The North America pollinator challenge
Don't just read about pollinators β help them. Meet the native flowers that feed the bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds where you live, then get them in the ground and rally your community. Learn and act, in three moves:
Why a game? A guide tells you what to do. A game changes what you do.
Here's the game: pick 3 plants for your plot. You can't fit everything β so choose the mix that covers the most bloom seasons and feeds the most kinds of pollinator. Then plant it for real, and watch your region bloom back on the globe.
Two ways to make this real: ask for the plants where you shop, and find the people already doing this near you. Everything below is copy-and-paste.
π‘ Many big-box plants are pre-treated with neonicotinoid insecticides that can linger in pollen and harm bees β it's worth asking before you buy.
Copy a ready-made search and paste it into Google or Maps:
β¦or open a national finder that maps to your ZIP code:
This is the game. You start on your own ground β plant a patch β then earn your way outward: your street, your community, the system. Reach is the score, and it's weighted: a letter to city hall moves the needle far more than a note to yourself. Each ring unlocks the next. Climb, and watch the map bloom back.
The infinite game
There are two kinds of games. Finite ones are played to win β someone crosses a line, the whistle blows, it's over. Infinite ones are played to keep the game going. Pollinators are an infinite game: no final boss, no line to cross β just a world you help keep in play, one native plant, one neighbor, one season at a time. You don't need a whole meadow. A doorstep patch keeps it going.
Four moves that keep it going
Native bees and butterflies co-evolved with local plants. A few keystone genera β goldenrod, asters, milkweed, sunflowers β feed the most species by far.
Group at least three of the same plant. Big blocks of color are far easier for foraging pollinators to find than lone flowers.
Aim for something flowering spring, summer, and fall. The early and late blooms matter most β that's when food is scarce.
Leave the leaves, tolerate a few chewed edges, drop the sprays. A tidy garden and a living one aren't the same thing.
No win screen. Your last move is someone else's first. π±
Plant choices draw on keystone-plant research (Doug Tallamy & the National Wildlife Federation) and the ecoregional guides from the Xerces Society and Pollinator Partnership, and were cross-checked for regional nativity and pollinator value against the USDA PLANTS database and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Keystone badges (β ) mark only true keystone genera. Always confirm a species is native to your exact area before planting.