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Allied Member Spotlight: Creating Pollinator Gardens in your Community
Crofton Village Garden Club Pollinator Garden. Photo by Kerry Kelly.
Pollinator gardens are fantastic ways to increase green space, promote sustainability, and educate your community on the local environment. We have collected some key considerations for designing and populating your pollinator garden to help you get started attracting bees, bugs, and butterflies to your Main Street.
Choosing a Site
The first step to creating a pollinator garden in your community is to find your growing zone so that you can be sure to choose plants that will be hardy in your area. You will want to use primarily native perennial plants in a variety of colors, shapes, and foliage textures for best results. It’s ok to use a few non-natives or annuals, but some studies suggest pollinators prefer native plants from their area. You will need to site the garden in a spot with at least 6 hours of full sun, as that is the average requirement for most plants that attract butterflies, bees, or hummingbirds.
You will also need to know how well your soil drains, as this will affect the plant choice. Most plants are happy in moist, well-drained soil, but you may need to select plants that can tolerate much drier conditions in very hot areas, or even rain garden plants if there may be periodic standing water. Very poor conditions may be improved by building a raised bed. Remember that most native plants do not require rich, fertile soil—in fact, too much fertilizer may promote foliage at the expense of flowers. To conserve water and deter weeds, the ground between plants should be covered with 1-2 inches of “mulch.” This might be aged bark, pine fines, or small stones, depending on the style of your garden.
No space to plant?
If you do not have an unpaved area for planting you might consider very large planters, either trough-shaped or round. The larger the planter the less it will need to be watered; self-watering containers are an excellent option. A depth of at least 18” is recommended, as most native perennials have deep root systems to ensure their survival.
Choosing plants
Once your site has been readied, you’ll want to consult a native plant list appropriate for your location. Most state agencies and major universities will provide such a list online that includes pollinator information. Choose plants that match your site. Even though red cardinal flower may be native to your area, if your soil is very dry it would be a poor choice. Look for plants that flower at different times so something will always be in bloom.
To keep maintenance low and the planting attractive, avoid plants that tend to have known issues--beebalm or phlox with powdery mildew, for instance. Even something that seems perfect such as the monarch butterfly attracting common milkweed may end up being undesired if caterpillars heavily disfigure the foliage. It all depends on the look you are allowed to create when it comes to how “natural” you can get.
Design Tips
Plant in groups of at least three for smaller gardens, five for more expansive sites. Don’t cheat on the recommended spacing between plants (usually 18-24”). The garden might fill in faster but will result in extra work down the road. Repeating groupings throughout will tie the look together. Place taller plants toward the back or center. Mixing plants with different foliage textures, colors and habits will make a more attractive display.
For example, in a zone 7 garden, the upright, blue-green linear foliage of switchgrass plays well with swaths of daisy-shaped pink coneflower and golden black-eyed Susan with their rounded spiky seedheads. Punctuate with fluffy cylindrical pink liatris blooms and edge with low mounds of bright orange asclepias (A. tuberosa).
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
Learn how the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta uses this unique mural program to celebrate Valentine's Day and raise important funding for their work.
Parking is a challenging problem for many Main Streets. We explored the arguments for and against free parking, and a method for conducting an inventory of parking in your downtown.
In big cities and small towns, people face increasing danger when navigating communities on foot. As advocates for connected and walkable downtowns, Main Streets have a crucial role to play in increasing pedestrian safety.
To celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month, we explored three innovative and interesting parks-based projects and collaborations in Main Street communities.
Main Street America was awarded $5.9 million to support 20 communities in the Main Streets Community of Practice through the Department of Transportation's Thriving Communities Program over the next two years.
The City of Leeds, AL welcomed a new downtown mural over the holidays that has brought a sense of excitement and anticipation for the continuing efforts to focus on the Leeds downtown district.
What is more Iowan than turning grain bins into public art? Learn how Main Street Coon Rapids created these beautiful murals to celebrate their downtown.
The AARP Community Challenge program gives out quick-action grants to activate public spaces. Meet some of the Main Streets awarded grants through the program this year.
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
We heard from organizations across the nation about the incredible impact their markets have had on community engagement, entrepreneur and small business support, and keeping their district vibrant.
In contrast, the Main Street Program in Laramie, Wyoming, is thriving, having successfully cultivated millions of dollars to help fill these vacant, blighted spaces with permanent structures.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
Placemaking is a strategy that Six Corners Association has enthusiastically applied to our community development efforts because of its seamless integration with the Main Street Approach.
In 2015, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to engage Wisconsin Main Street organizations and farmers markets in the Metrics and Indicators for Impact – Farmers Markets (MIFI-FM) toolkit.
The local Main Street organization, Downtown Milford Inc., is trying to address these shifting demographics by creating a more inclusive sense of community.
This is the story of how a National Endowment for the Arts gathering in DC inspired the leaders of a small town in Appalachia to connect with those in Milwaukee to transform a neglected park.
Main Street communities across the country are no stranger to seeking creative strategies to solve their most nagging issues – vacant buildings, marketing downtown, bolstering retail to name a few.
This article is the second in a series on corridors and the important role they play in Main Street revitalization. The previous article focused on the historic origins of corridors, corridor types, and functions that they serve in our communities.
While the Main Street program may not take the lead in corridor enhancements, it can be a vital partner and advocate for improvements in overall community appearance.
A lot of signs are necessary to make a downtown work well, but not every community knows what a good sign system looks like, or how instrumental it can be to the creation of a successful downtown.