.

Steps

• Pick a nice, sunny spot (not too big!)

• Remove grass and other vegetation

• Mix in compost to loosen soil, add nutrients

• Choose your pollinator plants (about one per square foot)

• Plan to have something blooming from spring to fall

• Plant in spring or fall. Mulch

• Water (especially the first year)

• Enjoy!

Note: Don’t completely clear the patch in winter. Many pollinators spend the winter hibernating under leaves or in dead stems.

Native plant possibilities: Violets,* Blue-eyed Grass, Golden Alexander,* Baptisia,* Phlox, Coneflowers, Butterfly weed,* Black-eyed Susans, Senna,* Asters, Goldenrod.

* = caterpillar host plant

Midwood’s Gardening, Landscape, Ecology and Environment group (GLEE) plans to put together starter sets of pollinator plants for sale in the spring.