Gardening with Native Plants

Under the canopy of a floodplain forest within the Mundy Wildflower Garden, you will find one of the richest collections of wildflowers native to the Cayuga Lake basin. In addition to exploring native plants in their natural habitat, here you will find brilliant displays of cultivated native plants that demonstrate how to grow native plants in your home garden along the garden’s two entrance paths (at the Caldwell Road entrance and the Judd Falls Road entrance).

Botanic Buzzline

The Botanic Buzzline is a 980 square foot flowering pathway that connects people and pollinators to the plants within the botanic gardens. It contains more than 45 native or naturalized plant varieties, which appeal to a wide range of pollinators. With a variety of tips and educational signage along the path, the Buzzline encourages people to make their landscapes more pollinator-friendly.

Gardening for Pollinators

Many plants on earth depend on pollinators, which include bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, wasps, flies, beetles and some bats. Many of these pollinators are in decline, especially bees and butterflies, due to habitat loss, improper pesticide use and disease. Visit the pollinator bed in the Pounder Vegetable Garden to gather inspiration for making your home landscape pollinator-friendly to help rebuild pollinator habitats. 

Inspiration on gardening with native pollinator plants at home can be found in this new resource, “Creating a pollinator garden for native specialist bees of New York and the Northeast.” Staff Gardener Krissy Boys, Field Botanist Robert Wesley, and volunteer Rosemarie Parker contributed to this guide authored by Maria van Dyke and Bryan Danforth.

Download these interpretive signs to learn more:

• Create a pollinator paradise
• Plan for flowers in all seasons
• Bees are essential
• Use pesticides responsibly