How to garden with pollinators in mind this spring

When the first stretch of warm spring weather visits us, the soul is suddenly called to clear house.

Fingers, and especially green thumbs, itch to get rid of the old, to usher in the new, all in the name of spring cleaning, both indoors and outdoors.

But as gardens are turned over from winter to spring, clearing, cutting and cleaning can take food and shelter away from one of the planet’s most essential workers — pollinators.

One out of every three bites of food you eat depends on the work of pollinators, which help plants reproduce, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Pollinators are more than just bumblebees and butterflies. An assortment of other bee species, flies, wasps, beetles, bats, moths, birds and other insects all play an important role in pollinating crops like apples, potatoes, chocolate and coffee.

They “make the world go round,” said entomologist and Woodland Park Zoo curator Erin Sullivan, “and we would definitely notice if they weren’t there. They’re really one of those foundational blocks of ecosystems.”

So, before you go all Edward Scissorhands with the shrubbery this spring, here are some tips for how to garden with these crucial creatures in mind.

Wait! Get to know your garden

Before you head outside, armed to the teeth with tools, pause.

“Be a lazy gardener,” Sullivan said.

Rather than jumping into your garden and doing all the pruning, deadheading and raking, first spend some time learning about the ecosystem that is your garden. 

“Just because there’s a bug in your backyard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a pest,” Sullivan said. “Find out what it is, why it’s there and what it’s doing.”

If you do have a pest or weed, something is out of balance. Take a trip to your local nursery or your neighbor — who may share your garden’s ecosystem from yard to yard — if you need a second source of knowledge to assess and evaluate your existing space. 

Don’t clear that clutter

While taking stock of your garden, your eyes may catch on what is traditionally thought to be unappetizing: the clutter of dead plants. 

But for overwintering pollinators, leaf litter and dead branches are shelter and nesting sites.

Oftentimes, people only think about pollinators in the summer, when they’re busy pollinating the planet. “But pollinators are around all year,” nesting in the ground or in plants, Sullivan said. 

Leaving some areas of your garden temporarily uncultivated, like the back half of a flower bed, ensures you’re not throwing away a home. 

Don’t pull up those weeds, either

Early nectar sources are important for pollinators, so while you leave a little clutter, hold off on pulling up every weed, too.

Flowers that bloom the earliest in spring are typically weeds, Sullivan said, and they provide food for pollinators.

Dandelions, for example, are the most abundant first food for emerging pollinators, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Put the “cides” down

Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, pesticides, insecticides and chemicals in your garden.

These tools are easily available, Sullivan said, “but people don’t often read the instructions. They think if one squirt works, two squirts are better. That’s not the case.”

In fact, applying any chemical “should never be the first course of action,” she said.

Instead, gardeners should analyze their garden to find out what’s inside — and potentially taking it over — to create an action plan. 

Use barriers, like netting, and trap plants — those preferred by pests — to protect your plants and unwanted animals. You can even spray water to “blast” pests off your plants, Sullivan said.

The first line of defense against pesky plants is good ol’ manual weeding. Pull unwanted plants up yourself, plant species that will outcompete weeds, use mulches to cover problem areas and fertilize your soil naturally with compost and old leaves.

adding the zoo only resorts to chemicals when all other methods of getting rid of pesky plants or pests have been exhausted.

Professional gardeners and certified applicators who work in agriculture are at an advantage with chemicals, though, knowing which “cide” is the right one and when and where exactly to apply them.

“Unfortunately, a lot of homeowners don’t have that training or expertise,” said State Sen. Marko Liias, “and particularly in our urban areas where there isn’t enough habitat for pollinators, layering chemicals is a double whammy.”

Liias — who is a self-proclaimed pollinator champion — recently sponsored Senate Bill 5972 to restrict neonicotinoids, or a particularly harmful class of pesticides that kill indiscriminately, exterminating not only pests but also countless pollinators.

Neonicotinoids are absorbed into plants and can be found in their pollen and nectar, which is deadly for the pollinators that feed on them. These chemicals can even wash into drainage systems and end up in rivers, oceans and wetlands, impacting ecosystems beyond their intended targets.

The bill, signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in March, will take these pesticides off Washington shelves and move them into the hands of only certified applicators, ending domestic outdoor use by 2025.

“If you want to use them, you’ll need to call your local pest company and have them come do it for you,” Liias, D-Edmonds, said.

Plant native plants

Your garden doesn’t have to be “all native all the time,” Sullivan said, but native plants go hand-in-hand with Washington’s native pollinators (such as mason bees).

They evolved together, and as such, their ecosystems rely on each other.

As pollinators wake up for spring, they wake up hungry — and native plants are a great source of food. They’re best adapted to local climate and soil conditions, providing better-quality nectar and pollen for pollinators compared to nonnative plants.

In Washington, native plants like willows and poplar trees are also larval hosts for many native butterflies.

said.

Extend the nectar season

Pollinators don’t just need food during the springtime — they need food in the summer and fall, too. 

Extend the nectar season of your garden by planting a variety of flowering plants, a minimum of three species per season.

Pick plants that will survive well and for a long time in your space, as well as some that bloom at different times throughout the growing season. This will provide a continuous source of food for pollinators, which is especially important in urban areas where habitat is scarce. 

“Don’t just plant a monoculture,” Sullivan said. “The more diversity you have in your backyard, the more insect visitors you’ll have. It keeps the whole ecosystem in balance.”

Shift your mindset

Liias encourages gardeners to shift their mindset from striving for a “manicured golf course looking yard” to making things that are good for pollinators “beautiful in the eyes of our community.”

“We need to shift the zeitgeist,” he said, “and let’s make it the goal to have natural, supportive and sustainable landscapes for everything that we live alongside.”

Pollinators are critical creatures, although things that sting often fly a fine line between evoking fear or fascination.

Sullivan encourages gardeners to tune into their fascination because “there’s an entire world out there in your backyards and local parks, even in your hanging baskets or container plants, waiting to be discovered.”