From the Ground Up: Start creating a pollinator habitat with 5 low maintenance blooms

Spring is here and pollinators like carpenter and bumble bees, along with swallowtail and cabbage white butterflies are out. The first spring flowers are so valued because they establish a resident bee population needed for the growing season. You might not be thrilled to know that those bright yellow dandelions and creeping Charlie purple blooms are pollinators' food. Spring bulbs also are a favorite too.

There are hundreds of early flowering plants that attract pollinators, but I've identified a few favorites, which are proven attractors of pollinator insects. These plants are early bloomers, perennials, and have small flowers in clusters. Compact flowering plants like marsh marigold can host scores of bees working the plant at the same time. These perennials are also hardy with low maintenance. They may need a deadhead after flowering, but otherwise they're easy to grow. Some even repeat flower. Here are five lesser known spring nectar plants:

Heather

Heather is a hardy perennial that's one of the earliest blooming spring plants. It has a clumping conformation, with thousands of small flowers which can occupy many bees at once. The nearby fruit trees start to bloom about two weeks after the heather, so the newly resident bees naturally migrate toward the fruit tree blooms right on schedule.

Rockcress

Rockcress produces a dense profusion of small, fragrant blooms ranging in color from white through lavender, and will bloom continually well into summer. The compact flowering mass grows in a low mound, and attracts a steady flow of bees, insects, butterflies and hummingbirds. Rockcress is hardy and thrives in poor quality soil, so it works well in hard to grow full sun areas.

English lavender

English lavender, a strongly aromatic evergreen shrub that produces thousands of small blooms, attracts bees throughout its growing cycle. Commonly grown as an ornamental and deer resistant, it flowers for over a month, alive and buzzing with bumblebees and small native bees. Butterflies also are regular visitors to the English lavender. Grow lavender in full sun. English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, grows to a height and width of about 3 feet tall and does well in containers.

Columbine

Columbine is perfect for rock gardens, woodlands and borders. Although short-lived in the spring, it provides an early stop for pollinators to enjoy. There are lots of varieties, including native species and they handle some shade.

Muscari

Muscari, or grape hyacinth, are charming little purple or white blooms that are one of the earliest garden flowers to bloom in spring. These bulbs produce spikes tiny, downward-facing, bell-shaped flowers which are ideal for attracting pollinators to the garden.

Spend your spring learning about the plants you have, and those you would like to add to your backyard pollinator habitat. For a complete list for our region, visit the Xerces Society Guide to Attracting Native Pollinators, and get started planting for pollinators.

l For gardening questions, call the Linn County Extension Master Gardener Hortline at (319) 447-0647.