Happy Friday, you guys. In today's Q&A, I'm going to be trying to answer a question that I get pretty much every year.

What are the best pollinator plants to go in your garden? Most of the time, people are asking this when they may find that there's an issue with pollination, especially with squash plants that require

that cross-pollination. And they realize my fruit isn't developing. So what do I need to plant

to make sure that we get the bees? If you listen to the podcast episode a couple of weeks back

with Sue Ehrman of the Pollinator Victory Garden, you know that bees aren't the only pollinators in our gardens,

but they are a big contributor to pollination, especially with those plants that require that cross-pollination.

And I will be the first to tell you I'm not an expert in pollinator gardens and the flowers

that attract those pollinators. But I will tell you what I've

observed in my garden. You may have heard me talk about this before, but I think it's a good

brushing up, especially if we're just planting our plants right now. And this is a good time to

remember what we need to plant. First of all, I would say that as far as the native bees go,

because native bees are the ones that are the most efficient pollinators, at least that's from

what I've read and what I've observed, they like plants like flowering basil, which the basil

flowers later in the season, so that's something that would happen later,

but they love basil.

They also, early in the season, they flock to my blueberry bushes.

So that's something to consider, I mean, not only planting blueberry bushes for blueberries,

but they're really good for bumblebees and native bees like that.

Of course, planting any kind of squash family plant

like your squashes and your cucumbers, planting lots of those are going to develop more flowers

so that that's going to attract those bees as well. Lufa is one, although Lufa is another that

doesn't start blossoming till later in the season.

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