It begins with providing a diversity of native plant species that offer an ongoing sequence of open flowers from early spring to fall. Early spring pollinators have the biggest challenge in finding enough nectar and pollen to provide sufficient nutrition to their young.
Plant native flowers that provide:
- a variety of colors (yellow, violet, white); and
- a variety of flower shapes to attract pollinators with different body sizes and mouthparts.
Offer quality nesting sites, away from heavy traffic areas of the yard and away from chemical exposure. Butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of plant leaves, so avoid pesticides and fungicides around butterfly host plants.
Native bees utilize dead trees or decaying wood, hollow stems of grasses and shrubs, earthen banks, moderately vegetated to bare soils, and moderately disturbed soils to create their nests. Homemade nesting blocks can be made by drilling holes into wood.
- North American Pollinator Protection Campaign: Building Native Bee Nesting Blocks
- Xerces Invertebrate Conservation Society: Nests for Native Bees