Pollinator Garden Calculator

Most classic pollinator plants — coneflowers, milkweed, bee balm, and similar nectar and pollen sources — flower most heavily in six or more hours of direct sun, so a full-sun bed can be planted more densely without plants competing for light. Shade-tolerant pollinator plants tend to be sparser bloomers and need more room per plant to perform well.

Native plants and native pollinators evolved together, so many native bee, butterfly, and moth species rely on specific native plants for nectar, pollen, or as larval host plants in a way that non-native ornamentals rarely provide. That ecological relationship is why native percentage carries a heavier weight in the score than a factor like sun exposure.

Yes — many pollinators, especially bees, need a shallow water source with something to land on, since they can drown in open water, and a birdbath with pebbles or a shallow dish serves that purpose well. It's a smaller factor than plant selection or bloom timing, which is why it adds a modest fixed bonus to the score rather than dominating it.

Pollinators need a continuous food source across the whole time they're active, not just a single burst of flowers in one season — a garden that blooms only in spring leaves bees and butterflies without forage for the rest of the year. Spreading species across early, mid, and late bloom periods keeps nectar and pollen available from the first warm days through fall.

It's a general target scaled to your garden's size, reflecting the idea that greater plant diversity supports a broader range of pollinator species with different tongue lengths, flower preferences, and active seasons. A smaller, well-chosen set of high-value native plants can still support meaningful pollinator activity even if it falls short of the suggested count.