Favorite Things

Top Ten Early Spring Blooming Plants for Pollinators

Now that spring has sprung, are you eager to invite warm weather wildlife back to your garden? Try out these top ten early spring blooming plants for pollinators. These plants don’t just look beautiful in the garden, they are especially valuable because they provide nectar for bees and other hungry pollinators when next to nothing else has started blooming. They all begin to bloom before May, so they’re not just nice for the bees, they’re a treat for the spring giddy gardener as well!

1. Glory of the snow – Chionodoxa forbesii

USDA Zones 3-8. Sun to part sun. Glory-of-the-Snow bulbs produce plants that are about 6” tall.

Glory-of-the-Snow are early bloomers and are absolutely beautiful! The picture above just doesn’t do them justice! They are one of the very earliest spring blooming plants for pollinators. They start to bloom by the beginning of April, if not a bit earlier when planted in warm, sunny spots. Bees LOVE these flowers. As soon as mine start blooming, I consistently have bees in my yard for the rest of the season, because by the time these stop blooming, many other plants have started their flower show. They spread reliably over the years. The foliage dies back and the plants go into dormancy around the start of the summer. These bulbs are a great way to please both bees and gardeners!

Top Ten Ways to Draw Winter Wildlife to Your Yard

Got the winter blahs? Draw winter wildlife to your yard to wipe away the gloom! You may already know this, but I am a huge proponent of gardening for wildlife. For one thing, I believe that I owe it to the wildlife living in this area. After all, we only paid off humans when we bought our property – the wildlife was left out of the negotiations. But gardening for wildlife is also a selfish act on my part. Having wildlife in my yard makes those long winter months so much more entertaining. Instead of seeing an empty garden, with nothing to look at but dormant plants, my garden is full of life, making the season so much more bearable for an eager gardener. And a yard that is robust with wildlife tends to be a healthy yard. A diverse wildlife community within your garden will keep the ecosystem in better harmony than a garden that is constantly struggling for balance by use of pesticides and herbicides (and you won’t be introducing toxins into the food chain!)