How to attract butterflies, bees and other pollinators to your garden ??

As we pass through the middle of April, we are entering the most popular planting season of the year. I said "most popular" because you can plant trees and shrubs at any time of the year. The only real limitation is when the ground is frozen.

Spring is the most popular time for planting for two main reasons. The first is the concept of spring fever. Winter weather keeps us indoors for long periods of time, so when spring arrives, we want to spend as much time outside as we can. Planting and gardening allow us to do this. The second reason is the beauty of the spring blooms inspires us to want more plants for our own spaces.

Nurseries, greenhouses and garden centers will do an average of about 40% of their annual business in a six-week period from now until the end of May. This is why the selection and availability of plants is so great during this time of the year.

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Avid gardeners never stop shopping for plants. There are other people who have limited time for gardening. They spend one or two weekends a year in the garden, and it is always in the spring. They crowd into the garden stores because they know they can buy trees, shrubs, perennials and annual flowers in one trip.

As you are making plans for new plants and possibly new gardens, consider planting for pollinators. Some of you might be familiar with the word "pollinators" while others might not be. Pollinators are animals and insects of all types that visit flowers and take away their pollen.

They are primarily insects, including bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies and beetles. Birds are also included. A pollinator is necessary for plants to make fruit or seeds. Pollinators move pollen from one part of the flower of a plant to another part. This pollen then fertilizes the plant. Only fertilized plants can make fruit and/or seeds, and without them, plants cannot reproduce. Without pollinators, our entire ecosystem would collapse.

Now that last statement sounds a bit more dire than I prefer to be, but it is true given the grand scale of our environment. I realize there are people who dislike bugs and fear them. That is okay, too. You can choose not to plant certain plants so as to not attract bugs.

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Everyone already has some pollinators growing naturally. Dandelions and clover are pollinators. We can – and should – add more pollinators that are more desirable to ourselves as well as the insects.

There are many groups nationally and locally that are working to promote the importance of supporting the pollinators. Locally, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is the leader in this effort. The zoo has a program to increase the number of habitats available to pollinators. On the zoo's website, you can find “The Plants for Pollinators Challenge.” This challenge is a public engagement campaign to increase pollinator habitat in the Greater Cincinnati region.

On the website, you will find links to help you design a pollinator garden, and links to help you select plants for the garden. Then, when you have completed your garden, you can register the location of the garden. This will help them track the locations of the gardens in our area.

A pollinator garden can be just a few plants or a large area. If you don’t want a dedicated garden, you can use the plant list from the zoo to choose pollinator plants to incorporate into your landscape.

A pollinator garden can also become a great family activity. Everyone can help to plant it. Then when the insects start working, they will be fun to watch and learn about.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How to attract butterflies, bees and more with a pollinator garden