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Just like we come out of hibernation after a long Minnesota winter, so do our native pollinators — bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. These small but mighty creatures wake up hungry, looking for nectar and pollen to fuel their work ahead.

And what work it is. Pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining our local ecosystem by helping plants reproduce. Without them, the majority of flowering plants — including many of the fruits, vegetables, and wildflowers we depend on — would struggle to set seed and produce the next generation.

At Sunnyside Gardens, we believe in nurturing our environment, and that starts with supporting the pollinators that keep it thriving. Here’s why pollinators matter, what they’re up against, and how you can help.

Why Native Pollinators Are Essential

Bees and butterflies aren’t just beautiful visitors to our gardens — they’re essential workers in the ecosystem.

Pollination is how plants reproduce. When a bee visits a flower to collect nectar, pollen sticks to its body and gets transferred to the next flower it visits. This transfer of pollen allows plants to produce seeds and fruit. Without pollinators, many plants simply can’t reproduce.

Here’s the scale of their impact:

• One-third of the food we eat depends on pollinators. Apples, blueberries, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, almonds — all require pollination.
• 90% of wild flowering plants rely on animal pollinators (mostly insects) to reproduce.
• Native bees are more efficient pollinators than honeybees for many native plants. A single native bee can do the work of dozens of honeybees when it comes to pollinating native wildflowers.

Beyond food production, pollinators support the broader ecosystem. The seeds and fruits produced through pollination feed birds, small mammals, and other wildlife. When pollinator populations decline, the entire food web is affected.

Minnesota’s Pollinators Are in Trouble

Pollinator populations — both in Minnesota and across North America — have been declining for decades. The reasons are complex, but they include:

• Habitat loss: As prairies, meadows, and natural areas are converted to development and agriculture, pollinators lose the native plants they depend on for food and the nesting sites they need to reproduce.
• Pesticide use: Neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) and other chemicals harm pollinators, even at low levels. Some pesticides kill bees outright; others disrupt their ability to navigate, reproduce, or fight off disease.
• Loss of native plant diversity: Lawns and ornamental landscapes dominated by non-native plants don’t provide the nectar, pollen, or habitat that native pollinators need. Many pollinators have co-evolved with specific native plants and can’t survive without them.
• Climate change: Shifting temperatures and weather patterns are disrupting the timing of plant blooms and pollinator emergence, causing mismatches that leave pollinators without food when they need it most.

The good news? Homeowners and gardeners can make a real difference. Pollinators don’t need vast wilderness — they thrive in backyards, balconies, and small urban gardens when the right plants and habitat are available.

How to Support Local Pollinators in Your Yard

Supporting pollinators doesn’t require a complete landscape overhaul. Small, intentional changes can have a big impact. Here’s how to create a pollinator-friendly space.

1. Plant Native Flowers (The Most Important Thing You Can Do)

Native plants are the foundation of a pollinator-friendly garden. They’ve co-evolved with native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators over thousands of years, which means they provide the right kind of nectar, pollen, and habitat that local insects need to survive.

Why native plants matter:

• Native bees prefer native plants: Research shows that native bees visit native plants up to four times more often than non-native ornamentals.
• Native plants bloom at the right time: They’re timed to coincide with the emergence of local pollinators, ensuring food is available when it’s needed most.
• Native plants support specialist pollinators: Some native bees and butterflies can only survive on specific native plants. For example, monarch butterflies depend entirely on milkweed as a host plant for their caterpillars.

Best native plants for Minnesota pollinators:

Early spring (when pollinators are hungriest):

• Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)
• Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
• Pasque flower (Pulsatilla patens)

Summer:

• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
• Wild bergamot / Bee balm (Monarda fistulosa)
• Blazing star (Liatris spp.)
• Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
• Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Late summer/fall (critical for migrating monarchs and late-season bees):

• New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
• Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
• Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum)

Why bloom succession matters:
Pollinators need food from early spring through late fall. By planting natives with staggered bloom times, you provide continuous nectar and pollen throughout the entire growing season.

