Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants
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Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants Rufous Hummingbird feeding on Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa)
Native Plant and Pollinator Why Should We Care?
Gardening Guide
Many of us enjoy the beauty of flowers in our Keystone Species
backyard and community gardens. Growing native When a bumble bee feeds on the nectar and pollen of
plants adds beauty and important habitats for huckleberry flowers, it pollinates the flowers, which will
wildlife, especially for pollinators. Even a small produce fruit eaten by songbirds, grizzly bears, and
backyard garden can make a big difference. Gardening dozens of other animals, including humans. We call
connects us to nature and helps us better understand the bumble bee and other pollinators keystone species
how nature works. This guide will help you create a because they are species upon which others depend. Insects and other
pollinator-friendly garden. animals pollinate
Pollinators are vital to maintaining healthy
ecosystems. They are essential for plant reproduction, one-third of the
What is pollination? food we eat – all
What do and produce genetic diversity in the plants they pollinate. kinds of fruits,
Pollination is the process of moving pollen from one
hummingbirds, The more diverse plants are, the better they can weather vegetables, grains,
butterflies and flower to another of the same species, which produces
changes in the environment. nuts, and beans.
bees have in fertile seeds. Almost all flowering plants need to be Even coffee and
common? pollinated. Some plants are pollinated by wind or water, Best of all, pollinators such as hummingbirds, bees, chocolate! The
They all pollinate and some are even self-pollinating. However, most and butterflies are beautiful and fascinating. economic value of
flowering plants. insect pollination
flowering plants depend on bees, worldwide has
Pollinators need our help.
butterflies, and other animals been estimated at
for pollination. Biologists fear several butterfly and bumble bee $217 billion.
species have disappeared from parts of their range,
Why use native plants in your garden? including the once common western bumble bee.
Pollinators have evolved with native Why are pollinators in trouble? It appears
plants, which are best adapted to the local that habitat loss and pesticide
growing season, climate, and soils. Most poisoning account for much of
pollinators feed on specific plant species — the population declines.
hummingbirds sip nectar from long, We can do our part to
tubular honeysuckle flowers, while green support pollinators by
sweat bees prefer more open-faced sunflowers. creating pollinator-
Non-native plants may not provide pollinators with friendly gardens and
enough nectar or pollen, or may be inedible to protecting wildlife
butterfly or moth caterpillars. habitat.
Western Bumble Bee on
Maximilian Sunflower
(Helianthus maximiliani)
Half-black Bumble Bee
and penstemon flower
1 2
Who Are Our Pollinators? Social Bees
Bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beetles, Bumble Bee (Bombus)
wasps and even flies pollinate flowers, but bee species There are forty-seven species of bumble bees in
Tongue lengths pollinate flowers more often than any other group,
vary in bee North America. Bumble bees are the B-1 bombers of bees.
species. Long including birds and butterflies. Because of their chunky size, they can fly in cooler
tongues fit long, Pollen
temperatures and at lower light levels than many other basket
tubular flowers Busy as a Bee
bees including the honeybee. Thus, queen bumble bees
like penstemons Bees are by far the most effective pollinators because
and short tongues are the earliest to emerge in spring in search of the first
fit short-tubed
they feed only on flowers. Flowers attract and reward bees flowers of the season.
for their pollination service. Bees gather two kinds of foods Bumble bees groom
flowers like pollen from their
sunflowers.
Lifestyle: An individual queen starts a colony in the spring
from flowers: sugar-rich nectar to fuel their flight and body hairs into
after she wakes from hibernation. She produces wax from
protein-rich pollen, or bee bread, to feed their young brood. “pollen baskets,”
glands in her body to make pot-like cells in which to lay or corbicula, for
Bees use their tongues to lap or lick up nectar from flowers.
her eggs and to store nectar and pollen for her brood. transport to the
Bees are a diverse group of insects that include four The young emerge in a few weeks as female worker bees. nest.
thousand species native to North America. They can be As fall arrives, most bees die and only newly-mated queens
organized into two groups based on their nesting lifestyle: overwinter to establish new colonies.
solitary or social. About three-quarters of native bees in
The European
North America are solitary nest builders.
