Gardening: Plant early bloomers to help pollinators

In mid-March, a friend showed me some pictures of her honey bees coming back to the hive with full loads of yellow pollen tucked along their legs.

My friend lives near the Spokane River and the bees had harvested pollen, probably from willows, they found growing along the river. This illustrates the importance of creating pollinator gardens that have something blooming as early as possible in the spring to get insects off to a good start.

We are all aware that providing habitat for pollinators is a critical component of a healthy garden. Many important pollinators are struggling to survive as cities grow and break up natural habitat. No single gardener can save the pollinators, but together our gardens can become important refuges for our beleaguered helpers.

As my friend’s bees illustrate, we need to consider planting early blooming plants to provide for the insects. As bulbs are often the earliest plants to bloom, plant snowdrops (Galanthus), winter aconite (Eranthis), crocuses (Crocus), Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), glory of the snow (Chionodoxa), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) or miniature iris (Iris reticulata). Snowdrops, crocus and miniature iris are the earliest to bloom and the others follow in succession into May. Unfortunately, bulbs are only available in the fall, so make notes where you can plant them and place your order when the bulbs become available.

In the shrub department, the earliest bloomers to consider are pussy willows, filbert trees, lily of the valley shrub (Pieris), red- and yellow-flowering currant and Oregon grape. While most willows are useful to pollinators, the pussy willow is probably the most practical plant to establish in a home garden. Its catkins provide both nectar and pollen. This plant is best set where it gets plenty of moisture and has room to grow. Blooming stems make good cut flowers. Be aware though, willows are a favorite food of deer.

There are several varieties of filbert trees that provide early pollinator food. If you have lots of room, hazelnut trees will give the pollinators what they need, and you can harvest the nuts. You will need to plant two varieties, however, to get nuts and have a good plan to outsmart the squirrels. Two smaller ornamental filberts that fit nicely into a garden are witch hazel and the contorted filbert. Both are small trees with interesting branching patterns. The lily of the valley shrub is an evergreen shrub that produces clusters of white flowers that are popular with pollinators. In our climate they need protection from cold winter winds and do best in well drained, moist and acidic soil.

Early perennials to consider include hellebores, lungwort (Pulmonaria), bleeding hearts, ajuga and – wait for it – dandelions. Hellebores or Lenten roses are the earliest followed by dandelions, lungwort, bleeding hearts and ajuga. Dandelions with their flat pollen-ladened flowers and penchant for growing everywhere are especially important to emerging pollinators. Let them grow until the flowers start fading then mow up the seed heads and put them in the trash.