{"id":5211,"date":"2021-04-07T10:56:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T14:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earthworksjax.com\/?p=5211"},"modified":"2025-05-30T13:38:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T13:38:27","slug":"landscaping_for_pollinators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthworksjax.com\/landscape\/landscaping_for_pollinators\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscaping for Pollinators in Northeast Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

After more freeze days in Winter than in recent years, many Northeast Florida homeowners are heading to garden centers to replace plants and want to do more landscaping for pollinators. \u201cIt\u2019s really easy here in Northeast Florida to attract the birds, the bees, the butterflies, all the beneficial pollinators and insects that we want to have in our garden,\u201d said Matt Barlow, Earth Works Garden Center Manager. \u201cSimply put, you need to have a combination of flowers that not only attract them for the pollen but also for the nectar. So each insect is going to be looking for different things. So it needs to be a combination of nectar plants and pollen plants. So the bees are really interested in pollen. And then the butterflies and some of the other insects will be looking for nectar.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Landscape designers assist clients in creating landing strips. These multi-level layered plantings draw pollinators to the garden, where plants serve as food sources and nesting habitat and protection from the elements and predators. Lawn care service providers can likewise assist by enhancing soil constituents and conserve water that can reduce plant stress and the need for pesticides that typically harm pollinators.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cAim for at least ten flowering plant species selected to complement one another, according to the University of Florida IFAS Extension<\/a>. \u201cSpecifically, design your garden to have three or more different plants blooming at any given time during the growing season, which is year-round in southern Florida, and March through November in northern areas of the state. Because bees often prefer dense floral displays, arranging flowering plants in clumps with multiple individuals per species will increase the attractiveness of the garden to bees.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While native plant species are best for both nectar and pollen sources, they are increasingly difficult to acquire. When landscaping for pollinators your area native plant societies such as the Florida Native Plant Society<\/a> (www.fnps.org) is vital for information about the availability of Florida native plants.<\/p>\r\n