Honeybee GARDENING Golden currant, serviceberry, and
(Apis mellifera) chokecherry flower early in March and attract bumble
is a social bee. bees and mason bees.
Nesting Lifestyles
Half-black Bumble Bee
(Bombus vagans) on
Tomatoes,
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant
peppers, and
(Cleome serrulata)
cranberries require
a special bumble
bee behavior
called “buzz Solitary leaf-cutter Social nesting
pollination”, in bee (Megachile) nest bumble bee (Bombus)
which the bumble
bee grabs the
flower in her jaws
and vibrates her GARDENING Bees prefer blue, purple, and yellow
wings to dislodge flowers, and sweet fragrances. They see ultraviolet
pollen trapped
colors – found on the flowers such as buttercups and
in the flower’s
anthers. black-eyed Susans.
3 4
Solitary Bees Solitary Bees
Green Sweat Bee Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria)
(Agapostemon) These robust, metallic blue bees most commonly
Green Sweat Bee
(Agapostemon) These small, appear early in spring when trees and shrubs flower.
brilliantly Females carry pollen on the undersides of their abdomens.
colored, metallic Lifestyle: Orchard Mason bees build nest cells in
green bees are hard pre-existing narrow tunnels such as beetle burrows in
Leaf-cutter Bee to miss in a garden. trees, crevices between stones, hollow centers of plant
(Megachile) They’re commonly stems and abandoned wasp or bee nests. In the nest
called sweat bees because they land on tunnel, the female builds a series of horizontal chambers Mason bee houses
people to lick up salty human sweat. Green Sweat Bee provisioning each with pollen, like this are used
(Agapostemon) to attract these
Lifestyle: Some sweat bees nest socially, on Gaillardia nectar, and an egg and then
important pol-
but most are solitary ground-nesters. (Gaillardia aristata) seals the chamber with mud. linators. (need
Much of what we know about the social By the end of summer, the caption)
behavior among insects has been learned from sweat bees bee will transform into an
A female because they show different degrees of sociality. In some adult in its cocoon and
Leaf-cutter Bee
will cut circular species, females build and nest alone; in others, females overwinter in the chamber
leaf pieces to line nest communally and share a common nest entrance but until it emerges in spring.
Orchard Mason Bee
her nesting construct individual nest cells (like apartment buildings.) (Osmia lignaria)
chambers.
If you see a bee
Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachile) carrying pollen on
These pugnacious bees carry pollen on its belly or hind
GARDENING legs, it’s a female
their tummies. Leaf-cutter bees and other Important pollinators of bee.
solitary bees seldom sting. fruit trees, just 250 mason
Lifestyle: They construct their nests bees can pollinate an acre
in tunnels in the ground, under of apple trees. It would take
stones, or in existing holes 10,000-250,000 honeybees
in dead wood. A female to do the same work.
bee cuts circular leaf pieces Mason bees like Penstemon,
to line her nest chambers, Astragalus, and native
flowering trees such as
which are shaped like
chokecherry, hawthorn,
Leaf-cutter Bee thimbles end to end. In each,
and serviceberry.
(Megachile) on she lays an egg and provisions it with
Hairy Golden pollen and nectar for her eggs.
Aster (Chrysopsis
villosa)
Orchard Mason Bees (Osmia lignaria)
GARDENING Green sweat bees and leaf-cutter bees
on Wilcox’s Penstemon (Penstemon Wilcoxii)
5 like composites – Erigeron, Gaillardia, sunflowers, and asters. 6
Planning your garden – Bee Patient. It takes time for native
Bee Gentle. Most bees will avoid
stinging and use that behavior only in
self-defense. Male bees do not sting.
think like a pollinator.
plants to grow and for pollinators to find
your garden, especially if you live far from
wild lands.
Go Native. Pollinators are
“best” adapted to local, native Bee Bountiful. Plant big
plants, which often need less patches of each plant species
water than ornamentals. (better foraging efficiency.)
Bee Showy. Flowers should bloom in your
garden throughout the growing season.
Plant willow, currant, and Oregon grape
for spring and aster, rabbit
brush and goldenrod
for fall flowers.
Bee Chemical Free.
Pesticides and herbicides kill
pollinators.
Bee Sunny.
