How to Create a Pollinator-Friendly Garden in Northern Nevada

Pollinator Week may come around once a year, but bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators need welcoming spaces throughout the growing season.

Creating a pollinator-friendly garden doesn't require starting over or transforming your entire yard. A few thoughtful choices can add color and interest to your landscape while providing food and habitat for the creatures that visit it.

Here are some simple ways to make your Northern Nevada garden more pollinator-friendly.

Plant for a Longer Blooming Season

Rather than planting everything for one spectacular burst of color, try choosing plants with different bloom times.

Having something flowering from spring through fall provides a more consistent food source for visiting pollinators.

Some plants to explore include:

• Spring: Blue flax and other early-blooming perennials
• Summer: Blanketflower, milkweed and penstemon
• Fall: Rabbitbrush, goldenrod and other late-season bloomers

Exact bloom times vary with weather, elevation, variety and conditions in your particular garden.

Mix Up Your Flower Shapes

Different flower shapes appeal to different visitors.

Open or clustered flowers such as yarrow provide accessible landing areas for many insects, while tubular flowers such as penstemon are particularly well suited to hummingbirds and long-tongued pollinators.

A garden containing different shapes, heights and bloom styles creates more opportunities for a variety of visitors.

Think in Color

Color can play a role in attracting pollinators, too.

Bees can be particularly responsive to flowers in blue, violet and yellow ranges, while hummingbirds are famously attracted to brightly colored tubular flowers, including reds and pinks.

But you don't have to design your garden according to a strict pollinator color chart. A diverse mixture of flowers is good for the garden—and usually looks pretty great to humans, too.

Include Native and Regionally Adapted Plants

Native plants can be excellent additions to pollinator gardens because of the relationships they've developed with local wildlife.

But your garden doesn't have to be exclusively native to be useful.

Many well-adapted non-native plants can also provide nectar or pollen while performing beautifully in Northern Nevada. The important thing is choosing plants appropriate for your site's sunlight, soil, water availability and temperature extremes.

Choose Plants That Can Handle Our Climate

Northern Nevada gardening comes with intense sun, dry air, temperature swings and limited water.

Plants that tolerate heat and relatively dry conditions can reduce the amount of intervention required to keep a garden thriving.

Remember, though, that drought-tolerant doesn't mean no-water, especially when a plant is newly installed. Even drought-tolerant plants generally need consistent attention while their root systems become established.

Don't Make the Garden Too Perfect

A little imperfection can be good for wildlife.

Leaving some healthy seed heads standing after flowers fade can provide food and winter interest. Plant stems and other garden material can also provide habitat for insects.

That doesn't mean abandoning garden cleanup entirely. Remove diseased material and manage anything that could cause problems, but consider whether every faded flower or dry stem really needs to disappear immediately.

Start Small and Build From There

You don't need acres of wildflowers to create a useful pollinator space.

Start with a sunny garden bed, a border, or even a few containers. Add plants with different bloom times and gradually build a landscape that works for both you and the wildlife around you.

If you're looking for plants suited to Northern Nevada's high-desert growing conditions, stop by Bonsai Blue Garden Market. Our selection changes throughout the season, and we're happy to help you explore options for your space.