Planning pollinator-friendly gardens

Midwinter is known for its rainy and cold days, with darkness descending by late afternoon. But amid the dark, there is light. It is a good time to pull back, go within and plan your 2022 garden.

I used to think gardens were for growing vegetables, but after five years as a WSU Mason County Master Gardener, I've learned a garden is so much more. Now is the time many of us are browsing plant catalogs looking for plants to enhance our gardens. As you select plants, you have an opportunity to go a step beyond. You can select beautiful plants that you will enjoy and be preferred by our pollinators.

Eighty-five percent of our plants reproduce due to insect pollination. In return for pollination service, pollinators are rewarded with nectar and pollen. Bees are the most efficient pollinators because they actively seek out pollen to feed their young. Adult bees use nectar as a source of energy.

The garden that I am dreaming about for 2022 will have vegetables to eat and be filled with flowers for our native pollinators. Because pollinators play a critical role in the success of your garden, how do we go about creating a pollinator-friendly garden?

We can help pollinators find and use plants by planting them in clumps rather than alone. Planting in clumps helps conserve the pollinators' energy and promotes success.

Include flowering trees. Think how many blossoms cover a broad-leaf flowering tree such as big leaf maple or Pacific dogwood.

Think native. Our pollinators have coevolved with our native plants over thousands of years. They have adapted strategies for successful pollination. Include plants such as red flowering currant, Oregon grape and broad-leaf lupine.

Plant a variety of plants that bloom from early spring into fall to serve as a food supply for pollinators. Bumblebees need to find available food starting in early spring as the queens emerge. They need food to sustain their colony in summer and to feed the new queens in the late fall before they enter a state of rest in winter.

Think about the colors you offer the pollinators as you plan your garden. Bees see colors differently than we do. They choose flowers with blue, purple and yellow petals. They don't see red.

Select flowers that are aromatic, including lavender.

Avoid pesticides, in particular the neonicotinoids.

Mary Dessel is a WSU Mason County Master Gardener. She chairs the Educational and Outreach committees. You can learn more about gardening at our annual Through the Garden Gate workshops starting in January. Go to mgfmc.org or call 360-427-9670, ext. 682, for details.