Want to grow a native pollinator garden but are uncertain where to begin? The Xerces Society has you covered!
Want to grow a native pollinator garden but are uncertain where to begin? The Xerces Society has you covered!
Disclaimer: data only available for the lower 48 United States, although Southern Canada and Northern Mexico should be able to extrapolate
The Xerces Society is an insect conservation nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon. They engage in a variety of work to protect native insects, including publishing resources for the general public.
One such resource are their Native Plants for Pollinators and Beneficial Insects guides, which are curated illustrated lists of plants broken down by geographic region. The lists include basic growing conditions info for each species, as well as some info on how the plants benefit insects. They even have separate lists specifically for supporting the endangered monarch butterfly.
If you're a native plant fanatic like me you can cross-reference their lists with the USDA Plants Database (I wrote about that other great resource in this post here) to verify if the Xerces-recommended plants are native to your county, however the Xerces lists are broken up into relatively small regions so you're unlikely to cause damage or introduce problematic species even if it's not technically native to your specific county.
I hope y'all find these lists as useful/inspiring as I have!
As a person who typically has a brown thumb, are there anyone who sells seed bombs with regional seeds? If I can just toss some in the general area and have a modest chance of something growing, it might be more successful. I dont know where to find the seeds for native species or how to grow them properly, etc., so a toss and go solution would be ideal.
I don't know of any seed bomb companies per se, but there are numerous plants that I can think of off the top of my head that grow relatively easily from seed, even with minimal care. Can't give you any specific recommendations without knowing where you live, but in my experience where I live (PNW) fireweed, lupine, yarrow, rabbit brush, milkweed, and selfheal are easy to grow from seed. Miner's lettuce also grows easily from seed, although I don't know if it's beneficial to insects (the leaves are edible, however! Hence the name)
For where to source the seeds, it's best to find a place as close as possible to where you live. Plant starts are expensive to buy online (cuz shipping) but seeds are usually pretty cheap. Some example companies I've bought from before that have expansive native seed catalogues: https://westernnativeseed.com (Colorado), https://klamathsiskiyouseeds.com/ (South-Central Oregon), and http://www.insidepassageseeds.com/ (NW Washington). There are some directories of native seed companies out there, but many are out of date. Best bet is to do an Internet search for [your state] + native seeds and see what pops up, or to search for [desired plant] + seed for sale and select the location closest to you. Most of these companies are passionate and knowledgeable about native plants and may be able to give you curated advice on the easiest-to-grow seeds they carry for your region.
Thank you for the resources! I'm in SE Pennsylvania. I did see some have "weed' in the name so they sound like they should be easy to grow, just nothing I've ever seen in a garden center or the seed station at one of the garden sections of a mega store. I'll have to see what I can find. I'm semi-rural so there should be some good patched to plant these things, I just dont know where to get them or how to start them. I know some stuff can be transplanted, but others cant and I dont really know how to tell.