Butterflies and bees and other pollinators are “waking up” right now, in spring, and it’s time to give them a hand. How? Sow native wildflowers in your garden in April, to feed them when they most need it.
“Why native,” you may ask? Pollinators don’t always like “foreign food”; they prefer local flowers, which they recognize easily. Let’s also remember that nectar of different varieties has different flavors for them, so, bees, beetles and butterflies sometimes prefer bloom over another.
There’s another reason why native wildflowers are always a great choice, for beginners and experts alike: they are suitable to the climate and they really enhance the environment – they work well with other native plants, from shrubs to trees.
If you also want to add some foreign varieties, fine. But remember one key rule for pollinators: single flowers are better than double ones, because they find them easier to access.
Wildflowers also bloom for a long time, and they are easy to grow – sometimes they require no maintenance at all! So, on top of keeping your garden healthy and alive with wildlife, helping Mother Nature, and getting more fruits in your green corner of heaven, you will get a sea of blossoms for little work.
And if you thought that attracting pollinators means choosing “lookalike” varieties, think again. Because you can be as creative or “whimsical” as you want!
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Native to almost all the United States (except the far West and deep South) wild bergamot would be my first choice as a wildflower to grow for pollinators in my garden. It attracts lots of bees and butterflies, but also hummingbirds (they pollinate as well)!
What’s more it is a long bloomer – from July to September non-stop. The stems have bright green lance shaped and veined leaves, and they end up in the final “neon sign” to attract pollinators, 2 to 4 feet from the soil (60 to 120 cm): the flowers.
While they may not look “showy” to us, the pretty and natural looking clusters of florets are what pollinators are looking for: many tubular little flowers arranged in a round crown, which, for them, means lots of meals!
In fact, you will see pollinators circling the 1 to 3 inches in diameter (2.5 to 7.5 cm), wild bergamot’s clusters, popping from one floret to the next. And the delicate lavender, pink, or pale purple shades of the blooms is the perfect backdrop to appreciate your winged visitors.
Wild bergamot naturalizes easily, so you may only have to surface sow it this April, spacing the seeds 12 to 24 inches apart (30 to 60 cm).
Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Shall we look at a real native star? Meet lanceleaf coreopsis from the West of the US, but adaptable to all states. A close relative to the more famous tickseed we see in many gardens, it has a special feature, and the clue is in the name: the leaves are lance shaped…
Easy to find, it is also easy to grow and it will regale you with loads of bright yellow blooms and very soon. In fact, it will start flowering as early as May and, as long as you deadhead the spent blossoms, it will keep going till September.
Easy to grow and perfect for wild prairies, but also beds, borders and containers, it grows to 1 to 2 feet tall (30 to 60 cm), so you can attract pollinators, especially bees and butterflies, even in a small garden!
The 1 to 2 inches wide (2.5 to 5.0 cm) blooms are bright golden yellow, daisy like but with a wilder, more rebellious personality, thanks to their fringed petals.
To bring pollinators and sunshine to your garden with lanceleaf coreopsis, spread the seeds about 12 inches apart (30 cm) and gently press them in the soil right now, in April – it will self-seed next year.
Blue Flax (Linum lewisii)
Blue flax provides food for pollinators, especially native bees, but also for your family, as its seeds are edible when cooked – an excellent multipurpose wildflower to sow in April!
It also grows well in harsh conditions, like in shade, slopes woodlands and even dry soil. A no-fuss native wildflower from North America you can now find in many gardens. The original plant has light blue blossoms from May to July, but there are now cultivars in white, deep blue and purple. I’m sure pollinators won’t mind a change of color.
Still, they all preserve the sweet rounded shape of the 1 to 2 inches wide (2.5 to 5.0 cm) blooms, growing on top of stems with thin, elegant leaves.
It is also compact, up to 1 to 2 feet tall (30 to 60 cm), which makes it ideal for flower beds, border fronts but also containers. Just sow it in April, 1/8 to ¼ inches deep (0.3 to 0.6 cm) and 8 to 12 inches apart (20 to 30 cm), and don’t water it too much, because it prefers dry soil.
Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris spicata / pycnostachya)
I am sure you have seen prairie blazing star in many gardens, but maybe you didn’t know that it is a wildflower native to the Mississippi River Valley?
Its striking long, upright and fluffy plumes that rise to 2 to 4 feet tall (60 to 120 cm) are really eye-catching, for us, as well as for all sorts of pollinators. They are actually of many tightly packed small florets that start opening at the bottom in July and they keep going up and up till September.
Prairie blazing star’s blooms are usually mauve and in the bright purplish range, but you can find white varieties on the market as well nowadays. The dense tuft of long leaves at the bottom brings the many rising spikes together wonderfully.
It definitely prefers full Sun, but it is not fussy about maintenance, and it is equally suitable for wildflower prairies, borders and flower beds.
Sow it in April ¼ inches deep and 10 to 15 inches apart (25 to 37.5 cm), and enjoy the spectacle.
