How to grow a pollinator-friendly garden throughout the seasons

Gardening through the season isn’t just important for your own wellbeing, it’s also key for helping boost pollinators’ ecosystems. Here’s how according to nature and science writer Megan Shersby.

It’s estimated that 22.7 million households in the UK have access to a garden, covering up to a quarter of the land surface in our towns and cities – more than one million football pitches. And with the government’s housebuilding targets, these figures are only set to increase.

Whilst our gardens can provide us with a space to relax, grow food and improve our physical and mental wellbeing, they are also important habitats for wildlife.

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Why not join the Boundless Gardening Group  on Facebook. No matter how big or small your garden – maybe you’ve just got a window box – we have loads of ideas to keep you inspired. Gardening advice, top tips to share, quizzes to try your hand at and themed giveaways to take part in.

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You can also get inspired by taking yourself on a visit to one of WWT’s nine centres. Boundless members can enjoy unlimited access. Turn it into a family trip – take up to five children with an additional adult guest able to save 50% on entry.

Why it’s important to make our gardens pollinator-friendly

A study published in 2009 identified more than 2,500 different species in a medium-sized garden. Wildlife may not live solely within a garden, but a garden can provide an important stepping stone within the wider landscape.

In this era of climate and biodiversity crises, any steps taken to help wildlife can be literally life-changing. In the droughts of 2026, the provision of (or lack thereof) flowering plants, shade and water will have been the difference between life and death for some species.

A study published in 2026, based on the record-breaking summer of 2022, found that UK bumblebees – which have adapted to our cooler climate - can struggle to cool down, and if they are too hot, they cannot forage. And if they can fly but cannot find food due to droughts and extreme heat killing off flowers, then they cannot support their colony to flourish. But if they can find flowering nectar-rich plants whilst flying during the cooler periods of the day, then there is a greater change of collecting enough nectar for the colony.

How to make a garden pollinator-friendly

Making a garden friendly for pollinators goes beyond providing pretty flowers for beautiful butterflies and buzzing bumblebees during sunny summer days. That’s a key part of supporting them, but a more holistic approach is needed to create a true home – providing feeding opportunities seasonally, as well as homes for the whole lifecycle, and thinking more broadly about which pollinators we can help.

For example, one of the most-overlooked and misunderstood plants is the Common Ivy - and its close cousin, Atlantic Ivy. Native to the UK, they produce flowers in autumn once mature, providing an essential food source for a range of pollinators – butterflies, bees, beetles, flies and wasps – when the flowering season is over for many other plants.

PexelsOne of the most notable visitors is the aptly-named Ivy Bee, a delightful non-native solitary bee that is increasing in distribution across the UK, which has timed its late summer and autumnal emergence to use Ivy as its main food source.

Ivy is also the foodplant for butterfly and moth larvae, notably the Holly Blue butterfly and the Swallow-tailed Moth. The high-fat content berries are an important food source for birds during winter, as well as providing brilliant shelter for birds, bats, and small mammals.

PexelsWhilst native plants are brilliant for wildlife, non-natives can be wonderful too. The Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar likes to munch on willowherbs – whose flowers are popular with bees - it can also be found eating fuschias too. Non-native plants can also be used to extend the flowering season.

Consider the best trees and shrubs to support pollinators

Hawthorn and Blackthorn are both popular with insects – providing food for caterpillars and adults - and the latter’s early flowering season can be a particularly important source for early spring insects.

Other fruit trees such as cherry and apple trees can also provide food. Plus, all these trees go on to provide fruit for birds later in the year. Buddleia is also aptly known as the butterfly bush, its nectar attracting butterflies, and comes in a variety of colours and sizes.

For smaller plants, consider currants, blackberries and blueberries – again, providing fruit for birds – and for you.

PexelsBest plants for winter pollinators

• Winter-flowering heather

• Winter-flowering honeysuckle

• Winter aconite

• Snowdrop

• Winter-flowering crocus

• Sweetbox

• Oregon grape

• Hellebore

• Cornus

Best plants for spring pollinators

• Hawthorn

• Blackthorn

• Lungwort

• Bluebells (native)

• Dandelion

• Cowslip

• Bugle

Best plants for summer pollinators

• Lavender

• Foxgloves

• Verbena

• Teasel

• Field scabious

• Salvias

• Sunflower

Best plants for summer pollinators

• Lavender

• Foxgloves

• Verbena

• Teasel

• Field scabious

• Salvias

• Sunflower

Best plants for autumn pollinators

• Ivy

• Sedum

• Salvias

• Sunflower

^{This article was accurate at the time of publication. Please note information and offers shown may change over time.}