Are you thinking about gardening this Spring? Why not make a plan to plant for pollinators with native flowers and trees in the Northland.

Eager green thumbs learned which flowers to plant and which to avoid at the Mount Royal Library. Amy Westbrook with Northern Native Gardens said it’s all about connecting which plant to their pollinator.

“Native Lupinus Perennis is a big one for early season that people should really have in their gardens. It will really bring the bees. Make sure that it’s always the native version and not the alternative perennial version,” Westbrook said. “Another one would be Golden Alexander is something that I highly recommend. Go ahead and get in some milkweeds for later on.”

Westbrook also said even though there might still be some snow in April it’s never to early to start planting.

“I would also say Coneflowers are more early than late season. Those are highly, highly valuable for a lot of different insects,” Westbrook said. “An oak tree is going to feed hundreds and hundreds of insects versus a few insects of some other things.”

Westbrook said when people think of pollinators they tend to think just honey bees. Although there are plenty of other insects that can help pollinate and improve native plant life in the Northland.

“We have over 500 species of bees in Minnesota, so there’s lots of different varieties, including the Rusty Patch,” Westbrook said. “There are a lot of different moths in Minnesota and butterflies. There’s the Black Swallowtail, which is a gorgeous one, there’s the Monarch, there’s so many others.”

Westbrook also encouraged people not to mow our lawns in April or May to help pollinators and native plants. If you do need to mow your lawn, Westbrook said mow it in sections.

For more information about native plants in Minnesota you can read more here. Also for other stories about gardening this spring you can read more here.