Many of the steps below are paraphrased from Ecological Landscape Alliance https://www.ecolandscaping.org/,
Pollinator Pathway Northeast https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/, and The U.S. Department of Agriculture-The Importance of Pollinators https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/pollinators.

The following steps can help you determine what works best for creating a part of Stow’s Pollinator Pathway on your property. You don’t have to do all of these in one go. You can choose to start small with one part of your garden one year and make additional changes in following years:

Step 1. Walk your property and determine which part of it you want to keep for family or social activities, and where you can create pollinator gardens. Decide whether you want to plant in garden boxes, replace non-natives in your garden with native plants, create a meadow, or allocate an area for native shrubs or shade trees. Curb strips alongside a road can also make good pollinator gardens.

Step 2. Identify what parts of your property are sunny, partially shady, and in full shade.

Step 3. Are there dry areas that will need watering, or wet or marshy areas that will need special plants or attention?

Step 4. Identify and remove or cut back invasive plants on your property. You do not have to do this in one go but should eventually eliminate all invasive plants. See the Deep Dive for a list of Massachusetts’s invasives.

Step 5. Choose a diversity of native plants, to provide habitat and food for a diversity of pollinators. Many pollinators are healthier when there is a diversity of flowers for them to visit. See the Deep Dive for lists of Massachusetts native plants.

Step 6. Plant straight native species. Hybrids are not as resilient as straight species and may not have the exact pollen, etc., that bees and other insects need.

Step 7. Plant a continuous food supply. Make sure you have at least 3 different species throughout the spring, summer, and fall seasons to provide adequate food when pollinators emerge from and prepare for winter hibernation. Plant in groupings (clumps) of each plant species for a greater impact. See: The U.S. Department of Agriculture-The Importance of Pollinators https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/pollinators

Step 8. Limit your use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers on your properties—go organic. A healthy environment will support a balanced number of pollinators, and is healthier for humans, too.

Step 9. Other things you can do to help pollinators include mowing your lawn higher and less often, leaving your garden messy in the fall, so insects have places to overwinter and lay eggs, and avoid buying plants that have been exposed to neonicotinoids that kill insects.

Step 10. If you have already planted a pollinator garden, please write a testimonial in the Testimonials section of the website! Let us know what type of garden, and which pollinators your have seen in it.

·    Spread the word to your neighbors!

Feeling overwhelmed? You can start small with planter boxes, or a small garden bed, both of which are easy to maintain. Each year you can add to your garden and remove more invasives. Often gardening involves trial and error. If some plants don’t succeed in your garden, try replacing them with other natives the next year.