How to Support Native Pollinators with Early Spring Blooms
Despite the chill of February and even March, some native pollinators are starting to wake up. But what are they waking up to? Despite it still being early in the year, these pollinators are out and looking for food. You can support these native pollinators with early spring blooms. Here’s how to get started.
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What flowers do you associate with spring? Perhaps tulips and daffodils? While these are beautiful flowers, they’re actually a bit late to help the earliest native pollinators in most areas.
Here in western Washington, weeks before even the daffodils were blooming, the bumblebees and other native pollinators were already out and about looking for food.
And our little Anna’s hummingbirds never left, even through the middle of winter.
A big reason we have all these native pollinators, even in February, is that we’ve made sure to plant early blooming flowers that support them.
And all those early spring blooms fill our property with beauty and help brighten up a landscape that is still mostly grey and brown.
We just love seeing all the flowers—and so do the native pollinators.
It really does make it feel like spring has come weeks early on our property compared to much of the surrounding area.
Let’s dive into some tips for how you can support native pollinators with early spring blooms.
But before we do, remember—planting early spring blooms is just one way to work with wildlife. If you really want to cultivate abundance for people, plants and wildlife, then make sure to grab your guide to working with wildlife. This guide will help you get started with supporting wildlife on your property.
Plant Shrubs to Support Native Pollinators with Early Spring Blooms
Even in early spring, our hedgerows are filled with early spring blooms. This makes them magnets for our native pollinators. From hummingbirds to bumblebees and many more, these plants are always buzzing even in early spring.
Often when people think about planting flowers for pollinators, they think about relatively small non-woody plants.
And while these plants are great, they’re often not the first plants to bloom.
This is often the case because those plants have to regrow each year. Their first step isn’t to bloom but instead to grow leaves and stems.
Even early blooming bulbs like daffodils tend to be a bit late to support native pollinators. And I’ve rarely seen those critters visiting our daffodils and other spring bulbs.
Wild Tip:
Native pollinators are often not very well supported by non-native flowers. This happens for several reasons, but one is that our cultivated flowers were selected over time for their beauty not for their friendliness to native pollinators. From double or even triple flowers to the shape of the blooms, or even just that they offer less pollen and nutrition, these flowers may be beautiful to us, but not so much to native pollinators. Ultimately, the best way to support native pollinators is to plant the native plants they coevolved with.
But native shrubs and other woody plants can often bloom much earlier.
These plants will often even bloom before they start to leaf out, since they’re already well established and don’t need to put energy into growing before flowering.
Just keep in mind that woody plants don’t all bloom early, so you will need to do some research to find the best for your area.
The exact native plants will change depending on where you live, but here are some that work in western Washington and much of the west coast of North America.
These 3 tend to be the first ones to bloom in our area, with flowers showing up even as early as February.
If you’ve got a wet area, then native willows are a fantastic option. Not only will they support native pollinators with early spring blooms, but they will also create habitat for songbirds and other wildlife.
Watch your area in early spring—especially more natural areas. Look for plants that are in bloom and see if you can ID them.
But just remember that native plants will provide the best support for native pollinators. Here are a couple resources to help you get started with native plants for your property.
Continuing to Support Native Pollinators Throughout the Year
Lupines are some of our favorite native flowers. They tend to start blooming in May and we just love their flowers. And so do native pollinators like bumblebees.
While supporting native pollinators with early spring blooms is important you do need to make sure you continue to have flowers for them.
Native flowering shrubs and trees can often get you through early summer.
Here in western Washington, our red flowering currants, willows and Osoberries are followed up by red-stem ceanothus, native cherries, and big leaf maple. And later, Nootka rose and many more.
Once summer comes, most of our shrubs and trees are done flowering, but there are many native flowers blooming.
And later, towards the end of summer, goldenrods are some of the best native flowers for supporting native pollinators.
The key is to plant flowers so that when one is finishing up, another is starting. With the right combination, your property will be filled with flowers from late winter or early spring all the way into the fall.
And your native pollinators will thank you for providing great food for them.
What native pollinators do you see on your property, and what flowers are they visiting? Let us know in the comments.
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