Planting for Pollinators: Creating a Garden Haven

by Heather Angel

Planting for Pollinators is an easy-to-use gardening guide to help you encourage different types of insect pollinators into your garden.

Insect pollinators not only bring joy to our gardens, they also provide an essential service for our planet. Without bees, flies, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles, some of our favourite foods, flowers and plants would cease to exist.

Whether you have a large garden, an urban balcony or just a window box, planting to encourage pollinators is a fantastic and surprisingly easy first step in creating a wildlife-friendly space. Planting for Pollinators features a wide range of plants, with guidance on the best ways to nurture lawns and verges, pollinator predation and tips on watching and photographing wildlife. Beautifully illustrated throughout with images from award-winning wildlife photographer Heather Angel, this essential guide will show you how plants communicate with insects, and why it's so important to protect our pollinators.

Organised by season and featuring more than 100 plant species – including bulbs, annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers – this practical guide will help you to discover the short- and long-term benefits of having a variety of pollinators visit your garden.

Genres: Nature

240 pages, Paperback

Published August 22, 2023

Reviews

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been searching for a book to help me with my pollinator garden. It has become more important every day to insure the survival of the birds and insects that keep our plant life vital. Heather Angel has given us excellent reference material and guidelines. It's obvious her commitment matches mine. I've already incorporated several of her steps into my garden. Now to share with my friends and family.

[Catlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, written by a wildlife photographer, focuses on the UK, but still has good suggestions that could be used in North America or Europe. Rather than a comprehensive treatise, the author chooses to focus on her own observations and then build in suggestions that have arisen from those experiences. I don't disagree with this approach, as it humanizes the narrative and also makes it stand apart from similar tomes.

After an introductory section that explains pollinators and pollination, there are sections focused on each season, providing profiles of plants that are frequented by pollinators during that part of the year. Each plant has a narrative section that describes the pollinators, plus a quick reference box with all the pertinent information about the plant. And, of course, there are lots of striking photos that show the floral parts and the pollinators in detail. One should be sure to check out the recommended plants with their local conservation experts for appropriateness, as some of the plants included here are considered invasive in some regions of the US (e.g., Scotch Broom, Butterfly Bush.) I do like that there are lots of perennials, rather than the usual annuals one might find. Many of these perennials are quite unique (e.g., Masterwort, Himalayan Honeysuckle.)

The book concludes with a short section on observing pollinators and tips for photographing them. I think the most unique aspect of this book is the inclusion of several plant species that may be new to the average gardener. When viewed from a pollinator's perspective, the diversity of blooms is clearly evident in both the prose and the photos within this book. It would be a great resource for those who would like to enhance their garden's attraction of pollinators.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Wildlife for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[Annie]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Planting for Pollinators: Creating a Garden Haven is a well written, beautifully photographed, practical guide for gardens by Heather Angel. Released 22nd Aug 2023 by

[Miska Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love many things about this book, but I cannot say I would recommend it to anyone in the United States.

I love the way the book it set up, I love that there is the scientific name of each species, I adore the fact sheet and I love that each fact sheet includes origin.

I realized after reading that it was designed for the UK, or Europe and not for the US. Almost none of the species are from the US, and many of them are invasive here.

I also must say, the idea that planting alien species helps pollinators is mostly false. There are only a few alien species that will aid pollinators, and have been studied by botanists.

Many authors, such as Douglas Tallamy, PhD, can confirm this. I cannot in good conscience give this book more than three stars because it carries some misinformation in 2023.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be a great book for gardeners in the UK. It is of less use to me, partly because it uses British common names that I’m not familiar with, partly because it doesn’t list garden zones or minimum temperatures and many are probably not hardy enough for my zone 4 Minnesota garden, and partly because the photos (while lovely and plentiful) don’t tend to show the plants from a distance so it’s very hard to get a feel for their overall appearance or size.

All that said, it’s a wonderful guide with lots of great information, suggested plants arranged by blooming season, and detailed instructions for growing plants for pollinators.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

[Samantha]

"Planting for Pollinators" is a very detailed book with loads of information, almost in an encyclopedia type format. This book dives into the science of pollination and can be quite interesting for someone who wants details from that perspective. This is not a picture book or an easy "tips and tricks" for the garden. Definitely not a light read, but it is guaranteed to offer many insightful facts that will be surprising and new to most readers.

I'd recommend this to anyone who loves the "science of" pollination.

[Margaret Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed for Library Journal.

[Cheryl]

looked at it it... it does look interesting should I decide to ever get serious about gardening...

[Veronica Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great read I really loved the in depth detail the author goes into for each plant, animal, bird and bee. I didn't even know there were so many different types of bees. I really appreciated the history of plants and when it was founded and brought to England. The uses and purposes what it might attract or make unappealing.
Even though I am American all of this stuff fascinates me on the different kinds and uses I'm just starting to get into the in depth of the extra things that go into gardening. Also the pictures of the different kinds of plants, bugs, bees and butterflies that frequent different places are amazing. The flower pictures are entrancing.

This Arc was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for honest review. I loved this book and highly recommend even if you are just interested in gardening. It's great writing, style and hooked me in right away.