We’re fortunate to live in a village that understands the importance of pollinator plants to the environment. The Adopt-A-Spot program, started by TEAC and the Village of Tarrytown this year, gave me and other local gardeners the opportunity to plant a garden in select areas around town. I chose the traffic island triangle at the intersection of McKeel, Neperan and Warren Avenue. 

For a pollinator-friendly garden without the endless fussing, I set some rules. Plants would be:

• drought-tolerant (since there’s no water source on the island)

• attractive to bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators

• unappealing to deer

• low maintenance, once established

• easy to spread through division, seeds or cuttings

• native, or a “nativar”, and a non-invasive

• good pollen producers

• proven to survive and thrive in my own home garden

In our Northeast gardens, plenty of plants fit those criteria; planning was more about what to exclude, rather than what to add. 

The Plan

The garden curves around a central grass path between two large sugar maples and is anchored at the triangle’s three corners with flower beds of perennials and annuals, natives and ‘nativars’. Everything is a powerhouse of pollination.

Is it true that red flowers attract bees and butterflies? I don’t know, but it’s a color that stays vibrant in the sun’s summer glare, when other colors look washed out. So, shades of red and pink dominate and unify the garden beds, and the hummingbirds love it. 

Salvias and agastaches, with endless variety in color and size, are backbone plants that will bloom for months on end.  Other reliable, low-maintenance perennials include purple coneflowers, bee balm, spiky liatris. Mail-ordered packages of zinnias, cosmos and dahlias were all I needed to fill out the rest of the beds and provide seeds for years to come.