How to attract birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to your garden

Put simply, all human and animal life is dependent on the small pollinators that we see flitting from flowers and plants in our gardens.

They are a critical link in growing our food and the simple action of an insect, bird or mammal carrying pollen from one plant to another ensures fertilisation takes place and crops can be produced.

However, our pollinators are in decline due to habitat destruction and that’s where your garden comes in. By planting and creating a rich and diverse pollinator garden, you can play a role in supporting this vital part of the food chain and help restore our pollinator population.

One of the simplest ways to do this is to lay wildflower turf or species rich turf as these feature a diverse range of native wildflowers. The turf is a simple and instant solution that ensures you not only got a blaze of colour across the year but, crucially, you are introducing a wealth of pollinator-friendly species that help to support your local wildlife.

Why create a pollinator garden?

In addition to helping to feed the planet, creating a pollinator comes with a wealth of other benefits.

First and foremost, a vibrant and diverse pollinator garden brings real beauty and interest to your garden. You’ll benefit from a rich palette of colours, different structures and textures and it will be dynamic, forever changing through the seasons.

The aesthetic appeal will undoubtedly be beneficial to your mental health and will provide hours of enjoyment throughout the year.

Plus, if your garden is attractive to pollinators, it will be attractive to a wide range of other wildlife too, ensuring you get to see and support a host of different animals.

More importantly, a pollinator garden can play a wider role in supporting the environment too. In addition to supporting native plants by including them in your pollinator garden, by attracting the pollinators you will be enhancing the overall health and productivity of your whole garden, resulting in healthier and more resilient plants.

The improved health of your garden will also cut reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, further benefiting the environment.

As we’ve said, variety is key and an instant solution is to use wildflower turf or species-rich turf depending on the location. Wildflower turf is great for margins or beds as it has height and a variety of flowers, while species-rich turf ensures you can turn your lawn into a pollinator-friendly space, mixing grasses and hardy wildflowers. This way you can still walk on your lawn but still see the benefit of attracting pollinators.

Put simply, a pollinator garden will benefit the environment, support wildlife and most importantly improve both you and your garden’s health.

Attracting birds to your garden

For the bird lovers, a pollinator garden can be a powerful way to attract birds to your garden too.

The pollinator-friendly plant species attract a variety of insects, butterflies and bees and which can be an attractive meal for bird life but the plants featured in such a garden can be a food source  for the birds too.

Plus, for many bird species, a pollinator garden can be an attractive habitat, delivering a constant source of food year round while providing nesting and roosting options too.

The key to creating a bird-friendly pollinator garden is to feature a wide variety of pollinator plants that will not only attract insects but can also provide food options for the birds too, such as plants with seeds, berries and the all important nectar.

Pollinator gardens also help to provide layers and texture that provide safe spaces for birds to explore and roost year round.

By combing your pollinator garden with other key elements such as water, feeders and nesting boxes, you will be able to attract a diverse range of bird life to your garden to help satisfy your twitching needs!

How to encourage bees in your garden

Bees are under threat. Their numbers are in decline around the world due to habitat loss and they are arguably one of the most important pollinators in the food chain.

The good news is that pollinator gardens can play a critical role in supporting bee colonies and rescuing this vital little insect.

For bees, you need a variety of flowers that provide nectar and pollen – an essential food source for the bees  - and it’s also important to select native species as these typically are better suited to the local bee population and offer greater benefits.

Another key element is to make sure you use a mix of plants that provide a continuous bloom through as much of the year as possible. Select a variety of flower colours and shapes. Bees are attracted to blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow flowers. Examples include lavender, sunflowers, bee balm, and coneflowers.

It’s also worth planting specific groups of plants in clusters as this will make it easier for bees to forage efficiently. Consider creating patches of the same plant species rather than scattering them individually.

