Backyard Columbus

05/27/2026

It’s Garden Center time! 🌺

🌼 Do all of the above flowers feed pollinators? 🐝🦋🐝🦋🐝🦋

NO. No they do not.

It sucks, because people don’t know 🤷🏼‍♀️ Flowers should = feeding bees, butterflies, hummingbirds….
But it doesn’t. Fancy names & jazzy colors have on more than one occasion, bred the nutrition right out of the flowers 😭😭😭😭

If you find yourself at a nursery – garden center – without an employee that knows what they’re talking about, then you’re left with Google. Say what you will, but that’s better than nothing.
👉 Type the plant name exactly how it’s on the tag into Google
👉Ask if it provides pollen and nectar.
🌺If the flower makes you happy and you want to plant it, then plant it!
🌻If you want to make sure you’re creating a pollinator garden, then that’s when you need to do your homework, in the absence of a plant specialist 🌱 🌼
Make sense? It’s not about you “should or shouldn’t”, but rather sharing with you the information that will help you make a good decision to attract more pollinators into your yard 💚💚🐝🦋👏☀️🩷

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05/21/2026

🐝✨Happy World Bee Day!✨🐝

Want to help bees in Ohio? Start by swapping (or in addition to) some pretty-but-not-so-helpful plants for native flowers that actually feed our local pollinators 😃
The plants on the “Not That” list aren’t bad, not at all. They just don’t provide what bees need: pollen and nectar.
So, while geraniums, mums and Gerbera daisies are great for a pot and a pop of color, consider ALSO adding:
bee balm (Monarda), coneflower (echinacea) and asters (ROCK STAR pollinator plants!), among many other possibilities!

💡 As another point to consider: many of the native flowers suggested in this series also come as cultivars or “nativars”, which means they’re genetically altered versions of the native plant. Bred for better color, pest resistance, etc, many times they still produce pollen and nectar…but not always.
👉If your goal is to have helpful and beneficial pollinator plants and help bees in particular, then the best bet is to ask your local nursery for help or for the straight native variety 😉

05/20/2026

🐝May 20 is 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝔹𝕖𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕪🐝

Bees are tiny, fuzzy garden workers with a huge job. They help pollinate many of the foods we eat, support native plants, feed the wider ecosystem, and bring life into our backyards.

Here in Ohio, we have hundreds of native base species, not just honeybees! (Over 500 native species!)

The good news? We can help them right at home by planting native flowers, skipping pesticides, leaving nesting spaces, and letting our yards be a little more habitat and a little less “perfect“ 💚

Check out my blog (www.BackyardColumbus.com) for more ideas 🐝😁

05/20/2026

Tomorrow is World Bee Day! How can you help> Check out these ideas 💛

Bees are more than honey-makers. Learn why bees matter for food, flowers, biodiversity, and backyard habitats, plus simple ways to support bees in your own garden.

05/19/2026

Window 🪟 box time!

So, most folks fill their window boxes with pretty annual flowers that - while pretty- are often sterile. Sterile means that the flower doesn’t provide pollen or nectar for pollinators 🫤 Most of these flowers are hybridized in a lab and their nutritional value was bred out 😭

We have a whole yard full of native pollinator plants, but my brain makes me add them whenever I can 😂 So, in our window boxes I always try to add at least one purposeful pollinator plant amongst the sterile pretty ones 😁🙃 🌺

Anyway, the garden speedwell and Bellflower are probably not the native varieties, they do still provide pollen and nectar, which is better than nothing 🤷🏼‍♀️

LOL- I’d had it with the garden crowds today 🫪 and wound up at a grocery store garden center 😂😂…
In my defense, this was after a decent load of cash was spent at two local nurseries 😜

👉POINT IS: anytime you can add a native pollinator plant into your flower design, it’s a good thing!

05/17/2026

☀️ Happy Sunday! ☀️

A quick view of our backyard and veggie 🥕 area
Part 1 of a peek of our .21 acres 😁, like 9,234 sq. ft 😂🙌🏼

05/14/2026

It’s butterfly season and showing raising butterflies is all over social media. Here are some things to think about (and disclaimer, I do raise a few butterflies each season)…not the least of which is providing adequate habitat 😉💜

https://www.backyardcolumbus.com/post/raising-butterflies-in-ohio-from-egg-to-release

Here in Ohio, we're gearing up for butterfly season, which is an awesome time of year! With the arrival of butterflies, comes the opportunity to "raise" them. In order the raise them, we need to attract them. While some people think that raising butterflies/monarchs is conservation, it's better to t...

05/14/2026

Welcome back to
🅿🅻🅰🅽🆃 🆃🅷🅸🆂, 🅽🅾🆃 🆃🅷🅰🆃

⭐️👉 This series is about native plants that help our local pollinators.
No shame, no guilt 😉 Just ideas.
Most people have no idea (because we were never taught & nothing is labeled) what flowers help wildlife and what doesn’t.
If a plant makes you happy, you use it for food or it reminds you of your grandmother- then plant it!🫶
Most organizations discourage invasive plant species because of their negative effect on the local ecosystem.
Adding native plants into the mix is always a good thing 💜💛💜💛

💜💜💜💜💜💜
Yes: Native American Wisteria 💜
American Wisteria attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, hosts 19 species of butterflies and moths, including longtailed skippers, silver spotted skippers and the marine blue butterfly.

🫣Instead of or in addition to:
The Common Lilac 🫣
Don’t panic! Yes they smell nice, but they don’t offer the same wildlife and pollinator benefits of the American wisteria. No harm done 😉
While common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is generally not considered invasive in the Midwest, experts increasingly view the Japanese tree lilac (Syringa reticulata) as a plant of concern.

YES: 💛American Fly Honeysuckle and Northern Bush Honeysuckle 💛
Native honeysuckles (Lonicera) host 37 species of butterflies and moths, including spring azure, fawn and Kalm’s sphinx moths and snowberry clearwing moth.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds visit the flowers for nectar; the plants have special value to bumblebees and other native bees. American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Wood thrush and small mammals seek the fruits ❤️

❌❌NEVER👉
Amur honeysuckle: Invasive and nearly impossible to get rid of if let go. Birds drop the berries in yards, woods, parks, etc where it can easily overtake an area and crowd out native, useful plants.
A real PIA 😂🤪

💜Thank you to for the Amur honeysuckle pics

05/12/2026

I got my zinnia flower raised garden bed PLANTED 🙌🏼
I have WAY more to plant, lol, but I feel accomplished today 🌼

Zinnias are native to the Southwest USA & the pollinators that visit our yard ❤️LOVE❤️ them! In Ohio, zinnias are annuals, but last until the first fall frost.

Don’t overthink the planting:
🌸get your bed or area prepped with soil (NOT topsoil or fill dirt)
🌸 scrape back the spot for the seeds
🌸scatter your seeds
🌸Lightly cover with soil, ending up with your seeds planted 1/4-1/2” deep
🌸keep them watered

Zinnias make PERFECT cut flowers, usually lasting almost 2 weeks 🤩