Looking to start a pollinator-friendly garden?

Start small and keep it simple, says certified master gardener Rhyanna Larose of Auburn.

Oh, and make it fun.

Larose, an occupational health and safety nurse by profession, is a longtime member of the Auburn Conservation Commission and the Lewiston/Auburn Community Forest Board. She has helped people create gardens for the past 16 years.

She knows the importance of providing food for pollinators. Without them, a major source of OUR food would disappear.

A pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) to the female part of the same or another flower (stigma), according to the National Park Service.

“The movement of pollen must occur for the plant to become fertilized and produce fruits, seeds, and young plants,” according to the NPS.

Pollinators are insects and animals such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies and even small mammals, including bats.

It’s important to feed them because “one out of every three bites of food you eat exists because of pollinators,” according to the park service.

Larose is doing her part to help feed you by raising and nurturing plants that support pollinators. She begins her projects at the beginning: with a plan. Starting with a plan saves a lot of time and hassle in the long run, she says.

Keep in mind that your site is as big or small as you want it to be for your garden. “How big would this be to start with? Four-foot square, small plot around a front yard/mailbox, or are you trying to re-wild an entire meadow? I say, in the beginning start small, keep it simple, and just expand it later, if you like,” Larose said.

Once you have an idea of the place and size, it’s good to test the soil. “You need to know what’s in the dirt,” she said on a recent morning as she cleared dead leaves from a bed on her front lawn.

For example, she created a bed once that didn’t thrive. The plants with long tap roots started dying.

“I thought, there must be rocks in there,” she said. “I dug down and found rocks the size of watermelons.”

Even more important, if you’re growing edibles such as flowering herbs, is knowing whether the soil contains lead or other heavy metals. And a neutral pH (about a 7 on the acid/alkaline scale of 1-14) is best for most plants, although blueberries and hydrangeas like more acid, she said.

Soil test kits are available from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. A basic kit costs $20.

“It’s good to do a soil sample, but it’s not crucial,” Larose said.

But site evaluation of where you plan to do your planting is.

“What kind of soil is there already? Does it drain well, or is it swampy most of the year? Is it sandy, clay, etc.? Does it get full sun, partial sun or is it mostly shaded?”

It’s advantageous to have a site with native “keystone” trees nearby, though that’s not a deal-breaker. These include red oak, red maple and paper birch, she said.

These trees provide shade and nesting spots for birds and pollinators. A single native oak can host more than 500 species of caterpillars, according to gardenforwildlife.com. They also provide woody stems for bee nests.

Insects such as moths use these trees as hosts to lay eggs on the leaves,” Larose said. “They’re very important to birds for nesting and roosting. The caterpillars provide food for the baby birds, which can’t eat seeds.”

Other considerations are noting what kinds of plants are growing in the area, she said. “Are there native plants thriving that you can work with, or are there invasive species that need to be removed?”

A field guide to invasive plants is available at extension.umaine.edu/publications/2500e/.

Next, make sure you have a nearby water source.

Then, it’s time to decide what you’re going to put in the ground. “Choose a variety of plants, different shapes, sizes, colors and various bloom times,” she said. “The goal is to provide a continuous food source for pollinators year-round.”

Early spring, spring, summer, fall.

Larose likes a free-flowing, balanced yet disorderly garden with lots of blues, whites and pinks. Pollinators are attracted to deep blues and purples, such as lupines and violets, she said.

A “partial list” of the plants in her front-yard patch includes lupines, daffodils, coneflowers, violets, evening primrose, asters, daisies, irises and 18 others.

“Choose as many native plants as possible,” she said, “but it’s OK to plant a few of your favorites, too, and include some early spring bulbs like daffodils or crocus.”

Though nonnative, daffodils can provide early food sources for pollinators such as bumblebees, Larose said. (See related story for more on the best plants to choose for your garden and where to find them.)

So, you’ve chosen plants, and you know what’s in the soil and how to amend it. Larose does her digging by hand (instead of tilling) to protect the top layer of soil. No-till gardening uses compost and animal matter to add nutrients to the soil. Of course, it’s OK to till a grassy area, or you can use a spade to turn the soil.

Larose mixes local compost and peat moss, and a little loam, into her pollinator beds.

“Bare soil leaches out all of the nutrients for your plants, dries up quickly, and gets compacted from the elements beating on it,” she said. “It also isn’t as inviting to pollinator larvae that use the mulch to nest in and complete their life cycles.”

You can use wood chips, sawdust, mulched leaves, grass clippings or even straw, she said.

The bed she was clearing of leaves includes flowering trees, plum and sweet cherry, and a northern hibiscus shrub (also known as rose of Sharon). She has placed wood chips around them to help hold in the water.

Larose advises planting in large masses or in repetitive succession so pollinators can see your garden. She puts dozens of plants in each bed and repeats the same plants in beds around her property. This way, pollinators can move around the yard and find their favorites.

“Never use pesticides, herbicides or fungicides,” she said. “Choosing established plants can give your garden a head start as most are perennials and take two years to bloom.”

You might need to water and maintain it for the first two years, but once established, it should be self-sufficient, even during drought, she said.

Gardeners also should provide nesting grounds and hiding spots for pollinators: Add some natural wood, stumps or logs, and a few large rocks.

And for goodness’ sake, leave the leaves, she says.

“It can be tempting to clean up flower beds in the fall, but try to hold back the urge until spring,” she said. “The leaves help condition the soil over the winter, provide habitat for overwintering insects and provide added nutrients to the soil.”

And leave the seed heads.

“It might also be tempting to cut back those dead flowers in the fall, but leaving them over the winter provides a food source for many of Maine’s native overwintering birds.”

A good pollinator garden should always look a little messy, not well-manicured like a traditional garden, she said.

She added, “You should be able to learn a little tolerance for a few weeds and unwanted bugs, as long as they aren’t invading the entire space.”

Larose started her front-lawn garden nearly two years ago. It’s one of 26 beds on her suburban property. She’s working toward getting her gardens certified by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

“They already more than qualify,” she said.

And the fun part?

Seeing the rewards of your labor: “I love my bearded irises and true lilies because I do a lot of cut-flower arrangements — even though they’re not natives — so I place them in between other plants all over.”

She also names each garden for personal reference.

“Like cottage garden, veggie garden, lily bed, edible garden, mailbox, etc.,” she said. “It’s a work in progress and will continue to develop over time.

“That’s part of the fun.”

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