Immaculate lawns. Crop monocultures. Burning bush hedges. If you love nature the thought of these landscapes make you shudder.
Wildflowers. Community gardens. Trees. Wait, trees? Yes! Trees attract hundreds of insects including pollinators! A native oak tree can attract over 500 different butterfly and moth species (Tallamy). And when the insects come, the birds are soon to follow…
Heard of sourwood honey? How about Tupelo honey? Bees love both the sourwood tree and the tupelo (blackgum) tree. Add in crabapples, tulip poplars, redbuds, serviceberries, basswoods (lindens), and oaks and you have yourself a pollinator forest!
These are some of the best trees to plant if you want to attract pollinators to your yard, garden and neighborhood.
Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboretum. A small-growing, low maintenance, flowering tree that reaches 20-25’ tall, with a 10-25’ spread. White, showy, fragrant flowers bloom in June/July. Bright red fall color adds to the charm of this tree.
Basswood/American Linden, Tilia americana. A medium to tall sized shade tree that reaches 50-80’ tall and 30-50’ wide. Fragrant, pale yellow booms attract all sorts of pollinators in June. Don’t miss this tree in bloom – it’s a stunner!
Black gum/Tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica. A medium sized shade tree with great fall color, the black gum tree grows 30-50’ tall and 20 to 30’ wide. Although the flowers are not textbook significant to us, pollinators find them irresistible.
Tulip poplar, liriodendron tulipifera. If you are looking for a large and stately tree, tulip poplars come in at 60 to 90’ tall and 30 to 50’ wide. Give her some room! With showy yellow flowers, this low maintenance tree will provide nectar for our bees and shade for you.
Crabapple species, Malus species. The deep pink, white or red blooms of the crabapple tree keep pollinators abuzz. This small ornamental tree can grow 15-20’ tall and wide.
Redbud, Cercis canadensis. Single or multi-stemmed this stunning small growing tree reaches 20 to 30′ tall and 25 to 35’ wide, so give it some elbow room. You can find redbud blooms along the stems of this tree.
Serviceberry, Amelanchier canadensis. One of the first trees to bloom in the spring, this small ornamental tree grows 25 to 30’ tall and 15 to 20’ wide. With pretty white blooms and edible (for humans & critters) fruit, the serviceberry checks multiple gardener boxes.
Oaks, Quercus species. As mentioned above, oaks support more butterfly and moth species than any other native tree species. These are your trees for posterity – plant an oak knowing its shade will be loved for decades if not centuries. Pin, white, willow, red, bur and swamp white oak generally grow 50-75’ tall and wide and can live hundreds of years.
This is just a sampling of trees that pollinators love. What are some of your favorite bee-loving treezzzz?