What Plants are Good for Pollinators in Utah?
“What flowers should I plant in Utah for pollinators?
I want to take a minute to talk about pollinators and flowers. There’s so much love among the “natural living gardeners” for dandelions. Yes, (Taraxacum officinale) does attract some bees in the spring, but honestly, I rarely seem them hanging out on the dandelions. I think it’s a bit too dry and windy here.
Pollinators are looking for nectar and pollen when they go to flowers. So any flowers that have more of a cup or tube shape, that can keep the nectar and pollen moist, seems to attract them more.
Spring Flowers
violets
lilacs
forsythia
fruit tree flowers- apples, peaches, cherries etc.
Summer Flowers:
Over the years I’ve found that various wild bees and wasps love the herb garden the most. They like when there is an abundance of flowers all together. Plants like echinacea, St. John’s wort and mints that have started to flower get absolutely overwhelmed with pollinators looking for the good stuff.
A few easy tips for helping the pollinators:
Grow plants that will flower in sucession
Let somethings go to seed, like parsley or lettuce
Plant lots of herbs so you can let some of them flower
If you have space grow squash. Squash blossoms produce a lot of pollen. As well as holly cocks and mallow and okra
If you really want to make the bees happy, grow some corn. Bees and wasps go nuts over the flowering corn tassels
Make sure to have some water around for them to drink too
The University of Utah extension office has a fabulous guide to native bees. With great pictures. Also if you want to plant flowers for the native bees and want it to be a native flower garden this pdf is great too.
What’s your experience with pollinators? Let me know in the comment below!
