SEARCH
MENU
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Shop
Creative & Frugal Home & Garden Ideas

Empress of Dirt

  • Grow
  • Make
  • Ideas

New here?

Dig in!

Start here

20 Fall Flower Bulbs to Plant for Spring Pollinators

September 8, 2020 ♛ By Melissa J. Will

This post contains affiliate links.
Click here for the full disclosure statement.

TwitterFacebookPinterestEmail

When it comes to helping pollinators in spring, not all flowering bulbs provide the nectar bees and other insects need. Find out which bulbs can fuel our hungry pollinators while providing beautiful blooms at winter’s end.

Also see these ideas for growing a diverse selection of plants to support bees, butterflies, and more.

Claytonia is an example of a spring flowering bulb that provides nectar for pollinators.

Using Flowering Bulbs to Support Spring Pollinators

You know those wonderful early spring days when winter has finally surrendered—at least for the moment—and the sun is shining and the bees come out seeking nectar?

With days or weeks to go before plants like dandelions and early flowering trees and shrubs start showing off their blooms, food sources are scarce.

And this is where the right flowering bulbs can save the day.

Plant them in fall and enjoy them in spring.

You can jump right to the list of recommended bulbs here or keep reading to understand why some flowers are never touched by pollinators and why our bulb selections matter.


Gardening for Pollinators

Gardening for pollinators is a simple arrangement.

We provide a diverse variety of food and habitat through suitable plant selections, give up the pesticides and all that harmful riff raff, and let the pollinators do their thing.

They eat, drink, and be merry consuming the nectar, pollen, or fruit, and, quite incidentally but so importantly, assist with flower reproduction. Keep reading if you’re not sure why this is a big deal (beyond pretty flowers).

These are unintentional but essential mutually-beneficial relationships that have co-evolved over millions of years.

While it may be a straight exchange with some plants and pollinators—you give me nectar, I distribute your pollen—our spring bulbs, which reproduce asexually, are more like cheerleaders on the sidelines providing fuel to sustain things until the main growing season gets underway.


How Pollination Works

So how does pollination happen? This is completely over-simplified and generalized but here is the gist of it.

As the animal forages—this could be a bee, bird, moth, wasp, bat, beetle, fly, or small mammal— male plant pollen from the flower stamen sticks to its body. The animal continues foraging and that pollen gets on the female parts (stigma) of either the same flower or a flower on another plant of the same species. The plant is fertilized and can now produce fruit and seeds.

Again, it’s not a direct exchange with early flowering bulbs which reproduce on their own and don’t need help with pollination, but their nectar is still valuable to those hungry critters.

With approximately 80 percent of the world’s flowers dependant on animal pollination and approximately 80 percent of food crop pollination assisted by bees—the rest by other insects, wind, and so on, it’s not a leap to say this is indeed essential for life on earth.

TIP: One of the best food sources for pollinators in early spring is flowering trees and shrubs. With thousands and thousands of flowers in one place, they can access reams of food with little effort.


Why Not All Bulbs Are Beneficial

When I started researching this topic to learn which spring-flowering bulbs support pollinators, one thing stood out.

It’s not enough to choose the right plant species.

With all the hybrids and cultivars out there, you need to check that the specific species and variety is actually pollinator-approved.

Avoid Fancy Hybrids

For example, some flowering plants are bred to have frilly, double, or triple blooms or overlapping petals that look interesting but make it impossible for the insect to access the nectar or pollen.

This is not only true for flowering bulbs but all flowering plants produced for gardens.

In our zeal for fabulous new shapes and colors we have sometimes landed in beautiful but useless territory.

Once you become pollinator-centric, it’s the usefulness of plants that makes them beautiful.

Some hybridized flowers may come in colors or have odors so far from the original species that their pollinators are not attracted to them.

Others have little or no nectar and may also be sterile.

One example is tulips. What we call straight species tulips (Tulipa spp.) or unhybridized tulips are pollinator-friendly. But many of the fancy-schmancy hybridized tulips are not.

To know you’re getting the right bulbs, ask or check.

  1. Can my local pollinators use this plant for nectar or pollen?
  2. Is this a straight species or a hybrid that still provides easy-to-access nectar?

I also highly recommend learning the botanical names of your garden plants where you can.

Botanical taxonomy—the proper way to list the entire plant name—tells you things like species, cultivar, and hybrid names, making plant selection easier. Once you know the basic formula for how the written names are formatted, there’s a lot more information at a glance.

Related: How to Grow a Pollinator-Friendly Front Garden Without Freaking Out Your Neighbors


The Best Bulbs are Beautiful and Useful

With so many good options available and hungry bees and other insects depending on it, it seems a shame to plant flowers with nothing but good looks to contribute.

Use the list I’ve provided below, do your homework to confirm the choices are suited to your region and know you are growing something that will be both beautiful and useful.

Fun Fact

You can often guess a plant’s pollinator based on the shape, color, and odor (or lack of) of a flower.

Hummingbirds pollinate long, tuberous flowers and certain flies pollinate plants like carrots and goldenrod that have lots of easy to access pollen.

Bees like to have a landing platform on (mostly) light-colored flowers while moths go for flowers with strong, sweet fragrances at night.

Love Magnolia Blooms? Thank a beetle. Beetles pollinate magnolias, paw-paws, and yellow pond lilies.

