I do a lot of hiking, mostly to observe native plants in their natural surroundings. I am surprised at the places I have found White Turtlehead, in the Adirondacks, near a mountain lake and here in Springwater it was in the woods behind our first home. In western New York it is found in the inlets to lakes and in swampy areas by the side of the road.
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Why are pollinators important and why do we want to attract them to our gardens? Pollinators visit plants to help them produce their seed by carrying pollen from the anthers of one plant to the female parts of another. We need them to do this to produce food for us. Seed production in watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc. also produces the fruit we eat. I've read that as much as 80% of the food we eat is helped along by pollinators. As we pave roads and build and clear land we are destroying pollinator habitats. The areas where they are able to live and do their work are being fragmented. Putting native plants into our gardens helps to bridge the gaps in areas where natural fields and woodlands have been destroyed.

 

 The Pollinator Partnership Web site has a great deal of information on it that explains all the needs of pollinators. Please take a look at it and download your free pollinator planting guide. By putting in your zip code you can get a guide for your specific area. The download is on the right side of the page. Here is the link:
The Pollinator Partnership

 

 The following are plants that would work for you when starting a pollinator garden in the sun. They provide color and either food or are a host plant for various insects:


False Dragonhead             Phyosostegia virginica
Great Blue Lobelia            Lobelia Siphilitica
Red Cardinal Flower          Lobelia cardinalis
Bee Balm                          Monarda didyma
Wild Bergamot                  Monarda fistulosa
White Turtlehead               Chelone glabra
Green Cone Flower            Rudbecckia laciniata
Anise Hyssop                    Agastach foeniculum
Willow Amsonia                Amsonia tabernamontana
Joe-pye weed                   Eupatorium fistulosum
Butterfly Weed                 Ascelepias tuberosa
Swamp Milkweed              Asclepias incarnata
Blazing Star                      Liatris spicata
Purple Cone Flower            Echinacea purpurea
New England Aster             Aster novea-angliae
Tall Meadow Rue                Thalictrum polygamum
Wild Columbine                   Aquilegia canadensis
Smooth Aster                      Aster laevis
Showy Goldenrod                 Solidago speciosa
Fireworks Goldenrod             Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'