Attract more pollinators
Make your garden even more pollinator-friendly! Save cuttings of hollow-stemmed plants, such as Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium spp. and hybrids), during cleanup to build insect nests like this one. Snip taller stems down to 5- to 8-inch-long pieces and then gather a handful of stems with different diameters. Secure your bundle using twine and attach it horizontally to a fence post or the side of the house, avoiding spots in full sun.
Much like a mason bee house or an untreated piece of wood with holes drilled into it, this bundle creates a place for solitary pollinators to lay their eggs.
Here’s a list of other hollow-stemmed plants you can use the same way:
– Annual sunflower Helianthus annuus
– Daylily Hemerocallis hybrids
– Delphinium Delphinium hybrids
– Salvia Salvia x sylvestris
