5 Best Plants to Attract Pollinators to Your Patio Garden

So you’ve set up your patio garden and you want more pollinators. I’ve got you covered.

The key to attracting pollinators is providing food for both the adults and larval stages. To attract butterflies, you need to have plants that can host the caterpillars. To attract native bees you need flowers that are open at the correct time and have the correct pollen.

Depending on where you live, this list may change a little bit, but you can always do your own research by researching your ecoregion.

Without further ado, here are the 5 best plants I recommend adding to your container garden to attract pollinators.

5. Cherries & Plums

Cherries and plums (genus Prunus) are number 5 on my list simply because they are trees. You can definitely keep trees in patio gardens, but they tend to take a little bit more effort to keep them small enough to live in containers. That being said, the Prunus genus, especially cherries and plums, support over 340 species of caterpillar. Bonus, you get delicious fruit!

4. Black-eyed Susans

When I say black-eyed susans, I actually mean the whole Rudbeckia genus. This includes black-eyed susans, orange coneflowers and green-headed coneflowers among others. They make stunning summer flowers and support over 20 species of caterpillar and over 25 species of specialist bees. Bonus, the plants can be used to make tea and have been used historically for their anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and immune modulating properties!

3. Sunflowers

There are so many different kinds of sunflowers. There are big ones and small ones, ones with edible seeds and ones with seeds meant for the birds. But, as long as it’s not a pollen free variety, the sunflower genus supports over 60 species of caterpillar and 50 species of specialist bees. Bonus, many of the big brand container varieties are actually the same species as wild sunflowers!

2. Blueberries

Not only are blueberries delicious and nutritious, but they are also great plants for pollinators! The blueberry genus hosts over 200 species of caterpillar and over 10 species of specialist bees! Bonus, blueberries thrive in acidic soil and it is much easier to achieve the correct level of acidity in a container.

1. Goldenrod

Goldenrod is number one on this list because it makes gorgeous flowers, has compact hybrids that can fit in small pots and hosts a ridiculous amount of pollinators. The goldenrod genus hosts over 100 species of caterpillar and over 40 species of specialist bees. Bonus points, you can harvest the flowers and use them as an herbal tea!