As a gardening expert with more than a decade of experience, I field a lot of questions. Like “How do I get mums to flower again?” and “Why does my houseplant look like this?” Lately, interest has skewed toward adding native plants, welcoming pollinators, growing vegetables, and making lawns more eco-friendly. These admirable ideas are all good for the planet and its creatures, and they’re fairly easy to pull off, so I dug up tips that shed some (sun)light on them. Let’s grow!
The bees (and the butterflies, moths, wasps, and hummingbirds) need you! Make smart planting choices now to get your yard buzzworthy.
Go for Diversity
To attract lots of different insects and birds, you need plants with a variety of colors and shapes, says Katie Tamony, chief marketing officer at Monrovia, which sells 22 million plants every year. Bees and butterflies tend to dig plants in the aster family, like zinnias. Bees seem to especially love flowers with a large surface to land on, like sunflowers and coneflowers. Tubular flowers, like those in the salvia family, are a respite for hummingbirds because of their shape.
Plant in Three Stages
Very few plants flower for months on end, so stagger the bloom times in your garden. That way, your winged friends will have soft places to land on through the fall. Tamony says to head to your local garden center, check tags, and buy some plants that are early blooming (meaning early spring), some that are long blooming (from around May through summer), and some that are late blooming (peaking in late summer and fall, with some lasting until frost). “This will likely include a mix of perennials, flowering shrubs, and wildflowers,” says Allison McManus, coauthor of The First Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers.
Resist the Urge to Clear Things Out
Pollinator gardens can get messy, and that’s more than OK, says Tess Kuracina, director of living collections and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City. In fact, it’s ideal. “Pollinators need the nectar and pollen from flowers, but they also need a place to hunker down for the winter,” she says. In late fall, leave beds alone (don’t even trim stems!) to create a winter habitat.
Just Add Rosemary
Kathy Jentz, author of the book Groundcover Revolution, recommends growing creeping rosemary, which can have a long blooming season and be put to good use in your kitchen. “It attracts various pollinators, such as hummingbirds and butterflies, and is not palatable to deer and rabbits due to its fragrant oils,” she says.
Give Trees a Chance
Look beyond flowers (and rosemary) and consider trees. Go for an oak variety that thrives in your region—there are more than 600 species worldwide, and they can support pollinators and other wildlife.
THIS PAGE: KINDRA CLINEFF. OPPOSITE PAGE: JUSTIN COIT
“Natives” is an umbrella term for plants that are indigenous to your area. That means they’re already adapted to your climate, may require less tending, and are amenable to your pollinators.
Investigate Your Yard
Not sure what’s currently growing out there? There’s an app for that! And it’s free! With Seek (iOS and Android), just take a photo of a plant and the app will ID it for you. You may already be growing an abundance of natives that you can propagate and make the stars of your yard. Some nonnatives are fine to keep; contact your local cooperative extension service (search those three words and your town) to learn about invasive species to weed out.
Meet the Locals
To discover more options for your area, ask the pros at your local nursery. And arm yourself with extra knowledge by pulling up the Native Plant Finder from the National Wildlife Federation (nwf.org/nativeplantfinder). Input your zip code to see flowers, grasses, trees, and shrubs that are local to you.
Search & Rescue
Some local native plant societies (find them on the American Horticultural Society website at ahsgardening.org) sponsor plant rescues, where people are invited to dig up desirable plants from land slated for development and take them home. Just BYOS: Bring your own shovel.
Spare yourself the irritation of irrigation! Plan for a lawn and garden that thrive with little supplemental water— great for the environment and your utility bill.
Adjust Your Mower
The super-popular No Mow May was created with pollinators in mind. The idea is to let your lawn grow wild all month, allowing flowers to bloom in the grass. When you do decide to mow, cut it short to save water. Adjust the blade height to somewhere between 2½ and 4 inches. This gives water easier access to the grass’s root system for a more drought-tolerant lawn.
Sow Something New & Different
Forget about the iconic green lawn. A lot of groundcover options can thrive under drier conditions. “Select a species that will go dormant, then recover when the rain returns,” says Craig McManus, who hosts The Garden Question podcast. Bermuda and buffalo grasses can do well in places like Arizona because they tolerate drier climates.
Lessen the Lawn
Grass lawns are time-consuming water hogs (they can require about an inch of H2O a week). Turn some of your grassy plot into one of the gardens mentioned in this story. “Any lawn space you can convert into garden space is going to be much better in terms of your water use and your resources in general,” Kuracina says. And yay! Less mowing on your chore list!
Homegrown produce just tastes better than the grocery store stuff. Try these tips to turn any plot into an ultra-local farm.
Test Your Soil
Veggies are picky about their nutrients, so get a soil test kit from your local cooperative extension service to ensure your dirt has enough potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. A kit can cost as little as $10, and the results will tell you which nutrients are in your soil and what you need to add in terms of fertilizer. If you’re an urban dweller, your test might alert you to the presence of heavy metals or other contaminants, Kuracina says. “In this case, you would want to grow in raised beds or containers so you can bring in fresh soil.”
Start with Seedlings
What’s easier than growing a plant from seed? Buying one that’s already got some leaf to it. Tomatoes take time to get going—so the shortcut may be what you need to succeed. Other nightshades, like bell peppers and eggplants, grow well from seedlings too (find them at your local garden center). Root vegetables, however— like carrots, radishes, parsnips, and beets—tend to do best when started from seed, as they don’t like their roots disturbed.
Find Thyme
Most of the veggies you know and love need at least six hours of sunlight. If you have limited space and limited sun (or just want to start with an easy win to get your confidence up), herbs are a good bet, Tamony says. They can be grown in beds or containers, and they’re great companion plants because most of them are respectful of one another’s space. Thyme, oregano, and rosemary are all perennials, so they should come back for at least a few seasons.
THIS PAGE: DOREEN WYNJA/EYEOFTHELADY.COM. OPPOSITE PAGE: DANA GALLAGHER