Read More Here: What Pollinators Need

Pollinator-Friendly Spring Flowering Bulbs and Other Geophytes

Examples of spring-flowering bulbs that provide nectar for pollinators include trout lily, trillium, and agapanthus.

The plants suggested here are geophytes: perennial bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers that store their food in underground stems or other plant organs. We use the broad term ‘bulb’ for all of them.

Bloom times vary from early spring onward.

If you are wanting native plants, check what is considered native in your area. Many of the bulbs listed below are non-native but still readily used by pollinators.

Also, check with your bulb seller to confirm your selections are pollinator-friendly and proven forage sources and will not be invasive or too aggressive in your garden.

If you want to save or print this list, see the link below.

SHOP FOR BULBS

  • Eden Brothers (US Shipping) has bulbs by mail order.
  • Amazon (search for specific bulbs)
  1. Allium Ornamental onion (Allium spp.) Zones 4-9
  2. Anemone (Anemone spp.) Zones 7-10
  3. Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) This is a rhizome native to parts of North America. The flowers only last for a day or two. Zones 4-8
  4. Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) Also an ephemeral native to eastern North America. Zones 3-8
  5. Camassia | Quamash (Camassia leichtlinii) Zones 3-9
  6. Claytonia (Claytonia virginica) is a corm and its only pollinator is a tiny miner bee, the Andrena erigeniae. Zones 6-9
  7. Crocus (Crocus spp.) Zones 3-9 | Buy at Eden Brothers (US)
  8. Daffodil Narcissus poeticus or N. jonquilla Zones 3-8
  9. Dutch iris (Iris x hollandica) Zones 5-10
  10. Fritilaria | Checkered lily | Crown Imperial (Fritillaria Meleagris) Zones 3-10
  11. Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa spp.) non-native Zones 2-8
  12. Grape hyacinth (Muscari spp.) Zones 3-9z (US)
  13. Hyancinth (Hyacinthus) Zones 4-8 | Buy at Eden Brothers
  14. Iris reticulata A bulbous perennial iris. Zones 5-9
  15. Lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus spp.) Rhizome. Zones 6-10
  16. Siberian squill (Scilla sibirica) non-native Zone 2-10
  17. Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica) Zones 3-8
  18. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) Zones 3-9
  19. Trilliums | A rhizomatous bulb Zones 4-7
    White trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) Pollinated by ants who carry the seeds.
    Yellow trillium (Trillium luteum)
    Toadshade (Trillium sessile)
  20. Species Tulips (Tulipa spp.) – Zones 3-8
    You can mail order a lovely variety pack here from Naturehills.com. Ships to US lower 48.
  21. Trout Lily (Erythronium spp.) A true bulb with several native varieties. Zones 3-9
  22. Winter Aconite or Buttercup (Eranthis spp.) Zones 2-9
  23. Wood hyacinth (Hyacinthoides hispanica) Zones 3-9

SAVE THIS BULB LIST

Resources

Want Pollinators in Your Garden?

Butterfly landing on white flower.
  1. Choose plants including trees and shrubs used by local wildlife for food, nectar, or habitat.
    Options will be different in each growing region.
  2. Avoid use of any products toxic to pollinators.
  3. Keep it natural: don’t tidy up too much.
    Dead and decaying things nourish living things.
The Pollinator Victory Garden book cover.

The Pollinator Victory Garden
Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators

by Kim Eierman 

See it on Amazon

The passion and urgency that inspired WWI and WWII Victory Gardens is needed today to meet another threat to our food supply and our environment—the steep decline of pollinators. The Pollinator Victory Garden offers practical solutions for winning the war against the demise of these essential animals.

Read More

Want Lots of Pollinators? Grow a Diverse Selection of Plants


Pollinator Friendly Garden book cover

Pollinator Friendly Gardening

by Rhonda Fleming Hayes

It’s no secret that pollinators are increasingly threatened. While you can’t solve all their problems, every gardener can join the front lines. So stow your pesticides and learn how to foster a beautiful, healthy garden that attracts bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators.

See it on Amazon


~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

Next

Hummingbird and a North American migration map.
2021 Hummingbird Migration Map (Find Out When to Expect Them)
Hummingbird in the fall garden.
Do Hummingbird Feeders Interfere With Fall Migration?
Examples of creative ways to memorialize pets including custom figurines and jewelry.
18 Sweet Ways to Memorialize Beloved Pets
See More >>
Claytonia is an example of a spring flowering bulb that provides nectar for pollinators.
TwitterFacebookPinterestEmail

FREE NEWSLETTER

EVERY TWO WEEKS

Creative, frugal home and (mostly) garden ideas in your inbox!



Privacy Policy



Listen to Our Garden Podcast

SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST HERE

Melissa J. Will - Empress of DirtWelcome!
I’m Melissa J. Will
a.k.a. the Empress of Dirt
(Ontario, Canada).
Join me as I share creative + frugal home & garden ideas with a dash of humor.
More: Contact/About
New here? Dig in!  |  Our Podcast

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Some articles on this site contain affiliate links to Amazon, Etsy, Earthhero, and more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Affiliate and Ad Disclosure | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Empress of Dirt Creative + Frugal Home & Garden Ideas

Hello. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic.I Accept Read Privacy Notice
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT