Love strawberries? Chocolate? Coffee? Almonds?
Thank pollinators.
Honeybees, butterflies, and hummingbirds aren’t just flying around out there for fun. They’re doing really important work, pollinating plants.
They could use your help.
Let’s learn more about pollinators in Florida, including:
- Why Plant for Florida Pollinators?
- What Plants Attract Bees in Florida?
- How to Make a Pollinator Garden in Florida?
- Bring on the Butterflies: How to Attract These Florida Pollinators
- Attract Birds with Native Plants
- Double-Check with Central Florida Landscaping Services
- Help Florida Pollinators by Managing Insects & Pests
- How to Make a Pollinator Garden in Florida? Trust Ground Source
To create a pollinator garden in Florida, start by selecting plants that produce seeds, fruit, foliage, flowers, or berries to provide food for pollinators.
From there, native plants can be incorporated to support local ecosystems. Ensure water sources are available for thirsty pollinators, such as rain gardens or birdbaths.
Additionally, limit chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides in your garden to create a safer environment for these vital creatures.
Read on to learn more.
Why Plant for Florida Pollinators?
Pollinators visit flowers as they look for nectar and pollen to eat. As they’re munching, they often accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from flower to flower.
Those plants use the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Many plants can’t reproduce without pollen carried to them this way.
So bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are pollinating crops — all the good stuff you love to eat, from strawberries and melon to almonds, coffee and chocolate.
However, these critical pollinators face many challenges, from habitat loss and disease to parasites and environmental contaminants.
Pollinators that can’t find food don’t survive. They need more plants. You can help, by planting some of the best plants for pollinators in Florida as part of your landscape design.
What Plants Attract Bees in Florida?
Lots of Florida plants are delicious to bees, including:
- Cannas
- Coral honeysuckle
- Marigolds
- Passionflower
- Pentas
- Purple coneflower
- Basil
- Mint
- Oregano
- Cilantro
- Saw palmetto
- Walter’s viburnum
Adding one or more of these to your gardens will create a landing spot for beneficial insects.
How to Make a Pollinator Garden in Florida?
It’s easier than you might think. Follow these tips:
Think in Threes
Plant in groups of at least three of the same plant. It makes it easier for Florida pollinators to see and smell them.
Mix It Up
Use a variety of plants. Different plant heights, shapes, colors, and growth habits support more pollinators. Mix annuals, perennials, and herbs for the best plants for pollinators in Florida.
Include Native Plants
All Florida pollinators love natives.
Plant in Layers for Shelter
Combine tall plants like trees, medium-sized shrubs, and low-growing ground covers to create multiple levels of shelter for pollinators to rest and hide from predators.
Provide Water
Set out a shallow dish or birdbath filled with a small amount of fresh water. Add rocks, pebbles, shells or twigs to create landing spots so they can drink safely without drowning. Place it in a sunny area near flowers and change the water regularly to prevent mosquito breeding.
Plant in Full or Partial Sun
Butterflies and other Florida pollinators like to bask in the sun.
Leave the Seeds
After your flowers bloom and go to seed, leave the seed heads for your Florida pollinator friends.
Bring on the Butterflies: How to Attract These Florida Pollinators
Butterflies love Florida. More than 200 species are here, including some not found anywhere else in the world.
How can you help them? Give them plants they love. What are the best plants for pollinators in Florida? A few Florida plants are top priority for butterflies.
Milkweed is the required host plant for caterpillars of the monarch butterfly, so it plays a critical role in the monarch’s life cycle. Florida is home to more than 20 milkweed species, and almost all are native Florida plants.
However, milkweed is disappearing in the monarch’s spring and summer breeding areas across the U.S., which means the vibrant butterflies are in danger.
Fortunately, there are other great plants all butterflies love:
- Fakahatchee Grass
- Mums
- Marigolds
- Firecracker plant
- Walter’s viburnum
- Dill
- Parsley
Passionflower is the host plant for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, so it’s a must-have for your Central Florida pollinator garden.
Coontie is the favorite food for larvae of the rare Atala butterfly. This rare butterfly once thought to be extinct, is making a comeback thanks to the popularity of Coontie in Florida landscaping.
Attract Birds with Native Plants
Plants native to Florida not only provide better food and cover for birds than non-native plants, but they do you a favor, too. They need less water and fertilizer and are more resistant to pests and diseases.
Stock up on these native plants to attract birds:
Double-Check with Central Florida Landscaping Services
What plants are good for pollinating? Plenty of plant lists pop up if you hit Google looking for plants that attract Florida pollinators.
But not every plant on these lists will thrive in your yard or even in Central Florida.
Black-eyed Susan, for instance, doesn’t do well this far south.
A Central Florida landscape designer can steer you to Florida plants that will attract your fluttery friends, thrive in your yard, and suit your exact landscaping needs.
Help Florida Pollinators by Managing Insects & Pests Responsibly
The chemicals that keep insects from damaging your plants can hurt pollinators, too. Use them responsibly.
Integrated Pest Management is a strategy that helps gardeners manage pests with as few chemicals as possible. Select pest-resistant plants in suitable locations to prevent disease and insect outbreaks. When problems do arise, remove the affected leaves or plant parts, or pick the insects off by hand.
When battling bugs, spot-treat only rather than blanket spraying, and use selective rather than broad-spectrum insecticides.
Avoid spraying plants while they’re flowering and always read and follow insecticide label directions.
How to Make a Pollinator Garden in Florida? Trust Ground Source
What plants are good for pollinating? How to incorporate a pollinator garden so it looks good in your Central Florida landscaping?
Let us help, with expert planting and landscape design in Orlando and Central Florida.
We’ll have your yard brimming with berries, stuffed with seeds, and offering cozy shelter for your Florida pollinator pals.
And the same plants and flowers that bees, birds and butterflies love will bring beauty to your landscaping, too.
: let us transform your yard into a place you can't wait to spend every spare minute.
Are you ready to enjoy the vibrant, impressive yard you've always wanted? Request a quote today! We’ll help you review your options and then transform your property.
