Resources for Pollinator Gardens

(June 2023 revised by Brenda Graff)

For Kids:

  • Monarch Picture story: http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm
  • Touch a Butterfly: wildlife gardening with Kids by April Pulley Sayre, book first published in 2013.
  • 21 tips for starting (or improving) your school butterfly garden:
    https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/school-butterfly-garden-checklist-teachers/
  • Children's Butterfly site at: www.kidsbutterfly.org

Searchable databases for choosing plants:

  • Audubon's native plants database: https://www.audubon.org/native-plants
  • Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Native Plant Finder:
    http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/native-plants-finder
  • Chesapeake Bay Native Plant Center: http://www.nativeplantcenter.net
  • Piedmont Natives Plants database: http://www.albemarle.org/nativeplants/
  • Digital Atlas of the Flora of Virginia: http://vaplantatlas.org
  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/
  • US Department of Agriculture plant database: https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/java
  • A Guide to Gardening with Southwest Virginia Native Plants is now live and ready to support your fall planting efforts.  Download here.  The paper version will be available soon.

Organizations:

  • Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) - https://vnps.org Has a section on “Growing natives” which
    includes Regional Plant guides for Virginia (mountain region is in preparation), a list of local plant
    nurseries and an interactive plant finder. Explore the New River chapter at https://vnps.org/newriver/
  • Plant Southwest Virginia Natives - https://www.plantvirginianatives.org/plantswvanatives which is a
    campaign underneath the Plant Virginia Natives at https://www.plantvirginianatives.org
  • Virginia state arboretum - https://blandy.virginia.edu/content/state-arboretum-virginia
  • Audubon - https://www.audubon.org/plantsforbirds
    One of their articles is titled “Ten plants for a bird friendly yard” at
    https://www.audubon.org/news/10-plants-bird-friendly-yard
  • The Virginia Cooperative Extension Office has a brochure titled “For the Birds, Butterflies & Hummingbirds: Creating Inviting Habitats” at https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/HORT/HORT-59/HORT-59-PDF.pdf among many others.
  • Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources – https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/habitat/  One of their many brochures is titled “Beyond the Bird Feeder – Attract and Support Birds with Native Plants” at https://dwr.virginia.gov/blog/beyond-the-bird-feeder-attract-and-support-birds-with-native-plants/
  • Monarch Waystation – You can create a monarch butterfly habitat to help conserve their populations.  For details go to: https://monarchwatch.org/waystations/
  • National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitats - Anyone can create a welcoming haven for local wildlife. For more information go to: https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify
  • Xerces Society – Their goal is to protect pollinators. They have lots of information in their website at: xerces.org including lists of pollinator friendly plants and how to grow milkweeds for the monarch.
  • Pollinator partnership - https://www.pollinator.org Lots of information on how to protect pollinators including free pollinator friendly planting guides based on ecoregions of the US at https://www.pollinator.org/guides
  • Homegrown national parks created by Douglas Tallamy -https://homegrownnationalpark.org/about

Books:

  • Some are available online. Others may be seen at your local public library under the heading “gardening to attract wildlife” or you can visit your local bookstore.
  • An online book titled Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
  • An online book titled
    Native Plants for the Small Yard: Easy, Beautiful Home Gardens that Support Local Ecology
  • An online book titled Mistaken Identity? Invasive Plants and their Native Look-alikes: an identification
    guide for the mid-Atlantic
  • Attracting Native Pollinators by the Xerces Society, 2011.
  • Bringing Nature Home: How you can sustain wildlife with native plants by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2009, updated and expanded. His newest book published in 2020 is titled “Natures Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard” and tells you how you can help nature by planting native plants in your own yard to help restore the wildlife and ourselves.
  • Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and identify pollinators and beneficial insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm, 2014. This comprehensive, essential book profiles over 65 perennial native plant species of the Midwest, Great Lakes region, Northeast and southern Canada plus the pollinators, beneficial insects and flower visitors the plants attract.

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