The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s ‘No Mow May’ campaign may be over but there are still ways to support local pollinators.
Spokesperson Andrew Holland says there are a number of local plants and flowers you can plant in your garden.
“Because native plants provide better habitat for species than the ornamental kind you often get from the garden centre,” he says. “Non-native plant may also have physical or chemical features that native pollinators aren’t adapted to dealing with so then you get less bees and butterflies.”
Holland says it’s a cycle and there’s a relationship between your lawn and a number of wildlife species.
“Some people might say ‘I don’t want insects on my lawn’, and I understand that but what happens is insects are an important food source for birds and if there’s fewer insects, there’s less food for birds, bird populations decline and that’s what we’re seeing across the country,” he says.
Here is a list of helpful native plants (P), shrubs (S) and trees (T) to plant in your yards for pollinators. Holland says a local garden centre can help verify whether they are accessible.
Common milkweed – P
Wild strawberry – P
Bush honey suckle – P
Butterfly weed – P
Brown eyed Susan – P
Fireweed – P
Sky blue aster – P
Dotted mint – P
Wild geranium – P
Common lilac – P
Big blue stem – P
Silver Maple – T
Hackberry – T
Sugar Maple – T
Black walnut – T
Yellow birch – T
Red Oak – T
Cherry birch – T
Red cedar – T
White Oak – T
Prairie Willow – S
Sandcherry – S
Northern Dewberry – S
Red Rasberry – S
Low bush blueberry – S
Pussy willow – S
