Winter Garden Update
Get Your Bloomers and Pollinators Ready!
Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year, led by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, this year began recognizing four top-performing landscape plants that support pollinators. The selections are guided by a committee of entomologists, horticulturists, green industry professionals, and plant conservationists in order to promote species that look stunning in the garden and provide high ecological value.
The winning plants fall into the following four categories: Spring Bloomer, Summer Bloomer, Fall Bloomer and Georgia Native. Start your pollinator garden by including these four winning plants in your garden to ensure that pollinators are provided nectar and pollen throughout the growing season and that food is provided for the larval insect phase.
Spring Bloomer: Conradina (Conradina canescens) is a delightfully scented and fine-textured evergreen foliage. Plants look great trailing down a container and have a fantastic architectural growth habit. These bloom profusely in spring and support many native bees.
Summer Bloomer: Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) produces intoxicatingly fragrant flowers in the summer when most other plants have stopped blooming. It provides nectar for a variety of pollinators and birds, and other animals feed on the seeds in fall and winter.
Fall Bloomer: Downy Goldenrod (Solidago petiolaris) is an excellent plant for supporting pollinators such as bees, wasps and at least 112 species of butterflies and moths.
Georgia Native: Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has striking orange flowers; few other plants have such a bright orange color. It is excellent for sunny borders, meadows and containers. This plant is the larval host plant for Monarch Butterfly and Milkweed Tussock Moth and a nectar source for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds
To learn more about the program, and to nominate your favorite pollinator plants, visit https://botgarden.uga.edu/conservation-science/pollinator-plant-program/