It’s the perfect time in Connecticut to begin planning for a more pollinator-friendly garden. Choosing native plants, consider the core of holistic, well-functioning ecosystems, sustaining pollinators (e.g., bees, butterflies, beetles, moths, and hummingbirds). And using the 3x3x3 method and drift planting will make a substantial boost to your landscape as a lively habitat for native pollinators from spring to fall.

Douglas Tallamy, a renowned entomologist and author of How Can I Help?: Saving Nature with Your Yard, advocates using native plants, which evolved in your region to support local pollinator food webs. In his book, Tallamy says “Keep in mind that non-native plants are not meeting the needs of specialist pollinators that rear young only on the pollen of plants they have coevolved with over eons. But building a garden with both essential natives and some nectar-rich non-natives that are not invasive is fine.”

Some of the many reasons to choose native plants over non-natives include:

1. They flourish without synthetic pesticides. 2. Once established, they rarely need watering. 3. They require less or no pesticides and fertilizer, as they are adapted to your climate and soils. 4. They support beneficial insects like lady beetles that help control garden pests.

3x3x3 Planting Method

The 3x3x3 method provides a succession of blooms for a wide range of pollinators to visit your garden throughout the growing season. Planting in drifts works well with the 3x3x3 method for grouping plants (Step Three below). A drift is a mass of plants of same type, planted together to attract pollinators, using specific pops of color. With sweeping or ribbon-like patterns, a drift forms a natural shape, increasing visual impact for pollinators passing by.

Step One: Choose three different native plant species blooming during spring, summer, and fall.

Step Two: Gather three of each species.

Step Three: Place the total of nine plants for each season in a group to reduce pollinators’ time collecting pollen and nectar. If possible, include more than one species in same area using drift planting.

NOTE: The three species per season metric is a minimum value. More blooming native plants bursting with color … more pollinators.

Native Plants

Some favorite native plants shown below by bloom time can be found locally, e.g., Earthtones, Woodbury and Tiny Meadow, Danbury. And see the National Wildlife Federation website online tool to find native plants by zip code.

(Spring)

*(April-May) Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) — 1-2 ft, pink; moisture: medium to wet; light: 2 *(May) Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) — 1-3 ft, yellow; moisture: medium-wet; light: 1, 2

(Spring to Summer)

*(May-July) Purple wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) — 2-4 ft, purple; moisture: dry-medium; light: 1

(Summer)

*(June-July) Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) — 3-4 ft, blue; moisture: dry-medium; light: 1 *(July-Aug) Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) — 3-5 ft, rose; moisture: medium-wet; light: 1

(Summer to Fall)

*(July-Sept) Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) — 2-4 ft, red; moisture: medium-wet; light: 2 *(July-Sept) Purple anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) — 2-4 ft, lavender; moisture: dry-medium; light: 1 *(July-Oct) Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) — 3-4 ft, purple; moisture: dry-medium; light: 1 *(Aug-Sept) White turtlehead (Chelone glabra) — 1-3 ft, white; moisture: wet (best next to water feature); light: 2

LIGHT KEY: 1 = Full Sun (>6 hours) | 2 = Part Sun/Part Shade (4-6 hours) | 3 = Full Shade (<4 hours)

My Backyard Habitat is published monthly in cooperation with The Newtown Bee by Protect Our Pollinators. For more information or to reach out, visit propollinators.org.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Echinacea purpurea. —Cori Kondas photo

My Backyard Habitat is published monthly in cooperation with The Newtown Bee by Protect Our Pollinators.