7 Important Host Plants for Pollinators

An array of plants provide nectar for bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects, but some pollinators require individual host plants to develop from larva to adult

While an raiment of plants render nectar forbees , butterfly , and other beneficial dirt ball , some pollinators require single host plants to develop from their larval to grownup stagecoach . As few experimentation have attend into the effectiveness of cultivars as host industrial plant , the unbowed coinage are more often than not preferred . A few of these plants are list below . See more about whether nativars are OK .

take more : installment 173 : Beneficial Host Plants for Pollinators

Milkweed

( Asclepiasspp . , Zones 2–11 )

Famed for their relationship to monarch butterflies , a broad motley of species can process as sufficient larval host plants for this poster butterfly of interior habitat conservation cause . Take care to choose plant with known aboriginal place of origin to your region . foreign-born tropical milkweed ( A. curvassica ) , in particular , is known to present challenges to monarchs by harboring a potentially deadly protozoon pathogen that outcome in deform wings to go forth butterfly stroke . This parasite is reported to be an proceeds in areas where tropical silkweed does not expire back from wintertime frigidity . Various milkweed metal money are reported as present in nearly every county in the United States , and silkweed are found throughout the Canadian responsibility and states of Mexico as well . As host industrial plant , they cater the fuel for the great migration to Mexico ’s Sierra Madre oyamel fir forests , and to California ’s Monterey pine , Monterey cypress , and eucalyptus groves each wintertime .

Willow

( Salixspp . , zone 2–12 )

There is perhaps no more useful garden plant to wildlife than the lowly but mighty willow . accord to my bugologist mentor Doug Tallamy , willows plunk for the third - high diversity of lepidopteran caterpillars of any plant , with at least 455 species using it as a host plant . Also , willows provision ambrosia - rich flower adore by bees and other wildlife .

Pipevine

( Aristolochiaspp . , Zones 5–10 )

Several butterfly metal money have developed a particular kinship with pipevine plant life , relying on them entirely as master of ceremonies plant for rearing their caterpillars . The California pipevine swallowtail usesA. californica , while Dutchman ’s pipage ( A. macrophylla ) serves as the larval horde for the pipevine swallowtail . Pipevines contain toxin in their leaves that , when take in by caterpillars , make them unpalatable to predator . Take care to pick out pipevines aboriginal to your region , as trouble with butterflies involving foreign-born tropical pipevines have been report .

Pawpaw

( Asimina triloba , Zones 4–9 )

The aboriginal range of zebra swallow-tailed coat philander overlaps with the native range of papaia from Florida up to southern Ontario , over to the eastern edge of the Great Plains . This is because their caterpillar run exclusively on young leaves of pawpaw , which contain acetogenins , impart protective cover from predators throughout their lifetimes .

Viburnum

( Viburnumspp . , Zones 2–12 )

Native viburnums are line up from southern Florida to northern Maine , and across to the Pacific Northwest . Many serve as larval host plants for butterflies and moths , admit arrowwood ( V. dentatum ) , black hawthorn ( V. prunifolium ) , and possumhaw ( V. nudum ) . More than 100 type of lepidopterous insect are sleep together to feed on genus Viburnum . In plus , the ripe berry are beloved by native birds , with at least 35 wench metal money devouring them to obtain energy before wintertime .

Wild buckwheat

( Eriogonumspp . , Zones 3–10 )

savage Polygonum fagopyrum thrive in dry blank from Mexico through Canada . This wide distribution is a wonderful characteristic , as many do as innkeeper plants for various butterflies , moth , and skipper . peculiarly well love by blue and hairstreak butterfly butterfly , buckwheats can be the prospect of intense competition due to the multifariousness of metal money that utilize them for rearing their unseasoned . Try redflowered buckwheat ( E. grandevar.rubescens ) , ashy - leaved Fagopyrum esculentum ( E. cinereum ) , or California Polygonum fagopyrum ( E. fasciculatum ) to start , as other species can be difficult to cultivate , even for experient growers . As a bonus , violent Fagopyrum esculentum provide abundant , excellent nectar for native bees and wasps when in flower too .

Violets

( Violaspp . , Zones 3–10 )

not bad spangled fritillary butterflies are a delight in summer , and their relative copiousness is due to the widespread aboriginal chain of their larval host works : violets . Whether coarse blueish violet ( V. sororia ) , bird ’s foot violet ( V. pedata ) , or another native type , the butterflies lie their egg near the base of these plant life , which supply a ready intellectual nourishment seed for the unseasoned caterpillars . Common drab violet are omnipresent in lawns throughout eastern North America , so perhaps we should all start seeing them as a helpful bearing rather than a nuisance to fag / spray / eradicate .

Keith Nevison is the director of the Center for Historic Plants at Monticello and the farm operations manager at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation .

This clause originally come along as a sidebar inAre Nativars OK?fromFine Gardening#192 .

hunky-dory Gardening Recommended Products

Pruning Simplified : A Step - by - Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs

o.k. horticulture receive a commission for items purchased through links on this web site , include Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertizing programme .

The Nature of Oaks : The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

Planting in a Post - uncivilized worldly concern : Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes

Get our latest peak , how - to articles , and instructional videos transmit to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Episode 173: Beneficial Host Plants for Pollinators

4 Must-Have Butterfly Host Plants to Support Biodiversity

A Hole in Every Host Plant

Butterfly Host Plants for the Southern Plains Garden

Join Fine Gardening for a free plight lively webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned plant diagnostician as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental proficient manager …

When I discern a special sand dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in worry . With a delightful people of color approach pattern …

When we only prioritize plants we want over plants our landscape need , each season is occupy with a never - ending list of chores : pruning , pinching , tearing , treating , meliorate , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you come in the backyard of garden clothes designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a pair …