Best Plants for a Pollinator Strip
A pollinator strip is a narrow planting of flowering plants designed to provide pollen and nectar across the growing season. It can be a 3-foot border along a fence, a strip between a lawn and a property line, or a buffer strip adjacent to a vegetable garden. The key is sequential bloom -- not just.
A pollinator strip is a narrow planting of flowering plants designed to provide pollen and nectar across the growing season. It can be a 3-foot border along a fence, a strip between a lawn and a property line, or a buffer strip adjacent to a vegetable garden. The key is sequential bloom — not just peak-summer flowers, but something blooming from April through October.
Per the Xerces Society, an effective pollinator planting requires: (1) at least three plant species blooming simultaneously at any given time during the season, (2) bloom from early spring through late fall, and (3) plants of sufficient mass (not just single specimens) for pollinators to efficiently forage.
I grow black-eyed Susan, coneflower, and catmint in my back border. All three are in the pollinator strip category. The catmint in particular is heavily visited by bumblebees from the first bloom day in May.
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Early Bloomers (April–May)
Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern Columbine)
Zones 3–8 | Bloom: April–May | Full sun to part shade
Per Missouri Botanical Garden, eastern columbine is one of the first perennials to bloom, providing early nectar for emerging queen bumblebees and ruby-throated hummingbirds. It self-seeds freely in the garden — allow it to colonize naturally. Tolerates dry shade.
Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox)
Zones 3–9 | Bloom: April–May | Part shade
Per Missouri Botanical Garden, woodland phlox produces fragrant lavender flowers attractive to early solitary bees and butterflies. Spreads slowly by stolons to form a mat. Works in the shadier end of a pollinator strip under tree canopy.
Nepeta × faassenii 'Walker's Low' (Catmint)
Zones 4–8 | Bloom: May–June, rebloom August | Full sun
I grow catmint in my main border and it is the most heavily visited plant in my yard from the day it opens. Per Missouri Botanical Garden, catmint is exceptionally attractive to bumblebees, small native bees, and honeybees. Not a native plant, but an outstanding pollinator resource.
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