References to Get Started

Choosing native plants not only helps to support pollinators, but will fill your garden with species that are best suited to our climate and seasonal changes. Learn more from the Audubon Society's Why Native Plants Matter.

Several online resources sell native pollinator plant packs or seed mixes of different sizes. These include a well-balanced selection of plants with a range of bloom-times. If you would like more information e-mail a local gardener for her private list of sources.


NOTE: Be sure to always select the Northeast Region when searching for native plants, as many online nurseries provide native plants to gardeners across the United States. What's native to Montana may be ecologically disruptive in New York.

The Pollinator Partnership provides great references including free recorded webinars, a learning center, and a great guide to native pollinator plants for Ardsley.

Deep Roots has informative free webinars on planting native.

Bedford 2030 offers free webinars on sustainable landscape practices. Free recorded webinars can be found here.

The US Forest Service has a handy introductory guide on creating a pollinator garden using native plants.

Great Reference Books for the Beginning or Experienced Gardener

Here are some of our favorite reference books! Have others to recommend? e-mail your recommendations to ceac@ardsleyvillage.com Click the arrow to expand the list

  • Going Native: Biodiversity in our own backyards. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Easy Care Native Plants: A guide to selecting and using beautiful American flowers, shrubs, and trees in gardens and landscapes. Patricia A. Taylor

  • Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife. David Mizejewski

  • The Butterfly Book: An easy guide to butterfly gardening, identification, and behavior. Donald and Lillian Stokes, Ernest Williams

  • Great Natives for Tough Places. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Wildflowers in your Garden: A gardener's guide. Viki Ferreniea

  • