Garden Cards | Pollinator.org

NEW- Host Plant Garden Cards designed to support the full lifecycle of butterflies and moths!

Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Cards

These regionally specific Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Cards are designed with easy to follow guidelines for creating home pollinator gardens that provide diverse and colorful herbaceous floral displays and resources across growing seasons. The recommendation for each of the plant species was determined through an extensive vetting process with native plant and pollinator authorities to ensure they meet the unique environmental characteristics and resource needs of pollinator species associated with each region.

The cards provide guidelines for smaller spaces, approximately 3’ x 6’; however, we encourage expanding your pollinator gardens over time by including other valuable habitat resources such as native flowering shrubs and/or trees, native bunch grasses, and sedges. Native shrubs and trees provide some of the earliest spring pollen and nectar resources available to pollinators and many serve as host plants for Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths). Bunch grasses and sedges, in addition to residual woody debris and leaf litter provide necessary nesting and overwintering habitat. Some native grasses and sedge species are also host plants for Lepidoptera species.

Look for the recommended plant species where native plants are sold (including native plant nurseries and plant sales sponsored by native plant societies, nature centers, and conservation districts).

The garden recipe cards were produced through collaborative effort as part of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Pollinator Habitat Installations Task Force.

Additional recommendations for regionally specific beneficial plants and habitat tips are available in the Ecoregional Planting Guides: pollinator.org/guides .

Happy habitat planting!

P.S. Looking for plants from these cards? My Home Park will donate one plant for every four plants purchased as part of their Pollinator Garden Plant Kits, which were based off P2's famous Garden Recipe Cards. Click here to purchase one yourself!

This series includes Alaska, Northern California, Southern California, Northeast, Northwest, Intermountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, and Texas Regions.

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Host Plant Garden Cards

Host plants play a critical role in the conservation of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), serving as the primary food sources for the larvae (or caterpillars) of these species. Hundreds of species of lepidoptera here in North America rely on one or two specific plants (or groups [genera or families] of plants) for reproduction, meaning that if we are a bit more intentional with our plant selection, we can provide pollinating moths and butterflies with the essential plant partner they need to persist.

These cards help inform your choices next time you head to the nursery, we can turn our backyards, community gardens, window-boxes, etc. into havens for lepidoptera that support these important pollinators at every stage of their life. Simply put, the plants identified on these cards provide benefits to wildlife and ecosystem lacking in some of the other choices, and by helping to plant these “superplants” and spreading the word, we can help to combat and mitigate the threats posed to moths, butterflies, and other pollinators.