2. Include Host Plants for Butterfly Caterpillars

Butterflies need more than nectar — they need host plants where they can lay eggs and where caterpillars can feed.

Key host plants for Minnesota butterflies:

• Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) — The only host plant for monarch butterflies
• Wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) — Host plant for the endangered Karner blue butterfly
• Native grasses (little bluestem, prairie dropseed) — Host plants for skipper butterflies and many moth species
• Wild bergamot, coneflower, asters — Host plants for various native moths

Without host plants, butterflies can’t complete their life cycle. Nectar alone isn’t enough.

3. Create a Pollinator-Friendly Space with Shelter and Water

Pollinators need more than flowers. They need shelter, nesting sites, and water.

Provide nesting habitat:

• Leave bare ground: About 70% of native bees nest in the ground. Leave patches of bare, undisturbed soil in sunny spots for ground-nesting bees.
• Leave hollow stems standing: Many native bees nest in hollow plant stems. Instead of cutting back all perennials in fall, leave some standing through winter and cut them back in late spring after bees have emerged.
• Add a bee house: Mason bees and other cavity-nesting bees will use wooden bee houses with drilled holes (6–8mm diameter). Place them in a sunny, sheltered spot facing south or east.

Provide water:

Pollinators need shallow water sources with landing spots.

• Fill a shallow dish with water and add pebbles or marbles so bees can land and drink without drowning.
• Keep birdbaths filled but add stones or sticks so insects can access the water safely.

Provide shelter:

• Plant in clusters rather than scattering individual plants. Groupings of the same species are easier for pollinators to find and visit.
• Leave leaf litter and brush piles in corners of your yard. Many butterflies and moths overwinter in leaf litter.

4. Avoid Harmful Pesticides (Or Use Them Sparingly and Carefully)

Pesticides — even those labeled “organic” — can harm pollinators. Neonicotinoids (neonics) are especially harmful and are found in many common garden products, including some pre-treated plants sold at big-box stores.

What you can do:

• Skip pesticides entirely: A healthy, biodiverse garden with native plants attracts beneficial insects that keep pests in check naturally.
• Never spray open blooms: If you must spray, do it in the evening when pollinators are less active, and never spray flowers.

Better alternatives:
Hand-pick pests, use row covers, encourage natural predators (ladybugs, lacewings, birds), and tolerate a little damage. A few chewed leaves are a small price to pay for a thriving pollinator population.

5. Don’t Deadhead Everything (Let Some Flowers Go to Seed)

It’s tempting to deadhead spent blooms for a tidy garden, but leaving some seed heads provides food for birds and allows native plants to self-sow.

Plants to let go to seed:

• Coneflower (goldfinches love the seeds!)
• Black-eyed Susan
• Rudbeckia
• Native grasses

6. Reduce or Eliminate Lawn

Turf grass provides almost no value to pollinators. Consider replacing sections of lawn with:

• Native ground covers (Pennsylvania sedge, creeping thyme)
• Clover lawns (blooms provide nectar for bees)
• Pocket prairie plantings (clusters of native wildflowers and grasses)

Even converting a small corner of your lawn into a pollinator garden makes a difference.

Every Yard Counts

Here’s the thing about pollinator gardening: it’s cumulative. One yard with native plants helps a few pollinators. But when neighbors plant native, when entire blocks create habitat, when communities prioritize pollinators — that’s when populations start to recover.

Over 75% of land in Minnesota is privately owned. That means habitat recovery doesn’t happen in nature preserves alone — it happens in our yards. Your garden, no matter how small, is part of a larger network of habitat that pollinators depend on.

The Best Time to Start is Now

You don’t need to transform your entire yard overnight. Start small:

• Add a few native perennials to an existing bed
• Plant milkweed in a sunny spot
• Leave a patch of bare ground for ground-nesting bees
• Let your coneflowers go to seed this fall

Every plant, every patch of habitat, every pesticide you don’t spray — it all adds up.