New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
New England aster is one of the many varieties of aster you can easily find in gardens, but did you notice that it’s got a weird scientific name, Symphyotrichum? Try to read it at your peril, just know that it means that it’s the species native to North America.
For this reason, it is ideal for local pollinators, as we said, and you will feed them late in the season, because it blooms from August to October… And you will have a “special dinner guest” in your garden too: Monarch butterflies!
The daisy shaped blossoms come in the usual aster range: bluish, violet, purplish, but also pale pink – that’s an extra bonus.
Pinch the stems to make it bushier and get more blooms (and pollinators) later in the season. It can grow to 3 to even 6 feet tall (90 to 120 cm), so, it is ideal for borders or as a vibrant frame to a wildflower garden.
Surface sow it in full Sun with a spacing of at least 18 inches (45 cm) and you will get pollinators even late in the season.
Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnaris)
Mexican hat is another native wildflower that has made it into nurseries and gardens. It originates from the whole of North America, so it is ideal for local pollinators.
But what a finny name! Well, it looks like a Mexican hat indeed, with the long central cone and the floppy petals all around it. They come in yellow or deep ruby red, and there are many bicolor varieties, and each flower head can be 1 to 2 inches across (2.5 to 5.0 cm).
But don’t be deceived, if we are taken by the colorful petals, for pollinators, these are only “street directions” because it is the cone they are after! Yes, they are made up of lots of tiny little florets, each with its sip of nectar.
The stems rise to 2 to 3 feet (30 to 90 cm) and they offer a striking contrast with the blooms, as they are slim and with very finely cut leaves.
Sow Mexican hat in April, 1/8 inch deep (0.3 cm) and 12 inches apart (30 cm) and you will feed pollinators from June to September.
Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
If on top of attracting pollinators, you want to grow an extravagant native wildflower, showy milkweed may be the variety you are looking for.
While it is called showy, the clusters of star shaped flowers that bloom from June to August are better described ass dainty. The buds are deep pink, but the actual blossoms pale to off white.
What’s striking about this plant is that they are set against very lush, pointed foliage in deep green, with clear fishbone veins running along them.
It grows with a bushy habit to 2 to 4 feet tall, but I would worry more about its “lateral” growth. In fact, it will naturalize easily in zones 3 to 9 and spread via rhizomes. So, you may have to cut it back.
But this is the only drawback of this West Coast native. Otherwise, it is excellent for beds and borders and even large containers, as long as you sow it in April, placing the seeds ¼ inch deep (0.6 cm) and 18 to 24 inches apart (45 to 60 cm).
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
Why is blue vervain great for pollinators? Because its flowers keep opening from June to September – and they know it. So, they will keep coming back to your garden.
Native to the whole of North America, blue vervain has now become a fairly popular garden plant, thanks to its long spikes of tubular florets in (you guessed) blue but also purple that start opening at the bottom and then they slowly climb up to the slender tips. And you get lots of spikes for each plant.
It reaches 3 to 5 feet tall (90 to 150 cm) and it has a bushy habit, which you can encourage by pinching off the tips in May. The leaves are lush and pointed, very suited to the inflorescences.
Low maintenance, it can also grow in wet soil and part shade, so, it is a good native wildflower choice if your garden’s conditions are not ideal.
Surface sow it with a spacing of 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) and it will do all the rest of the job.
Blanket Flower (Gaillardia pulchella)
Here’s another native “weed” that has become a garden flower – and it will attract lots of local pollinators of course: blanket flower.
Like all daisy like flowers, it can fool us to think that it is just one bloom, but for bees and butterflies it means “lots of meals”! Yes, because the central part is made up of many tiny florets, each a little “glass of nectar for them”.
Then you can pick any variety you want, fully yellow, orange or red, or in any bicolor combination you want – you will still get an energetic display of blossoms up to 3 inches wide (7.5 cm) all the way from June to October!
Super easy to grow, it is also drought tolerant – so don’t worry if you forget it in the summer Sun, as long as you deadhead it, so it keeps giving and attracting tiny winged visitors to your garden.
Fairly compact, it grows in containers, border fronts or flower beds, but it’s always best to group sow it, to enhance its vibrant sunny effect, and how? Just take a seed, press it gently in the soil and plant the next 12 inches (30 cm) away.
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
I had to close with a classic, especially if you want Monarch butterflies in your garden: butterfly weed.
Call it a weed… It’s a gorgeous indigenous wildflower with flaming orange clusters of blooms that last from June to August. No wonder butterflies are attracted to them. But it’s not just the color. Because the many florets are tubular, only butterflies find it easier reach deep down to its nutrient-rich nectar. That’s because they a have long “tongue” (proboscis, actually).
This classic will bloom from June to August, showing its blossoms on top of stems with lance shaped leaves that reach 1 to 2.5 feet tall (30 to 80 cm).
And don’t worry if you live in a dry state or region, this wildflower is drought tolerant as well – excellent for xeric gardening too.
One thing though, it doesn’t like transplanting, so you will have to sow it in April just pressing the seeds into the soil and keeping them 12 to 18 inches apart (30 to 45 cm).
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.