Choosing Well-Behaved Minnesota Native Plants for Pollinators

Blazing Star visited by a monarch butterfly. Image credit: Melissa Andersen

Plant sales, seed catalogs and garden centers are stocking more garden perennials native to Minnesota, and an overwhelming number of folks are applying for the Minnesota Lawns to Legumes grant each year. Interest in restoring native ecosystems and protecting our pollinators is booming. As Master Gardeners, we are often asked about which native plants to choose, particularly for home gardens where people want variety and space may be limited. 

For the most part, I consider myself a self-taught gardener. When we bought our St. Paul home seventeen years ago, I knew very little about how to care for the perennial gardens that came with it. Little by little, I grew into my identity as a gardener, and when I learned about the benefits of planting native species—how they would help sustain our native pollinators and prove more hardy as we face climate change—I began to add them to my yard. 

After a couple of years, I had learned that many Minnesota Native plants spread aggressively and seem to have a mind of their own. Some are better suited for large fields or prairies rather than my small backyard garden. For example, I have Western spiderwort (Tradescantia accidentalis) in my garden that I tried to dig up and get rid of once I noticed it showing up everywhere. It’s been nearly ten years, and I am still digging them up here and there when I find them, as they seeded themselves quite freely. 

Additionally, I learned that some native species are just difficult to get established in a home garden, such as wild lupine (Lupinus perennis), and some don’t like to be moved or divided, such as wild indigo (Baptisia lactea). 

My experience in planting different varieties of Minnesota native plants in my own small St. Paul yard was the inspiration for this article and the list below. I wanted to provide home gardeners with suggestions for varieties that are fairly easy to grow yet don’t spread or reseed too aggressively. I also wanted to provide a variety of flower colors and bloom times to provide color and food for pollinators all season. 

If you have limited space and want to maintain a nice variety of plants in your garden (rather than having one or two species take over), and you want to attract pollinators, here are some plants you may want to try:

Well-Behaved Minnesota Native Plants for Pollinators

Plant Name	Sun or shade	Height	Bloom Time	Flower Color	Pollinator Notes
large-flowered trillium Trillium grandiflorum	shade	10-18 inches	spring	white	- not as heavily visited by pollinators as other plants flowering at the same time, but a nice option for a shady, woodland garden
large-flowered bellwort Uvularia grandiflora	shade	12-16 inches	spring	yellow	- attract mining bees which climb into the flowers to access nectar
bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis	sun or shade	4-10 inches	spring	white	- source of pollen for early female bees - seeds are dispersed by ants
pasque flower Pulsatilla patens	sun	6-12 inches	spring	lavender or white	- source of food for early-emerging bees
Virginia bluebells Mertensia virginica	shade	1-2 feet	spring	blue	- early source of food for pollinators
wild geranium Geranium maculatum	part sun or shade	1-2 feet	late spring	Pale pink to purple	- nectar source for many early bees - larval host plant for leafmining and white-marked tussock moths
prairie smoke Geum triflorum	sun	6-16 inches	spring to early summer	pink	- primarily pollinated by bumblebees
bottle gentian Gentiana andrewsii	sun	1-3 feet	summer	blue	- bumble bees climb inside the flower to collect pollen and feed on nectar
wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa	sun	2-4 feet	summer	lavender	- larval host plant for hermit sphinx moth and snout moth - one of the best forage plants for bumble bees
blazing star Liatris pycnostachya	sun	3-5 feet	summer	violet to mauve	- attracts a variety of bees and butterflies
narrow-leaved purple coneflower Echinacea angustifoliaorpale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida	sun	1-3 feet	summer	pink	- preferred nectar of bees and butterflies - attracts goldfinches, which enjoy their seeds
purple prairie clover Dalea purpurea	sun	2-3 feet	summer	purple	- larval host plant for southern dogface butterflies - attracts a variety of bees
yellow coneflower Ratibida pinnata	sun	3-6 feet	summer	yellow	- also attracts beneficial insects that keep pests in balance
white turtlehead Chelone glabra	sun	1-3 feet	late summer	white	- visited mostly by worker bees and hummingbirds - bees must push their way into the flower, which can be fun to watch
butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa	sun	1-3 feet	summer	orange	- larval host plant for monarch and queen butterflies and milkweed tussock moths
spotted Joe Pye weed Eutrochium maculatum	sun	4-10 feet	summer	pink	- large flower heads offer large amounts of nectar to a variety of pollinators
New England aster Aster novae-angilae	sun	3-6 feet	late summer to early fall	violet to lavender	- great source of nectar for a variety of pollinators in the fall
Culver’s root Veronicastrum virginicum	sun	3-6 feet	summer to early fall	white to pale lavender	- attracts a variety of bees, including the endangered rusty patch bumble bee
cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis	Partial sun	2-4 feet	summer to early fall	red	- depends on hummingbirds for pollination because of flower structure

One thing to note is that many garden centers will sell non-native cultivars of these plants, so it’s best to double-check that it is a Minnesota native. Also, it’s even more beneficial to our pollinator friends if you can find plants that are not grown using neonicotinoids, as these pesticides act as neurotoxins which are systemic (meaning they stay in plant tissue, pollen and nectar) and are deadly to pollinators.

In addition to choosing pollinator-friendly flowering garden plants, you can create a pollinator-friendly landscape by adopting best practices to improve plant health, provide enough food for sustaining pollinator populations and reduce the need for pesticides. See the following articles to learn more:

• Protecting Pollinators at Home, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation - https://bwsr.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/2019-08/19-034_01_Protecting-Pollinators-at-Home_XercesSociety.pdf 

• Pollinator Friendly Planting Guide, Minnesota Environmental Quality Board - https://www.eqb.state.mn.us/programs/pollinators/pollinator-friendly-planting-guide

• Plants and Landscapes to Support Pollinators, University of Minnesota Extension - https://extension.umn.edu/lawns-and-landscapes/flowers-pollinators 

Sources:

Holm, Heather. Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants. Pollination Press LLC, 2014. 

Steiner, Lynn M. Landscaping with Native Plants of Minnesota. Voyageur Press, 2021. 

Writer Biography:

Melissa Andersen (she/her/hers) is an educator, a writer, and a gardener, particularly interested in native plants and pollinator-friendly garden practices. She has been with the Ramsey County Master Gardener program since 2019.