BY JENNIFER & JOHN BURKHART
Pollinator Pots
How are you celebrating Earth Day this month? Well, if planting a tree seems too lofty a goal, think small! Even small things can make an impact. How about adding a potted plant on your balcony or patio? One lavender plant could make many hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies very happy. We decided to “think small” while visiting our local garden center to get some help on planting two pollinator gardens at home.
She Said: There’s just something about garden centers. They are such a happy place! Maybe it was the oxygen boost from the plants or the swirls of color all around, but I got all giddy, and the plant nerd in me wanted to yell, “Take my money!” Since that’s not a practical option, nor a sane one, we reluctantly decided on a budget and got to chatting with a few other plant nerds (aka garden center employees). Turns out they are a treasure trove of info. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions! They can help narrow down exactly the type of plants that work best for what you’re looking for in your particular yard (or porch, or indoor shelf). Our garden center even offers custom container gardens, free monthly classes, beneficial insects like ladybugs and mantises, and even worms for composting. We were there for what seemed like hours, trying to decide on just the right containers and plants for a little pollinator garden. It might not seem like a tough choice, but when there’s at least seven different materials and oodles of container designs to decide on while considering sunlight, moisture retention/loss, and visual appeal — we were overwhelmed! Finally, we selected fiber clay pots, which are lightweight and weather/ UV resistant. They’re cute, too! Choosing plants was just as mind boggling. Luckily, we got a very informative rundown of the perennial (they grow back next spring!) and annual (they don’t!) pollinator favorites from a helpful employee. Heads up, plants are pricey! One medium plant, the agastache (no relation to the mustache), was 15% of our budget. However, it will be worth it because it will attract all the pollinators that we want to see: bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The names of the other plants we chose are something out of a Dr. Seuss book: Ranunculus, Lysimachia Persian Chocolate, Armeria Daydream, and Saxifraga Scenic Red. And of course, good ‘ol reliable lavender. Pretty sure by the time we finally had plants and containers on our cart, I had forgotten to double-check that our plants would play nicely together in a small space. Plants are picky about soil, sunlight, water….Ya know, silly stuff like that. I guess that oxygen boost didn’t overcome decision fatigue. My poor brain! I’ll be crossing my fingers for our beautiful little pollinator container gardens.
He Said: We decided to keep it low key this month, grab some stuff from a garden center, and make the Earth a little better for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. You know, typical Thursday stuff. To make our pollinator flower pots come together, we headed to our local garden center to acquire some plants and supplies.
I thought this would be the easiest step, but I was wrong. We agonized for at least thirty minutes over which pots to purchase. We couldn’t decide whether to get the cheap plastic tower garden or the super expensive cedar planter boxes. We settled on a couple fiber clay planters, because they were both eco- and wallet-friendly. I knew we’d need some assistance finding plants, because, frankly, I know diddly-squat about plants and even less about planting them. I flagged down an employee, told her our plan, and she started asking all kinds of questions: Full sun, part shade, compost, amendment, annual, perennial, biennial? It was like she was speaking another language! I panicked, my mind went totally blank, but thankfully Jen swooped in with some answers, which gave me the perfect window to ninja vanish. “I’ll go get a cart!” I said. Phew! After we got a ton of good plant info, it was time to pick our bug friendly flowers. I chose lavender and Persian chocolate, mostly because they were the only ones I could pronounce, but also only because they didn’t have any of the plants I was hoping for. No thimble weed, humped bladderwort, turtlehead, cuckoo flower, sneezeweed, or toadflax… I mean what kind of nursery doesn’t carry toadflax?! Anyway, we took our plants home and rolled up our sleeves, got our hands dirty, and dug in. Now we have two lovely flower pots to put out in our garden that should summon pollinators of all kinds throughout the spring and summer. It was a fun day, and I look forward to seeing what they attract.
