Pollinator Gardening info (incl. native cultivars)

 These days pollinator gardening is popular, and people are looking for help to do it right. 

One great expert and author isHeather Holm! 

Here is a summary of Heather's recommendations from a webinar she did for the PA Master Gardeners

Heather Holm’s Top Gardening Activities to Support Native Bees

And here are two Heather Holm's books I highly recommend (note these are Amazon.com links the books are available in many places!)

Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants - paperback

Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide - paperback

and also the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is another great resource!

A few of the  Xerces Society's Books I have in my library.

Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide, Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies -paperback

100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive  -paperback

  The Xerces Society for Invertebrate conservation has more books about butterflies etc. that I haven't read.

Are Cultivars of  native plants as good for pollinators as the wild types? The answer is "It depends" Here are some links to reccomendations of cultivars for pollinators based on research.

From Nursery to Nature:  Are native cultivars as valuable to pollinators as native species? by Annie S. White

Mt Cuba Center

Diverse Plants Bring Diverse Pollinators

Mt. Cuba Center's Research trils results of native plant cultivars or nativars.

In Defencse of Plants Blog's Review: Mt. Cuba Center Puts Nativars to the Test February 6, 2018

Photocredit: a female of a species green sweat bee, (Agapostemon sericeus) courtesy of the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from their Bees of Maryland Album on Flickr