Blooming with Purpose: Create a Pollinator Paradise in Your Garden
Why Pollinators Matter
Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds don’t just make gardens more beautiful, they are essential to our ecosystem. Over 75% of flowering plants depend on pollinators to reproduce, including many of the fruits and vegetables we eat every day. Yet these helpful visitors are in decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate shifts. The good news? You can help—starting with your garden.
How to Start a Pollinator-Friendly Garden
You don’t need acres of land to make an impact. Even a single sunny porch pot or backyard bed can provide pollinators with the resources they need. Here's how:
Plant in Layers Choose a variety of plants that bloom from spring through fall. Continuous blooms = continuous food. Also, the texture, and colors, and variety!
Go Native Native plants are better adapted to your soil, your weather, and your
pollinators. They’re lower maintenance and more effective at attracting the locals—bugs and birds alike. Ask us about our Native Pollinators!
3. Skip the Chemicals Avoid neonicotinoid pesticides and opt for pollinator-safe garden practices. Healthy soil and diverse plantings do most of the work for you. (Check out our Arber - Organic Certified Products!)
4. Add Water & Shelter A small water source (like a shallow dish with stones) helps bees stay hydrated. Leave a little patch of bare soil or mulch for nesting sites too.
Shop Our Pollinator Favorites
At Berns, we’ve curated a Pollinator Favorites Collection that supports bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds—all locally grown, ready to plant, and selected for success in Ohio gardens.
A Few Standouts from the Pollinator Favorites Collection
Zinnias are a bright, easy-to-grow favorite that butterflies flock to for both color and nectar. Salvia, with its long tubular blooms, is a reliable source of nectar for both bees and hummingbirds. Lantana thrives in the heat and produces continuous clusters of blooms that attract pollinators well into fall.
Milkweed, or Asclepias, is more than just a pretty face—it's the essential host plant for Monarch butterflies and a vital part of their lifecycle. Cosmos offer airy, daisy-like blooms that invite pollinators throughout the season, while sunflowers provide pollen for bees during bloom and seeds for birds long after.
Each plant in this collection is grown locally and selected for both beauty and purpose—perfect for creating a thriving, pollinator-friendly garden right here in Ohio.
Explore the full collection
Your Garden, Their Lifeline
Every time you plant a bloom that supports pollinators, you're building a stronger environment. Whether you fill a landscape bed or just add a single hanging basket to your patio, you’re doing your part.
Visit Berns Garden Center in Beavercreek or Middletown, or shop online to bring home pollinator plants that grow with purpose.