06/25/2026
While many flowers may produce pollen, they may not be beneficial to local pollinators. When landscaping, you can prioritize planting species that are native to the local environment. These flowers, trees, shrubs, and grasses can be great food sources for pollinators.
When understanding local flowers, you must understand the species that will use these plant’s nectar for food. The more diverse you make your landscape, the more kinds of pollinators you can attract. While honeybees are one of the most popular pollinators, there are many other species of specialized bees. Many of these require very specific plants. For example, giant sweat bees, also known as sunflower bees, rely on native sunflowers and beggar ticks for their nectar.
Flowers that will be beautiful in your garden and are great for attracting specialized bees are black-eyed susans, mountain azaleas, wild bergamot, eastern rosemallow, starry rosinweed, and more! If you want food while also supporting pollinators, squash, pumpkin, and highbush blueberries all have their own specialized species.
There are many non-bee species you can attract as well. There are native flowers including coral honeysuckle, bee balm, and cardinal flower that attract pollinating hummingbirds. New jersey tea, purple coneflower, virginia sweetspire are examples of flowers that are favored by butterfly species. These are just a few species that you can use to diversify the pollinators in your garden!
