Pollinator pots
The iridescent flash of hummingbirds’ wings, the fluttery beauty of butterflies, and the friendly buzz of bees can bring a garden alive. If you fill pots with carefully chosen plants, you can entice these creatures to your yard.
“Natives are the easiest, least-demanding plants I’ve grown,” says Steven Rowland (pictured), a contractor living in Villa Park, California, whose pots are shown at right. “California natives don’t need a lot of water. They rarely need to be fed. They can almost get by without you.”
Native plants are magnets for wildlife; they evolved with the insects and animals. Bees especially are the plant kingdom’s most important pollinators, says Mike Evans, co-owner of Tree of Life Nursery (949/728-0685), which specializes in California native plants.