Bee Homey. Make Provide areas with
small piles of branches sunny, bare soil that’s
to attach chrysalis or cocoons. dry and well-drained,
Provide hollow twigs, rotten logs preferably with
with wood-boring beetle holes and south-facing slopes.
bunchgrasses and leave stumps, old
rodent burrows, and fallen plant
material for nesting bees. Leave dead Bee Friendly.
or dying trees for woodpeckers. Create pollinator-
friendly gardens
Bee Aware. Observe both at home, at
pollinators when you walk schools and in public
Bee a little messy. Most outside in nature. Notice parks. Help people
of our native bee species which flowers attract learn more about
(70%) nest underground so bumble bees or solitary pollinators and
bees, and which attract native plants.
Bee Diverse. Plant a diversity of flowering species with avoid using weed cloth or
abundant pollen and nectar and specific plants for feeding heavy mulch. butterflies.
butterfly and moth caterpillars.
7 8
Butterflies Butterflies
By growing a bounty of native Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) Butterfly
flowering plants in your garden, Adult Silvery Blue butterflies appear from the end of
you can attract a variety of the April to September. Male butterflies can often be seen
more than 220 butterfly puddling, which is sipping up soil salts and minerals in
species found in Montana. mud puddles.
Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail Lifestyle: Female blue butterflies
(Papilio multicaudata) lay eggs only on lupine and once Ants tend and
This large butterfly (up they hatch, the caterpillars eat protect Silvery
to 6” wingspan) can be the leaves, flowers, and seedpods. Blue caterpillars,
found from May They produce a sugary secretion, which reward
them with
through August. or honeydew, which is eaten honeydew.
Males can often be by ants.
seen patrolling for
females along streams,
canyons and narrow roadways.
Lifestyle: A good pollinator garden Silvery Blue
(Glaucopsyche
contains food not just for adult lygdamus)
butterflies, but for their caterpillars too. Butterflies and
Two-tailed Tiger larva feeding on
Swallowtail
Female butterflies select specific plants on which to lay
Silvery Lupine
(Papilio their eggs; this ensures that when their eggs hatch, the (Lupinus
multicaudata) caterpillars will be able to eat the plant’s leaves while argenteus)
on Western growing into adult butterflies. Two-tailed Tiger
Serviceberry
(Amelanchier Swallowtails lay their eggs on ash and
alnifolia), its chokecherry leaves.
larval plant.
GARDENING Butterflies favor platform-shaped
sunflowers and asters, but will feed on a diversity of
nectar-rich flowers from violets to serviceberry shrubs.
They prefer red, purple, or yellow flowers with sweet scents.
Butterflies love warm, sunny, and windless weather. GARDENING
Blue butterflies feed
on nectar from
red-osier dogwood,
When disturbed, a swallowtail caterpillar rears
up and extends two red horns (osmeteria) from chokecherry and other flowers.
its head to frighten off potential predators. The larvae feed on lupine.
9 10
Moths Hummingbirds
Can you tell a Montana may have as many as 1,800 species of Because hummingbirds specialize on nectar feeding, Rufous, Calliope,
butterfly from moths. The exact number is unknown because these they play an important role in pollination. These and Black-chinned
a moth? hummingbirds
night-flying pollinators often evade detection. colorful, migratory birds serve as a link between breed in Montana.
Butterflies are
brightly colored plant populations by visiting flowers and
White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata) moving pollen over great distances.
and moths are more
often colored in Although many moth species pollinate flowers, the
muted grays and sphinx or hawk moth is probably the one most familiar Rufous
browns. Hummingbird
because it’s active by day.
Lifestyle: They’re great flyers and some have tongues A tiny jewel of
longer than their bodies. These large moths fly upwind, a bird, the Rufous
tracking the airborne fragrance trail to a cluster of flowers. Hummingbird fiercely
Their caterpillars, called defends its feeding areas
tobacco and tomato and will attack much
hornworms, are well larger birds including
A butterfly Great Horned
known to gardeners.
antenna (top)is
a single filament
Owls.
with a club at the Lifestyle:
tip, while a moth Rufous
antenna (bottom)
can be broad Hummingbirds nest
and feathery or in willow-dominated
tapered to a point. areas within forested habitats.
