How I Assessed My Garden’s Support for Pollinators

A Step-by-Step Guide

One of the most important things you can do to support wildlife is to have flowers in your garden blooming consistently from early Spring to late Fall – or as close as you can get with first and last frosts. But planning for this takes time and care! So in 2024, I set out to document the first time every plant in my garden bloomed – in chronological order. I wanted to see what bloomed when – and also if I had weak spots in my planning so I could supplement in the following year. 

How to Observe your Garden

Starting as soon as the first flowers bloomed, I made a point to walk my garden every Monday morning looking for new blooms. I am in my garden every single day, but I’m not always out with that kind of intention, so each Monday morning, I made a circuit of the garden — looking for plants that were now blooming that hadn’t been blooming before. I had to set some rules: I couldn’t garden, cut back, or do anything else while I was walking. Otherwise I might get too distracted. And the photos weren’t the point — just quick snapshots. Nothing staged or posed. Just documentation.

After my quick walk, I added the blooms to my Instagram stories, labeled them with the plant variety. I created a highlight for each month. But you could do this in your photos app — creating a folder for each month to keep everything organized.

Tips for Observation

  • Set a regular time and day to make your observations.

  • Take photographs each time.

  • Record the species and variety in the photo’s metadata.

  • Don’t allow yourself to do anything else — just make observations during your dedicated time.

  • Work from spring to fall or, if you have blossoms year-round, for a full calendar year

  • Use a plant-identifying app like PlantNet if you aren’t sure what your plants are.

  • Make other observations in your copy of Garden Notes.

How to Interpret your Results

I waited until the end of the year to really look at all of the data. I didn’t want to make any assumptions mid-way through. And the results were so interesting! I looked at each month, but then I looked at the year it its entirety — making a spreadsheet of every species month-by-month.

I asked myself these questions:

  • Which months have the fewest species blooming?

  • Which months are most abundant?

  • Which months have the most native North American species blooming?

  • Which months have the fewest native North American species blooming?

  • How can I improve these results in the coming years?

The results of this observation will help shape my gardens and gardening for years to come. I can now see months where I have bigger holes – few plants blooming, fewer plants growing – and months where I have abundance. And I can be more strategic about which plants I buy for the coming years. 

A Few Notes about this List

  • I only documented the first flower – not how LONG they flowered. Some of these plants flower for months. 

  • If a plant is repeated, that's because I cut it back, and then documented the repeat flowering. OR it flowered at distinctly different times depending on where it was planted (south-facing vs. north-facing, for example). OR I have multiple varieties but don't know the different names anymore. 

  • I didn't document every variety within a species. For example, I have eight or nine varieties of peonies and more than twenty types of rose and twenty types of dahlia. They aren't all represented. 

  • I didn't include flowering veggies, for some reason! But of course, bees were all over my tomatoes and cucumbers and other vegetables and herbs. I just didn't even think to include them!

  • And I know that I missed some. It’s not perfect, but it is a really good snapshot of a year’s worth of blooming.

I am using Latin names wherever possible, because they are more accurate if you want to find the same varieties. 

In planning my garden I am to have 80% of my plants to be North American species or cultivars. But that is 80% by volume — so if I purchase 10 plants, 8 of them should be North American natives. But all 8 of those might be the same species, and the other two plants may be different species. I have a wide range of species in my garden, but I tend to plant big blocks of the North American natives where I might have one or two of the more exotic varieties. 

 My Garden Blooming List

What Bloomed When in 2024

Note: Names in bold are either native North American species or are cultivars of such. Commonly, native North American species are defined as plants which were in place in North America before European colonization, however Native Peoples cultivated and bred plants as well, so that definition is, by nature, murky at best. 

    • Iris reticulata

    • Narcissus King Alfred

    • Chionodoxa forbesii

    • Brunnera macrophylla

    • Narcissus Holland Sensation

    Link to highlight

    • Narcissus Barrett Browning

    • Fritillaria imperialis 'Rubra Maxima'

    • Tulips

    • Muscari

    • Amelanchier canadensis

    • Narcissus Jamestown

    • Tulip Foxy Foxtrot

    • Narcissus Bridal Crown

    • Narcissus Baby Boomer

    • Parade Darwin Tulip

    • Narcissus Golden Echo

    • Alliums

    • Lilac Wonder Wildflower Tulip

    • Iberis sempervirens 'Purity'

    • Geranium tuberosum

    • Brunnera macrophylla

    • Veronica chamaedrys

    • Phlox subulata

    • Prunus virginiana 'Canada Red'

    • 'Splendens' Armeria (Armeria maritima)

    • Nepeta x faassenii 'Walker's Low'

    • Tulipa bakeri 'Lilac Wonder'

    • Tulipa humilis 'Little Beauty'

    Link to highlight

    • Narcissus regeneration

    • Camassia leichtlinii Caerulea

    • Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation'

    • Dicentra spectabilis

    • Tulips

    • Cornus sericea

    • Pansies

    • Salvia sylvestris 'Caradonna'

    • Geum Tempo Yellow

    • Aquilegia coerulea

    • Tulips

    • Lunaria annua

    • Allium 'Globemaster'

    • Narcissus Yellow Cheerfulness

    • Narcissus Double White Lion

    • Solidago multiradiata

    • Nepeta x faassenii 'Walker's Low'

    • Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete'

    • Paeonia mascula Coral Peony

    • Aquilegia 'Swan Violet and White'

    • Aquilegia chrysantha 'Denver's Gold'

