Review of Cultivating Native Plants for Pollinators: A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Birds, Bees and Pollinators Kindle Edition by Helen Yoest

 

Cultivating Native Plants for Pollinators is your go-to guide for creating vibrant, sustainable gardens that support the pollinators we depend on—butterflies, hummingbirds, native bees, and the European honeybee. With environmental degradation threatening pollinator populations across North America, Helen Yoest—author, environmental scientist, and founder of the Bee Better Teaching Garden—shows readers how to take meaningful action right in their own yards, patios, and community spaces.

This informative and inspiring guide offers step-by-step instructions for building pollinator habitats, including how to plant for year-round bloom, provide clean water and plant coverage, and create safe nesting sites using regionally appropriate native plants. You'll also learn how to transform traditional lawns into pollinator-friendly spaces using clover, native grasses, and sustainable gardening practices.

In-depth chapters explore the biology and life cycles of butterflies, hummingbirds, native bees, and honeybees, along with the specific host and nectar plants each pollinator group needs to thrive. Fun facts, migration patterns, population insights, and practical "how-to" sections make this book an engaging read and useful reference for gardeners, educators, conservationists, and nature lovers alike. Whether you're just starting out or expanding an existing garden, Cultivating Native Plants for Pollinators empowers you to make a lasting difference—one bloom at a time. 

"Lawns are essentially a desert for pollinators."

This statement in this book is the total truth. The English lawn, as we've come to love is killing our birds, insects, and wildlife, period. We've become accustomed to creating English lawns with Asian plants from big-box stores, and now it's catching up with our native ecosystem. It is a shame because we have lost over 200 native plants, and hundreds more are on the chopping block as we keep destroying our native plants each day.

 

This book offers some great insight on how to bring back native plants to your yard, no matter the size. The problem you might find is finding the native plants because, as I stated, box stores don't carry them. I have found local Master Gardeners' native plant sales, Etsy, and native Facebook swap groups to help me in my yard transformation to native. This book will help you with finding the right plants for what you want to attract to your yard. I do wish the author had included more native trees and shrubs, but it's hard to get everything into one book.