GARDENING To attract hummingbirds
White-lined to your garden, provide them with nectar
Sphinx Moth
and larvae starting in early spring. It’s thought that Male Rufous
(Hyles lineata) hummingbirds prefer red-colored flowers; Hummingbird on
feeding on however, they will feed on any flower Honeysuckle
Yellow Evening that produces abundant nectar. (Lonicera ciliosa)
Primrose
(Oenothera flava)
GARDENING
Sphinx moths, also called
“Hummingbird” moths, prefer pale or white flowers that Sap wells created by Red-naped Sapsuckers
open in the evening and that have a strong, sweet smell. supply many animals with a quick energy boost.
They pick up pollen on their legs and wings. Adults nectar Hummingbirds need lots of insects (protein) in
on columbine and honeysuckle. Caterpillars feed on their diet, and will nab insects stuck in sap wells.
11 evening primrose. 12
Beetles, Flies and Wasps Attract Pollinators with these
Native Plants
Flower Beetle (Typocerus) Here’s a sample of the garden-hardy native plants in our
Beetles present the greatest diversity of insects and region that attract pollinators.
pollinators. Regular flower visitors include soldier beetles
and flower beetles. They feed on pollen and even chew on Common Name Scientific Name
flowers, but in this mess and soil pollination process they Common Chokecherry.......... Prunus virginiana
pick up pollen and carry it to other flowers. Golden Currant................... Ribes aureum
Flower Beetle Red Osier Dogwood............. Cornus stolonifera
(Typocerus) GARDENING These beetles are commonly
seen on yarrow and sunflowers. Blue Elderberry................... Sambucus cerulea
Lewis’ Mock Orange............ Philadelphus lewisii
Rubber Rabbitbrush.............Chrysothamnus nauseosus
Flower or Hover Fly (Syrphid)
Western Serviceberry........... Amelanchier alnifolia
Because they’re so abundant, flies are important
Oregon Grape..................... Mahonia repens
pollinators even though they transport less pollen than
bees. Hover flies mimic bees and wasps in coloration Orange Honeysuckle............ Lonicera ciliosa
and behavior to avoid predators. Beebalm............................. Monarda fistulosa
Flower or
Hover Fly Bluebunch Wheatgrass........ Pseudoroegneria spicata
(Syrphid) GARDENING Hover flies feed on the same flowers Blanket Flower.................... Gaillardia aristata
preferred by bees, such as golden currant, rabbitbrush,
Yellow Buckwheat................ Erigonum flavum
and sunflowers.
Clarkia............................... Clarkia pulchella
Blue Columbine................... Aquilegia coerulea
Pollen Wasp (Pseudomasaris) Coneflower.......................... Echinacea angustifolia
Don’t be frightened if you see this wasp, it doesn’t Showy Fleabane.................. Erigeron speciosus
eat insects or bite humans, but seeks out flowers for
Missouri Goldenrod............. Solidago missouriensis
pollen. A yellow-jacket look-a-like, pollen wasps can be
identified from other wasps by their clubbed antennae. Scarlet Globemallow............ Sphaeralcea coccinea
Pollen Wasp They’re solitary nesters and you might find their hard Hairy False Goldenaster....... Chrysopsis villosa
(Pseudomasaris) mud nests attached to rocks or twigs. Dotted Blazing Star.............Liatris punctata
Threadleaf Phacelia............. Phacelia linearis
GARDENING Pollen wasps pollinate
Scarlet Gilia........................ Gilia aggregata
penstemons and phacelias.
Maximilian Sunflower......... Helianthus maximiliani
Wilcox’s Penstemon............. Penstemon wilcoxii
Common Yarrow................. Achillea millefolium
13 14
Mourning Cloak
(Nymphalis antiopa)
How do butterflies survive the winter?
Mourning Cloak, Milbert’s Tortoiseshell, and
Anglewing spend the winter as adults, but
most butterflies overwinter as eggs, caterpillars
or pupae. In your garden, tree cavities, leaf
litter and branch piles shelter over-wintering
butterflies from predators and cold weather.
Lolo National Forest
Building 24, Fort Missoula
Missoula, MT 59804
Text: Susan Reel • Design and Illustrations: Nancy Seiler
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