In her new book, Pollinator Friendly Gardening, award-winning garden writer Rhonda Fleming Hayes states the need for vegetable gardeners to plant more flowers to attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to their gardens.

“Without pollinators, a vegetable garden isn’t possible.”

Gardeners need pollinators to fertilize flowers to set fruit for the most productive gardens possible. Even if you already plant plenty of flowers, there’s always room for more.

April is National Lawn Care Month and a good way to celebrate is to take up some of the turf and replace it with flowering plants that attract pollinators. Pollinator Friendly Gardening (Voyageur Press, 2015) provides the inspiration and ideas for reducing, replacing and rethinking the lawn.

“For gardeners always looking for more places to plant, they need to look no further than their lawns,” Rhonda writes. “It’s easy to chip away at the sod, little by little expanding your flowerbeds. Or go about it more systematically and consider widening all the beds by a foot or two, or more.”

Gardeners can plant flowering lawn substitutes, like miniclover, cheddar pinks, creeping red thyme, white stonecrop or ornamental strawberry. 

For more bang for the pollinator-friendly gardening buck, gardeners can replace a chunk of the lawn area with a new garden bed that’s filled with flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables.

It’s obvious Rhonda has spent time thinking about what would be most useful for a gardener when it comes to planting for pollinators. Her book is filled with helpful plant lists for the specific annuals, perennials and landscape plants that attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Each list is categorized by pollinator to make it easier for gardeners to find the best plants to meet their pollinators’ needs.

Special projects, like creating a butterfly feeding station or building a bee abode, turn research into reality for gardeners. The list of Citizen Science Projects provides opportunities for gardeners to collect and share valuable data about pollinator behavior.

In addition to the plant lists, the book includes planting tips, fun facts and insights from other experts. Rhonda’s book is a must-have for gardeners who want to help improve the quality of life for pollinators, and in turn, help their own gardening efforts as well.

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

Coco Bliss 650gm Bricks (5-Pack) - Organic Coco Coir

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

Pre-Rinsed & Pre-Screened Coco Coir - Every block of our coconut fiber substrate has been screened multiple times through an extremely small filter to get rid of any traces of fiber, sand, and rocks. This is what sets our coco coir apart, giving you pure and clean coco coir for plants, unlike others who don’t filter their coco coir for impurities.

Buy at Amazon

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

MULTITASKING DUAL EDGES: a deep serrated edge and a tapered slicing edge ideal for tough or delicate cuts. DURABLE 6-inch stainless steel blade withstands 300 lbs of pressure. TWINE CUTTING NOTCH, DEPTH GAUGE MARKINGS & spear point - no need to switch tools when using this garden knife. LEATHER SHEATH: heavy duty, protective, clip on sheath to keep your knife convenient and secure. LIFETIME WARRANTY.

Buy at Amazon

Bonide Captain Jack's Neem Oil, 32 oz Ready-to-Use Spray, Multi-Purpose Fungicide, Insecticide and Miticide for Organic Gardening

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

MULTI-PURPOSE BUG KILLER—Bonide Neem Oil is a perfect pest control solution for any garden dealing with mites, flies, mildew, and more. This product is a three-in-one fungicide, miticide, and insecticide. READY TO USE—This product is conveniently ready to use when it arrives. The spray nozzle makes this product easy to deploy and can even be used up to the day of harvest. KILLS ALL STAGES OF INSECTS—Bonide's 3-in-1 Neem Oil is great because it kills the egg, larvae, and adult stages of insects while also preventing the fungal attack of plant tissues. DORMANT SPRAY—In addition to being useful for ridding your garden of insects and other pests, this Neem oil makes a great dormant spray to help protect your plants throughout all seasons. ORGANIC GARDENING—Derived from the Neem seed, our product is great for use on roses, flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs, indoor houseplants, trees and shrubs. It's approved for organic gardening.

Buy at Amazon