Conservation

Planting for Pollinators

Keep the Nectar Flowing: Colorful Fall Perennials for Pollinators

Story by Ruth Gonzalez | Photos by Joye Ardyn Durham

We know that bees and other pollinators are in crisis. As nectar sources become depleted, we can help by planting a pollinator habitat. Fall-blooming perennials provide pollen and nectar for the bees and beautiful flowers for the garden.

Take a field trip close to home

Before the first frost, drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway past Craggy Gardens until you see large roadside flower patches. These rich habitats are humming with busy pollinators—tiny bees, sweat bees, a variety of bumblebees, butterflies and more. Base your garden plan on these sunny wild places with flowers like goldenrod, asters, ironweed, Joe Pye weed, common milkweed, chelone (turtlehead), helianthus (perennial sunflowers) and angelica. Include a few spectacular non-native fall bloomers like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ Japanese anemone, and perennial chrysanthemums (many look like daisies). Keep deadheading your coreopsis, salvias and blanket flower to provide an ongoing pollinator food-fest during the fall.

A quick primer on pollinator garden planning

  • Most pollinators prefer full sun, but will visit blooms in shady areas.
  • To appeal to the broadest spectrum of pollinators, plant flowers of different heights and shapes.
  • Cluster plants of each flower type together in groups three to four feet in diameter.
  • Provide a source of shallow water and protection from wind.
  • Avoid the use of pesticides.

Perennials for the fall garden

Diane Almond, an NC Master Beekeeper and advocate for pollinators, has more than 75 plant species near her bee yard. For later fall blooms, Almond recommends aster and goldenrod for dry spots, and Joe Pye weed and ironweed for wetter areas. “These are basic native plants whose populations have declined in recent years,” she says.

Asters bloom well into fall, pollinators love them, and they are available in pinks, whites, lavenders, purples and even a shade of blue. Most asters enjoy full sun, but one (white woods aster, or Aster divaricatus) prefers part shade.

Swamp thistle (C. muticum) is a two- to seven-foot tall biennial that produces pink to pinkish purple flowers in the second year. Long-tongued bees and butterflies are frequent pollinators, and the American Goldfinch enjoys eating the thistle seeds.

Planting for Pollinators

Goldenrod comes in a variety of cultivars from ‘Little Lemon’ (shorter with lemon yellow blooms) to ‘Fireworks’ (taller with gold blooms that resemble fireworks).

Joe Pye weed is seen all over western North Carolina with its soaring mauve blooms, but shorter cultivars (like ‘Gateway’ and ‘Little Joe’) are available for smaller gardens.

Ironweed, tall and purple blooming, nestles in beautifully with yellow flowers. In the wild, common ironweed (Vernonia fasciculate) grows to about seven feet tall. The smaller ‘Iron Butterfly’ (Vernonia lettermannii), is thread-leaved, compact and native to the US.

Soapwort gentian (Gentiana saponaria) bears pale violet or grayish blue bottle-shaped blooms and grows one to two feet tall. Soapwort prefers full or part sun and moist, rich soil.

Willowleaf and swamp sunflowers (Helianthus) bloom in fall with yellow petals and dark centers. These fall beauties get five to seven feet tall, multiply nicely and make great cut flowers.

Perennial chrysanthemums, although not native, bloom later than many fall flowers. Pollinators gravitate to them and seem to prefer the simple daisy-types with yellow centers. Cultivars come in various colors from almost-white to pink and apricot. A favorite is ‘Ryan’s Pink.’ They spread well and make a very long-lived cut flower.

Ruth Gonzalez works at Reems Creek Nursery, offering advice on a wide variety of gardening questions.

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