    • Paeonia lactiflora Sarah Bernhardt

    • Heuchera x bryzoides 'Weston Pink'

    • Red Vein Crabapple

    • Cerastium tomentosum

    • Hymenoxys scaposa

    • Penstemon pinifolius 'Luminous'

    • Camassia leichtlinii 'Sacajawea'

    • Paeonia lactiflora 'Pink Hawaiian Coral'

    • Roses

    • Salvia pachyphylla

    • Chives

    • Centranthus ruber

    • Phacelia campanularia

    • Layia platyglossa

    • Veronica chamaedrys

    • Penstemon strictus

    • Paeonia lactiflora  'Coral Charm'

    • Paeonia lactiflora  'Shirley Temple'

    • Siberian Iris

    • Geranium sanguineum 'Vision Violet'

    • Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'

    • Gaillardia aristata

    • Rose: Honey Nectar

    • Rose: Darlow's Enigma

    • Peony: Festiva Maxima

    • Peony: Hawaiian Coral

    • Rose: Bolero

    • Rose: Bullseye

    • Baptisia australis

    • Penstemon pinigolius compactus

    • Physocarpus opulifolius

    • Allium siculum 'Ucria'

    Link to highlight

    • Iris reticulata

    • Armeria maritima 'Morning Star White'

    • Eschscholzia californica

    • Trifolium pratense

    • Gilia capitata

    • Peonies

    • Scrophularia macrantha

    • Centranthus ruber 'Coccineus' 

    • Campanula rotundifolia

    • Rose: Tchaikovsky

    • Rose: Crown Princess Marguerite

    • Peony: Koningin Wilhelm

    • Rose: Abraham Darby

    • Rose: Tequila Supreme

    • Rose: Louise Clement

    • Rose: Easy Going

    • Lamium maculatum

    • Knautia macedonica

    • Italian Ranunculus

    • Rose: Lady of Shalott

    • Campanula patula

    • Cilantro

    • Borage

    • Asclepias tuberosa

    • Anethum graveolens – bouquet dill

    • Nymphaea “Colorado”

    • Lilium bulbiferum

    • Canna Lilies

    • Scabiosa columbaria 'Butterfly Blue'

    • Asclepias speciosa

    • Echinacea purpurea

    • Penstemon 'Dark Towers'

    • Phlox

    • Allium sphaerocephalon

    • Papaver rhoeas

    Link to highlight

    • Achillea millefolium 'Balvinred'

    • Tithonia rotundifolia

    • Antirrhinum majus 'Orange Wonder'

    • Cerinthe major var. purpurescens 'Kiwi Blue'

    • Tagetes patula 'Lemon Drop'

    • Tagetes patula 'Red Meamorph''

    • Monarda didyma 'Raspberry Wine'

    • Cleome serrulata 

    • Veronica liwanensis

    • Salvia 'Ultra Violet'

    • Echinops bannaticus 'Blue Glow'

    • Amaranthus caudatus

    • Amaranthus hypochondriacus

    • Echinacea x 'Cheyenne Spirit'

    • Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'

    • Cosmos Bright Lights

    • Helianthus annuus

    • Rose: Koko Loco

    • Nasturtium

    • Geranium Rozanne

    • Rose: Distant Drums

    Link to highlight

    • Echinops bannaticus 'Blue Glow'

    • Allium cernuum

    • Echinacea purpurea 'PAS702917': Pow Wow Wild Berry

    • Rudbeckia hirta

    • Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

    • Coreopsis tinctoria

    • Nymphaea 'Colorado' 

    • Zinnias

    • Caryopteris clandonensis 'Dark Knight'

    • Sedum telephium 'Autumn Fire'

    • Salvia azurea

    • Petunias

    • Sunflower Rouge Royale

    • Monarda fistulosa

    • Rudbeckia triloba 'Blackjack Gold'

    • Dahlia

    Link to highlight

    • Sunflowers

    • Dahlias

    • Asclepias tuberosa

    • Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

    • Solidago multiradiata

    • Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Honeysong Pink'

    • Salvia 'FlowerKisser® Dark Shadows' (Salvia x 'WWG01')

    • Solidago rigida

    • Sphaeralcea munroana

    • Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Purple Dome'

    •  'Symphyotrichum novi-belgiiProfessor Kippenberg'

    Link to highlight

    • Dahlias

    • Gaillardia aristata 'Amber Wheels'

    • Campanula rotundifolia Thumbell™ 'Blue'

    • Rose: Distant Drums

    • Calendula officinalis 'Zeolights'

    • Achillea millefolium

    • Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

    • Calendula stellata

    Link to highlight

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My Observations

One of the revelations in doing this project was that my North American native species are largely late bloomers. Now this is partly because they are almost all herbaceous perennials, so they put on lots of growth in the spring and early summer, but don't bloom until later. So I need to work on building up a stock of early blooming plants – especially trees and shrubs – including more Amelanchier canadensis and Prunus virginiana 'Canada Red'. 

Additionally, August is a thin time – in the heat of the month, very little is actually blooming from late-July to early-September. So I'll be looking for more flowers that bloom in heat. This is partly due to cutting back plants like the Achillea millefolium which bloom in late-June and early-July and then were cut back for another fall flush. So I need to intentionally seek out blooming plants for that July-August period of the summer.

We had a year of very little rain with an extremely hot and dry summer, so that may have delayed blooming in many plants and probably decreased the number of flowers overall. I do some irrigation, and irrigated more than usual over the summer. But because it was so far below “normal,” some plants certainly suffered. That is part of why I focus on native plants with low water needs.

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How to Plan a Butterfly Garden