Spring Snapshots From Extension’s Pollinator Paradise Garden
Photos by Debbie Roos, Chatham County Cooperative Extension
In late 2008, I planted a demonstration pollinator garden at Chatham Mills to provide forage from early spring to late fall for pollinators such as honey bees, native bees, butterflies, flower flies, hummingbirds, beetles, and other beneficial insects. The garden features over 200 unique species of perennials, 85% of which are native to North Carolina. The garden is a great teaching tool that I use to conduct workshops and tours for hundreds of folks each year. It has taught me so much and I enjoy sharing this knowledge with others.
Below you can see photos of plants that were in bloom from April-June. The pollinator garden averaged 45+ species in bloom in any given week throughout the spring!
I give free tours of the pollinator garden from spring-fall. The next tour will be Monday August 7 at 10:00 a.m. See the 2017 Pollinator Garden Tour Schedule here.
For more photos, see:
Summer Snapshots in the Pollinator Garden – 2016
Fall in the Pollinator Garden – 2015
The Amazing Diversity of Critters in the Pollinator Garden – 2015
The Amazing Diversity of Critters in the Pollinator Garden – 2014
For more information:
Pollinator Paradise Garden website
Slide Show of Pollinator Garden: Take a Virtual Tour!
What’s in Bloom in the Pollinator Garden – updated bi-weekly!
List of Plants in the Pollinator Garden
Top 25 Native Pollinator Plants for North Carolina
Native columbine with catmint and golden alexander in mid-April. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Robber fly with beetle prey on blackhaw viburnum in mid-April. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Leafcutter bee on Baptisia x ‘Carolina Moonlight’ in mid-April. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Assassin bug hunting on golden alexander in late April. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Beardtongue, yarrow, golden alexander, columbine, and catmint in late April. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Wild indigo (Baptisia x variicolor ‘Twilite Prairieblues’) in front of Arkansas bluestar. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Honey bee on native purple milkweed in early May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Purple coneflower about to open in early May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Spring whites! Piedmont Barbara’s buttons and thyme in early May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Gray hairstreak nectaring on the lanceleaf blanketflower in mid-May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Habitat for native ground nesting bees at the pollinator garden. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Ohio spiderwort in mid-May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Monarch caterpillar on butterfly milkweed in late May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Downy wood mint and orange butterfly weed. Photo by Debbie Roos.
American ladies + bumble bee on coneflowers. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) in late May. Photo by Debbie Roos.
The southern sundrops provide a favorite foraging spot for the bumble bees. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Pretty combo of lanceleaf blanketflower and southern sundrops. Photo by Debbie Roos.
The bumble bees get delirious foraging on the poppy mallows. Photo by Debbie Roos.
Coneflowers and bee balm in early June. Photo by Debbie Roos.