Pollinator friendly gardening

With a mixture of native flowers and cultivars spread around the entire yard, her gardens are planted predominately with flowers that provide nectar or pollen for a wide range of pollinating insects.

Of her gardens, Lisa acknowledged, “Everything I do is intentional. My favorite thing is that I get lots of butterflies and bees and I’m helping them out.”

Lisa works for the East Polk Soil & Water Conservation District based out of McIntosh. She formally worked at the Marshall/Beltrami Soil & Water Conservation District, which gives her 18 years of experience in the field. She says she has gotten to know so many things through NRCS – they do a lot of pollinator planting. “We do more conservation-type work. We are getting more into lake shore restoration beings its lake country down there. We have a huge project on Lake Sarah that’s going on. Prairie Restorations seeded native plants that would grow naturally along the shorelines,” Lisa shared.

She also shared that there are approximately 400 species of bees in Minnesota. Out of the 23 species of Bumble Bees, there are six on the decline and one listed as endangered. That’s why native plants make such a difference. 

Around her yard, Lisa doesn’t use any pesticides or herbicides, which is what contributes to killing the bees. However, bees aren’t our only pollinators, we also have butterflies, and Lisa has created the perfect habitat for Monarchs around her yard. Monarchs can’t survive without milkweed; their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants and monarch butterflies need it to lay their eggs. Planting milkweed supports the monarch population (and their incredible migration)! Planting it is also a great way to help other pollinators, as they provide valuable nectar resources to bees, too.

If you are looking for something of value to grow around your yard, this is definitely the plant to consider. A person can wait until the milkweed dries out and the seed is ready, and start it that way. It grows about 3-4 feet in height in just a couple of years and spreads fairly fast by reseeding itself.

Along with milkweed around her yard, Lisa also has many other native and cultivar plants that are promoting great things! Some of the plants include Columbine, which hummingbirds love, Goldenrod, Asters, Sedum, Purple Coneflowers, Green-headed Coneflower, Blazing Star (Liatris), Mums, Giant Hyssop, Harebell, a Highbush Cranberry (a native shrub), a thick, native vine that grows up around trees, in which bunnies love to hide in, a native Wild Rose, and even a native plant in the mint family has even popped up unexpectedly! 

Along with Redosier Dogwoods, Lisa also has a beautiful Basswood tree in her yard that she says smells so wonderful when in bloom. When it flowers, the bees love it too, of course. Around the tree are many bird feeders and even a plate of sugar water…for the ants! You can tell Lisa is passionate about the outdoors. She admits, “As a kid I spent most of my time outside. I used to sit outside and play my flute for the birds. I used to go walking in the woods and hug trees. I still hug trees. Literally.” She laughed and said there is no way she could pick a favorite flower, plant or tree in her yard…she loves them all.

Lisa is a member of the Grygla Garden Club and said they have been discussing putting a pollinator garden somewhere in Grygla; they would ultimately love to do that at some point!

Sounds like they know just the person to ask for advice!

Right now, due to the lack of rain, everything is a bit dry around Lisa’s yard, but the plants are definitely still surviving with the insects coming and going! Take a drive by, slow down and check out all of the natural and intentional TLC that has went into this yard.