Pollinator Plant Suggestions for Georgia

               Becky Griffin      Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture

This list is just a sampling of plants attractive to pollinators that grow well in Georgia.   It contains a mixture of annuals, perennials, natives, exotics, herbaceous plants and shrubs.

Spring into Summer

Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

Winter Honeysuckle
Winter Honeysuckle

Spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.)

Wild Indigo (Baptisia spp.)

 

Summer into Fall

Bee Balm (Monarda spp. – especially Monarda punctate)

Catmint (Nepeta x faassengi)

Cosmos (Cosmos spp. – especially single petal types)

Cosmos
Cosmos

Hyssop (Agastache species – especially Agastche foeniculum and Agastache Mexican)

Blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Wheat Celosia (Celosia spicata)

Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Eastern Purple Coneflower
Eastern Purple Coneflower

Lobed Tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata)

Sunflower (Helianthus spp. – especially Helianthus angustifolius and ‘Lemon Queen’)

 

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Button Bush

 

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum)

St. John’s wort (Hypericum frondosum)

Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)

Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Pollinator Tithonia
Mexican Sunflower

Baby Sage (Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’)

Milkweeds (Asclepias spps.)

Hardy Lantana (Lantana camara ‘Ms. Huff’)

Yarrow (Achillea spp.)

 

Fall until Frost

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)

Asters (Symphyotricum spp.)

Asters
Asters

Joe-pye Weed (Eupatorium dubium)

Ironweed (Vernonia spp.)

 

Also consider adding food plants for the larval stages of butterflies – like parsley and bronze fennel.

 

Research done at the University of Georgia, North Carolina State, Colorado State University, Michigan State University and the Xerces Society was used in compiling these recommendations.

For more information on pollinator conservation see the following resources

Pollination:  Plants for Year-round Bee Forage by Dr. Keith Delaplane, UGA

 

Bee Conservation in the Southeast by Dr. Keith Delaplane, UGA

 

Protecting Georgia’s Pollinators  – the Georgia state pollinator protection plan

 

Pollinator Spaces Project – a project to increase pollinator habitat in community and school gardens in Georgia

 

The Eco-Friendly Garden:  Attracting Pollinators, Beneficial Insects, and Other Natural Predators by Bethany Harris, Kris Braman, Bodie Pennisi, and Maria Putzke

 

UGA Honey Bee Program

 

Gardening for Bees – or Not!  by Dr. Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University

 

Top 25 Perennial Pollinator Plants for North Carolina Piedmont by Debbie Roos, North Carolina State

 

Attracting Beneficial Insects with Native Flowering Plants by Fiedler, Tuell, Issacs, and Landis, Michigan State University