Creating Pollinator-Friendly Gardens

Looking to attract more bees, butterflies, and birds to your yard? Here are a few tips:

• Keep in mind that you don’t want to limit the pollinator-attracting blooms to just the height of summer – think about spring through late fall. There's something magical about seeing the first bees of the season on crocuses!
• Make sure to include lots of native varieties. Often times ‘new and improved’ varieties are bred for certain attributes like colour, height, and form and tend to be sterile. We're proud to carry a large variety of Northern Wildflowers seeds throughout the season.
• Amp up the biodiversity in your yard – bees especially like a wide range of plants to gather nectar and pollen from.
• Think about their shelter as well – some bees nest in rotted logs or in the ground, so if you have an area you can let go a bit wild, let it go!
• Think about adding white clover to your lawn – it’s tough, easy-growing, and wonderful for bees. We carry it in bulk at Southview, and we consistently hear only positive things about it as a grass substitute.
• Provide water sources as well. Birdbaths are great for birds, but consider adding shallow plates of water around for bees to drink from. Add a few rocks on the plate as a landing pad.
• Plant native fruit-bearing plants for birds.
• Encourage other people in your neighbourhood to add vistas of pollinator-attracting plants!

 Here's a list of some of the pollinator-attracting plants you can find at Southview:

Remember that the availability of the above plants varies all season, but adding a few things every season makes a difference!