POLLINATOR FRIENDLY CONTAINER GARDENS
In honor of National Pollinator Week, plant a container garden! Fill your creation with flowers and fresh herbs that bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love. Pollinators are essential to our world and ecosystems. Did you know that a vast majority of the world’s flowering plants and food crops depend on pollinators? These beneficial insects and birds face many challenges. From habitat loss, disease, and environmental contaminates, there has been a great decline in many species of pollinators. You can help by creating your own pollinator friendly container garden.
CONTAINER GARDEN IDEA #1: FLOWERS
SUPPLIES:
- Pottery or Container of Your Choice
- Calloway’s Premium Container Potting Soil
- Seasonal Color like Coneflowers, Pentas, Marigolds, Zinnias, and Lantana
- Gardening Gloves
Step One: Add Potting Soil
First, fill the container with Calloway’s Premium Container Potting Soil. Our Premium Container Potting Soil helps your plants get the best start for healthier, continued growth.
Step Two: Add Plants
CONEFLOWERS
Coneflowers are low maintenance blooms with large, colorful flowers and dark green foliage. They are heat and drought tolerant perennials that return year after year. Coneflowers get their name from their cone-shaped center. This plant attracts all types of butterflies, who love to feed on the sweet nectar. Birds also enjoy eating the seeds from the spent blooms.
PENTAS
Pentas will delight you with their small, star-shaped flowers in rich vibrant colors. They come in beautiful shades of red, pink, purple, and white. Pentas are one of the best pollinator-attracting plants around. They bloom all summer long, which makes a great resting place for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
MARIGOLDS
Marigolds have bright and bold flowers with sunny appeal! The lightly fragrant blooms sit atop green foliage to provide a pop of color to your gardens. They are low-maintenance and long-lasting. Butterflies and bees absolutely love marigolds. The open blooms allow these pollinators to easily find the yellow florets so they can indulge in the nectar.
ZINNIAS
Zinnias are prolific bloomers that love the sun. They are heat and drought tolerant, making them a perfect choice for our Texas summers. Zinnias are fast growing, colorful, and are one of the best annuals for enticing pollinators. The nectar-rich blooms are a favorite of butterflies and bees.
LANTANA
Lantana contains cheerful clusters of non-stop blooms. They are adaptable to dry and moist growing conditions and are considered drought tolerant. Lantana is a must-have for any pollinator-friendly garden. It is a favorite to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. They crave the sweet nectar, attractive scent, bright colors, and overall shape of the blooms. You will love them too!
Step Three: Enjoy
After planting, water in thoroughly and add more potting soil if needed. Make sure the water drains out of the drain hole. Display in a sunny location and enjoy the colorful addition to your home or patio. Watch to see what pollinators stop by for a visit.
CONTAINER GARDEN IDEA #2: FRESH HERBS
SUPPLIES:
- Pottery or Container of Your Choice
- Calloway’s Organic Container Potting Soil
- Fresh Herbs like Basil, English Thyme, Lavender, Mint, & Rosemary
- Gardening Gloves
Step One: Add Potting Soil
First, fill the container with Calloway’s Organic Container Potting Soil. Our organic potting soil has expanded shale and Coco coir for moisture control, and it is stock full of beneficial ingredients for good aeration and to provide necessary organic matter.
Step Two: Add Plants
BASIL
Plant for honeybees and enjoy the sweet fragrance of fresh basil. Basil is a classic cooking herb, ideal for sauces, pesto, salads, and so much more! Bees are attracted to the small flowers that basil can produce.
CHIVES
Edible and ornamental, chives are an ideal selection for any garden. It has tall grass-like foliage that is delicious and zesty. Chives can also produce pale purple or white flowers that bees and butterflies love.
LAVENDER
Lavender is one of the most useful perennial herbs that you can grow in your garden. It can be used in many culinary creations and medicinally as well. Bees and butterflies are attracted to lavender because it is stock full of tasty nectar. It can also repel harmful insects like moths and mosquitoes.
THYME
English Thyme is low-growing, fragrant, and does well in containers. It is low-maintenance and easy to grow. For centuries, thyme has been commonly used as a culinary herb or as herbal medicine. Thyme produces small, white to pink flowers that appeal to bees and butterflies.
MINT
Mint is rich in nutrients such as vitamin A, fiber, and iron. It can be used in teas, essential oils, desserts, and so much more! Mint’s bright green foliage can grow light lavender flowers. Rich in nectar and pollen, the flowers bring in beneficial bugs such as bees and butterflies!
ROSEMARY
Rosemary is one of the most popular amongst culinary herbs. It is a rich source of antioxidants, and its unique flavor is ideal for use in soups, salads, meats, and with fish! Rosemary is drought tolerant, and it can produce small purple flowers that bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love!
Step Three: Enjoy
After you are finished planting, water in thoroughly and add more potting soil if needed. Appreciate the fragrance and enjoy your homegrown herbs! Harvest if you like; when you let the herbs go to flower, it will negatively impact the flavor, but your pollinators will be happy!
Display in a sunny location and watch for all the different pollinators that will stop by to see your creation!
For more tips on how to plant for pollinators, visit our blog here!
SHOP WITH EASE
At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we have everything you need to support beneficial pollinators! Shop our neighborhood stores or shop online for Curbside Pickup or Delivery!
Stop by today and explore our entire selection of premium plants, pottery, and more! Have questions? Ask our Texas Certified Nursery Professionals; they are here to help!
