What to Plant Now for a Full Season of Pollinators
By: Park Seed
March is the right time to start thinking about your pollinator garden. Not because it's urgent, but because the plants that matter most in May and June need a head start.
Bees and butterflies don't wait for your garden to catch up. They move in when food is ready. The goal is to have something flowering from your last frost date straight through to fall. That takes planning in March, not April.
Here's where to focus this month.
Start These Indoors Now
Coneflower (Echinacea) takes two to three months from seed to transplant size. Start it now and it'll be ready to go out after your last frost. The open central cones are easy forage for bees, and the seedheads feed birds once bloom fades. Cheyenne Spirit is a good performer across most US regions.
Salvia is a midsummer consistent contributor that keeps producing nectar when heat shuts down other plants. Big Blue Salvia handles heat well and works in beds and containers. Seed started in March gives you strong transplants for late May planting.
Cosmos can be direct sown later, but starting a tray indoors gives you blooms six to eight weeks sooner. Cosmos flowers are open faced and easy to forage, which is why bees and hoverflies visit them steadily from midsummer through frost.
Plan for the Gaps
Most gardeners cover summer just fine. The gaps are early spring and late fall.
For early spring, snapdragons are one of the few reliable cool-season plants that feed bumble bees before summer perennials open. Direct sow them outdoors two to three weeks before your last frost or start seeds indoors now.
For fall, plant rudbeckia and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in spring for late-season pollen when most annuals are winding down. Tithonia doesn't start blooming until late summer, but butterflies and hummingbirds will find it reliably through October in warm climates.
One Plant Worth Adding This Year
If you're only adding one new pollinator plant in 2026, consider Agastache 'Blue Boa' Hyssop. The tubular flowers produce nectar for months, hummingbirds return to it repeatedly, and it's fragrant and deer-resistant in most gardens. It handles heat better than most perennials in its class.
By Natalie Carmolli, Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Shrubs
For decades boxwood has been one of the most reliable structural shrubs in gardens and landscapes. Then came a series of challenges that caused many to reconsider this classic shrub. That outlook began to shift about six years ago. And boxwoods have come a long way. To learn more click here for an interesting and informative article.
Click here to sign up for our monthly NEWSLETTER packed with great articles and helpful tips for your home, garden and pets!
