS NON-INDIGENOUS
Saskatoon  Amelanchier alnifolia Apple  Malus
Red Osier Dogwood  Cornus sericea Nanking Cherry  Prunus tomentosa
Wild Columbine  Aquilegia canadensis Purple Sensation Allium  Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'
Highbush Cranberry  Viburnum trilobum Alpine Aster  Aster alpinus
Blanket Flower  Gaillardia aristata Meyer Lilac  Syringa meyeri
Wild Bergamont  Monarda fistulosa Pinks  Dianthus deltoides
Joe-pye  Eupatoreum maculatum Delphinium  Delphinium spp.
Smooth Aster  Aster laevis Salvia 'Superba'  Salvia x superba
Stiff Goldenrod Solidago rigida Globe Thistle Echinops ritro
Meadow Blazingstar  Liatris ligulistylis Showy Sedum  Sedum spectabile

*Courtesy of Cynthia Pohl, Living Lands Landscape and Design

City of Red Deer's Pollinator Park landscape designs: