Native plants for pollinators
Most of North America's native bees are solitary, short-lived, and on the wing for only a few weeks — so a pollinator garden works by overlapping bloom, not by any single plant. These are the catalog's species recorded as pollinator forage: nectar and pollen sources for native bees, honey bees, wasps, flies, and beetles. Aim for at least three species in flower at any point from early spring through hard frost, and plant each in a clump rather than one of everything.
Bedfellow lists 1224 of these.
The 30 most-observed are listed here — see all 1224 in search.
- Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
- Large Beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus)
- Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Tufted Evening Primrose (Oenothera caespitosa)
- Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
- Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
- False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum)
- Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
- Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
- Boxelder (Acer negundo)
- Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
- Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)
- Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
- Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans)
- Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
- Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
- Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)
- American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
- Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)
- Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
- Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
- Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
- American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
- American Basswood (Tilia americana)
- Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
- Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
- California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)