Whether you are a new homeowner with a wide expanse of unplanted yard, or a long-time resident with a collection of shrubs that we master gardeners like to refer to as "meatballs" and "cubes", please keep reading. I would like to encourage you to consider designating a small area for wildlife — meaning, pollinators, birds, and butterflies. It is really much easier than you may think, and it will bring you many hours of entertainment and photo opportunities. More importantly, you will be doing a very good thing for our struggling ecosystem.

My husband and I love to sit under a tree on our patio on a hot summer afternoon and listen to the birds chirping, and watch them feed their babies in a birdhouse. We love to watch the butterflies flutter around the flowers, and hear the bees buzzing. You may be thinking "No" to the bees, but, believe me, the bees that you attract to your flower garden are not looking to sting you. They are only interested in their work. Remember that old expression, "Busy as a Bee"?

Think of the average home you may see as you drive down a street. Usually, you may see a couple green shrubs, many times all the same, and maybe a tree. This is a virtual wasteland for the average bee or butterfly unless those shrubs and trees happen to be native plants. It’s impossible to discuss attracting these forms of wildlife without mentioning native plants because it is the native plants that these insects use to raise their young.

Native plants are plants that were growing on our soils before the arrival of the European settlers. They are the plants that are most attractive to pollinators.

Why are these pollinators so important? Because pollination in plants is the same as fertility in humans. Without the ability to reproduce, any species will die out. There has to be some way for the male and female parts to interact. In the case of plants, that is called pollination. Pollination is usually accomplished by insects. Scientists tell us that without pollinators, most of our plants would simply cease to exist. You may not have ever thought much about it, but without plants the human race would also cease to exist. Plants are the only living thing on earth that can convert sunlight to energy. They pass that energy on to anything that eats them. Try to think of anything you eat that doesn’t somehow originate from a plant.

Many things we humans do in the name of progress, works to destroy the insects that our very existence depends on. Think super highways, parking lots, urban sprawl, stadiums, big box stores, back yard insect sprays, bug traps and the whole mindset that says, "There’s a hole in this leaf. What do I spray?"

Dr. Doug Tallamy, in his ground-breaking book, "Bringing Nature Home," points out to us that we have reached a point in our history that the only chance these pollinators have is for us private homeowners to provide the food they need in order to survive. That food is pollen and nectar produced by our landscape plants.

So, let’s talk about how to plant an easy pollinator garden. If you already have a landscape bed containing shrubs near the house, simply go along the front and widen that bed by about four feet. Add some organic material to the soil, and shop for a few nice native perennials to plant in front of those shrubs. All your plants don’t have to be native, there are some non-natives that are good pollinator plants, but you can’t miss with the natives. l would suggest things like Purple Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susan’s, and Garden Phlox for a sunny area. These are hardy plants that are tough and resilient and long blooming. They will keep coming back year after year. They are also fairly tall plants so you may want to add some shorter annuals in front. Pollinators love the bright colors of annuals, and are drawn to them for their nectar even though they are not usually native plants. Annuals will die with the frost, and you will have to replant next year.

If your bed is in the shade, you may want to look for things like Tiarella, Jacob’s Ladder, and maybe some Christmas fern which stays green all year. Creeping phlox adds nice spring color, stays close to the ground, and attracts pollinators.

Once you have been bitten by the "perennial bug" you will want to keep adding to your collection and enlarging your bed. Just remember to always read the tag that comes with the plant and put things where they will perform at their best.