Building Pollinator Gardens for Enhanced Beauty and Environmental Impact

Check out these tips for creating beautiful pollinator gardens in your landscaping

 

With just a small amount of space, you can create a meaningful habitat for pollinators. And, if you love the aesthetic of wildflowers, you can create swaths of pollinator gardens in your landscape that complement your taste while attracting butterflies and songbirds to your property. 

Since 1999, Mahoney Associates has cultivated and maintained many of the most beautiful landscapes on the East End of Long Island. Our commitment to fulfilling our clients’ visions results in the enduring enjoyment of their landscape during every season, year after year.

Contact Mahoney online or call  (631) 287-7666

 

Making an impact at home

The rise in recent years of landscaping with pollinator gardens came from a recognition that our crucial pollinators are in danger. The majority of flowering plants are pollinated by insects, as well as the agricultural crops that produce more than one-third of the world’s food supply. 

The goal of a home pollinator garden is to provide sufficient nectar and pollen to reverse the decline of pollinators, especially bees, and to provide habitat, such as milkweed for monarch butterflies. Even a small number of pollinator-friendly plants in your home gardens can make an impact on the ecosystem.

Pollinator decline has mostly been attributed to loss of habitat and overuse of chemical pesticides. So planning and maintaining your gardens should take the environment into account. Using natural, integrative methods for pest control and disease management on your property makes a difference too. So does thoughtful water management.

 

Beautiful meadow garden design

Your landscaping can embrace native plants and the appeal of wildflowers with a meadow garden. Beginning with beautiful plantings that are sure to thrive in the region, and in the location selected for your unique garden, time and self-seeding often lead to a low-maintenance garden bursting with color. Just like a natural meadow, the plants will attract pollinators and other wildlife. Plus, adding a water feature to your garden will often increase the presence of songbirds as well as adding beauty and charm.

Knowledgeable landscape gardeners monitor the garden and select which plants to encourage and which to remove over time, to promote the ideal aesthetic. Since careful planning is essential to creating successful pollinator gardens, it’s a good idea to work with a comprehensive landscape design firm from the beginning. Especially if they work from a place of knowledge of holistic plant health and are committed to fostering and maintaining a healthy and thriving environment. 

You don’t need to have a large meadow garden to enjoy the beauty of wildflowers and happy pollinators. Planting borders of native blooming plants, or lining the edges of fields, lawns or woodlines can be a great way to integrate pollinator gardens into your landscaping. 

 

Top tips for pollinator gardens

• While there are flowers that can bloom in both sunny and shady conditions, ensure the area you have selected has at least a few hours of sunlight if you want to attract butterflies, who love basking in the sun. 
• Consider planting a mixture of plants with diversified sources of nectar, such as shrubs, trees, and flowers. Ideally, use at least some native varieties. 
• Work with your landscaper to select plants that will provide continuous bloom throughout the growing season in order to attract insects and enjoy color from spring through fall.

 

Mahoney Associates for full-service landscaping

At Mahoney Associates, we believe that listening is the most important skill required for designing the best landscape. We start the design process by listening carefully to every aspect of what you want your property to provide, functionally and aesthetically. 

What’s more, we’re conscious of the environmental impact of every product and piece of equipment we use. This is evident in our fleet of electric cars, our organic programs for plant health care, and our landscape designs for revegetation, sensitive eco-systems, and pollinator gardens.  

Your full service design-build firm, we provide excellent service from the vision to the installation and maintenance of all your landscaping.

 

Contact Mahoney online or call  (631) 287-7666

Photo by Leonardo Jarro