The Best Ground-Cover Plants for Attracting Pollinators

09.02.2024 - 17:44 / finegardening.com

Although pollinator populations are diminishing worldwide due to habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, and disease, gardeners can slow this decline through cultivating and maintaining safe environments where winged garden visitors can find sustenance and take shelter. Combining well-chosen trees, shrubs, perennials, and vines to create a varied habitat will attract and support a broad range of bird, mammal, and insect species. Incorporating a strategic array of ground covers into this mix is a great way to maximize the wildlife benefits your garden offers.

Lawns are green deserts for wildlife, and areas that are mulched with bark, pine needles, or gravel offer little habitat and no food for beneficial insects and other creatures. In the wild, bare soil hardly exists; it is always covered with plants. Then why do we leave so much exposed soil in our gardens? Most gardens offer many opportunities to layer ground covers beneath and between perennials, shrubs, and trees, adding beauty and multiseason interest. Look for nooks and crannies in pathways, along border edges, in walls, and along stairways where pockets of bare soil could be filled with ground covers. Trailers that drape over the edges of hardscaping and container plantings add fun, whimsy, and a sense of completeness to your designs. Add the right ground covers and the pollinators will thank you.

With thousands of ground covers to choose from, which ones will be best for your pollinators? One helpful strategy is to select ground covers that offer a succession of blooms from early spring until fall. While some pollinators are active through much of the growing season, others may live for just a few weeks. Including long-blooming varieties ensures that there