Many gardeners want to create pollinator friendly gardens because butterflies and bees add to the health of a garden as well as it’s appearance. Water sources and other garden features are helpful, as are garden practices that encourage rather than harm pollinators.

Now, what to plant. You can find a variety of lists of plants for pollinator friendly gardens on the internet (here, here and here) and in books, such as local author Heather Holm’s Pollinators of Native Plants.

Here’s a short list (see the photo gallery for some images) from Julia Bohnen, who spoke at last week’s Protect the Pollinators conference at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Trees: Aspen, birch, wild cherry, basswood and oaks.

Shrubs: Blackberry, bush honeysuckle, gooseberry, roses (single flowered, such as rugosa roses), wild plum, dogwood, elderberry, New Jersey tea and viburnum.

Grasses: Hairy grama, sideoats grama, little bluestem, prairie dropseed.

Sedge: Pennsylvania sedge.

Perennials (forbs): Aster, coneflower, sneezeweed (Helenium), gray-headed coneflower, black-eyed Susans, cup plant, Liatris (“as many species as possible), goldenrod (but not Canada goldenrod), milkweed, Verbena bonariensis.

Annuals: Lots of lobelia, salvia, bidens, heirloom/open pollinated zinnias.

What plants in your garden do the pollinators love?