Native plant gardening for pollinator-friendly gardens

published in the Applegater March 1, 2025

Thanks to the Applegater for inviting this article! See page 12 of their flipbook here.

‘National Native Plant Month’ is coming up next month, and in honor of April being the new best month of the year, let’s talk about the native plants that support the bees, butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, beetles, and hummingbirds we have here in the southern Oregon bioregion. Native plant gardens are becoming increasingly important because they give our remaining native pollinators a place to live, grow, and thrive. 

Native bee on Idaho Gumweed (PPRV)

The home gardener can be an active positive force for ecological restoration from any location, context, or skill level. As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility,” but I prefer to think of it the other way around. Instead, “With great responsibility comes great power.” In the past, water-intensive, monocultural, and unproductive grass lawns have been the norm, but by adapting our mentalities and harnessing the positive influence we can have on our surroundings, we can give native pollinator-friendly gardens the spotlight. Native plants are bursting with the potential to impress you with their resilience, complexity, and beauty if you give them a chance to show you what they have in store. The key to planting native pollinator-friendly gardens is to start small, experiment, and remember to be patient! Good things come with time! 

Here are some tips to get you started: 

(1) Choose where you want your garden plot.  Start small with a 3ft by 6ft area that gets 6 or more hours of sunlight. Of course, a bigger garden will allow you to include more native plants!

(2) If you need to remove or smother the existing lawn and/or invasive vegetation present in your chosen area, one easy way is to sheet mulch: place cardboard on the surface of the grass, soak it with water, and then apply 4 in to 6 inches of arborist wood chips on top. Let this sit for six months, preferably through the summer. You could also try solarizing with a plastic tarp for 12 months. 

(3) Start to plan your garden! Include “layers”, from trees to grasses, plants that bloom from spring through late fall, and with different flower shapes/sizes that all help to serve a diversity of pollinators. Be intentional about clumping the same plant species together. Remember that choosing ’host plants’, for caterpillars of the beautiful moths and butterflies to eat, is an important consideration. 

(4) Buy native plants from your local nursery or greenhouses! Keep an eye out for Pollinator Project Rogue Valley’s bi-annual Native Plant Sale, which always has at least four native plant growers (including Klamath Siskiyou Native Seeds) to offer the largest selection of plants native to the southern Oregon bioregion! The next sale is April 27, 2025, from 10 am to 2 pm.

(5) Fall through early spring is the best time to plant natives, so they are watered by rain as much as possible. Arrange your plants with consideration of sun and shade, and be sure to leave enough room for the mature plant. Also, select plants with different seasonal blooms! To plant, dig holes twice as large as the pot the plant came in, remove the plant from its pot, loosen its roots, place it in the ground, fill in the sides, and tamp the soil and water! Water well through the first two summers.

(6) Weed as needed (being mindful that some weeds have benefits for pollinators), and AVOID using insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides as they can seriously impact pollinator populations!

(7) Each species of pollinator will interact with your garden differently, fulfilling its unique role in your own little ecosystem. 70% of native bee species nest in the ground, so keep some areas with no mulch but expect many others to make shallow burrows under leaves or native grass. 

A young pollinator garden (PPRV)

(8) Add your pollinator garden to the interactive Rogue Buzzway map (see our website), and help illustrate the power of collective action for our Southern Oregon pollinators!

(9) Check out the Resources section on our website for links, videos, and photos to inspire your   pollinator garden! An important resource to learn about native flora is our local Siskiyou Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.

Best of luck to you!