Another key factor is to avoid the use of pesticides in your garden as these can be harmful to bees and a range of other beneficial insects. The good news is that a pollinator garden can help to remove the need for pesticides in the garden.

Again, creating an effective bee-friendly garden can be challenging so consider using simple and quick wildflower turf solutions as these quickly establish and are designed to support bees.

Garden plants for butterflies

A well-designed pollinator garden will inevitably prove attractive to butterflies but if you are specifically wanting to target them, there a few considerations.

For butterflies it is important to select a range of plants that provide nectar, the key food source for butterflies, and to also aim to incorporate a variety of attractive colours too.

Another key consideration is to include ‘host’ plants that provide a suitable habitat and food source for caterpillars, the larval stage of the butterfly life cycle.

While the lifespan of a butterfly is short, just 15-29 days, it is still important to also plan on maintaining a mixture of blooming flowers throughout the year to ensure you can enjoy a variety of species in your garden.

Attracting bats

When you think about pollinators in your garden, bats will be far from your mind, but they are considered to be another important pollinator.

With the right plants, bats can be a prolific pollinator but they also help with pest control – they are voracious insect eaters – and they help to fertilise your garden too.

Bats bring a wealth of benefits to your garden and a few simple elements in your pollinator plans will ensure you can attract these nocturnal visitors.

The key to attracting bats to your pollinator garden is to consider which plants will help to attract their food source – moths and other nocturnal insects.

This involves selecting night-blooming flowers or flowers with pale-coloured  or light-coloured blooms that will appear brighter at night. Fragrant wildflowers are also important as these are useful for attracting bats and insects at night.

While bats may not be your first thought when setting out to create a pollinator garden, a few simple considerations will ensure you can reap maximum benefits from all the pollinators while supporting another under threat part of our ecosystem.

Attracting moths and other insects

Moths and other nocturnal insects are an important part of the pollinator garden lifecycle. While the birds and bees will hum about the flowers during the day, the moths and other nocturnal creatures will carry on that good work through the night – particularly if you have night-blooming plants.

As we’ve said, night-blooming flowers or flowers with pale-coloured  or light-coloured blooms along with fragrant plants are all key elements of attracting the creature of the night to your garden.

However, another key consideration for the moths is, much like the butterflies, including plants that can play host to their larval stages, the caterpillars. Make sure to factor in plants that will provide shelter for moth caterpillars and also a food source.

Pollinator garden design

Designing a pollinator garden needn’t be challenging but there are a few key considerations when creating these diverse and attractive spaces. A good pollinator garden will provide food, water, shelter and breeding opportunities for the whole range of pollinators.

We’ve outlined a range of key elements above but it’s important to remember to include a wide variety of plants and to also aim to use native plants that are beneficial to our local wildlife.

When choosing plants, also try to ensure you can maintain a continuous bloom throughout the year creating an attractive palette of flowers and plants and to also factor in plants that will provide homes and habitats for the birds, butterflies, moths and other insects.

When it comes to design, think about creating different planting zones that are suited to the amount of sunlight it receives or the quality of the ground. Put single species in clusters and select varieties that produce nectar and pollen. Also make sure to include different flowers shapes to suit different insects.

Another element when designing a pollinator garden is to consider creating pathways for the pollinators. By connecting the different parts of your pollinator garden with simple strips or channels, you can provide safe passages for the pollinators to explore every part of your garden and deliver all the benefits they bring.

Creating a high-quality pollinator garden doesn’t need to be difficult and solutions like wildflower turf or species-rich turf can provide instant solutions that start to attract pollinators quickly. However, if you do opt for turf as a solution, make sure you don’t undermine your environmental efforts by using a solution that has plastic netting embedded in the turf.

Many turf providers use plastic netting and this then breaks down in the soil into harmful microplastics that can be harmful to the environment and pollinators.

Lindum Turf only provides plastic-free wildflower turf options and, if you’d like to know more about creating a pollinator garden, please call our experts on (01904) 448675.