Attracting the Best Kind of Long-Term Residents
By Brandon Reynolds, CGC Community Engagement Coordinator
Over the weekend, my wife screamed at me from the kitchen, "LOOK AT THAT GIANT BUG!" I immediately turned around—expecting to be tackled by something straight out of Arachnophobia—and witnessed one of the largest grasshoppers I had ever ever seen attached to the screen door of our mudroom. Its wings were in working order, as it quickly flew across my driveway like a small bird.
A few days earlier, during a morning stroll in our garden, I was surprised by a garter snake slinking under the squash and tomato plants. This was a welcome sight because garters are natural keepers of the garden, tending to the hoards of slugs, snails and rodents who also enjoy the taste of homegrown fruits and veggies. It was the first snake I've seen since we bought the place nearly four years ago.
This all got me thinking: Where did these welcome guests come from? How did they get here? And, lastly, what took them so long?
For context, we bought our house in February '22. It had decent bones but had been a rental property for 50+ years, was full of deferred maintenance and was surrounded by Amur and Japanese Honeysuckle, non-native Wisteria, English Ivy, Rose of Sharon and other invasive plant species.
We spent the first few months deleting these usual suspects from our yard (with gusto) and began replacing them with native species from the CGC's spring and fall plant sales. Since then, we've watched dozens of native birds, bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, beetles, crickets and PEOPLE dip their faces in the blooms of our garden bouquet.
All of the above is the direct result of the compounding pollinator interest our land has provided in just a short time. My wife compares native landscape installations to hanging flyers for new events. In year one, the flyer reads, "Come one, come all! Welcome to our inaugural pollinator party!" After four years of receiving consistent food and shelter, it appears the local wildlife population has transitioned from hopeful pioneers to long-term residents.
Thanks to the CGC and other local native plant vendors, I've expressed my creativity through beautiful landscapes that also provide fruitful wildlife habitat. If you're interested in doing the same, I've compiled a list of my favorite pollinator plants for sunny and shady spots below.
Brandon's Top 10 Pollinators for Sunny Spots
Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Penstemon Digitalis (Foxglove beardtongue)
Butterfly Weed (Asclepia tuberosa)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)
Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)
Eastern Blue Star (Amsonia tabernaemontana)
BONUS: Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata)
Brandon's Top 10 Pollinators for Shady Spots
Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wood Poppy (Stylophorum lasiandrum)
Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Eastern Wood Fern (Dryopteris marginalis)
Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
Bluestem Goldenrod (Solidago caesia)
Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
BONUS: Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
I can’t promise every one of these will be available at our Fall Native Plant Festival on Saturday, September 6—but I bet a good number of them will be. And if you keep showing up at this event as well as GrowFest in the spring for long enough, you’re bound to catch them all eventually. I’ll see you there!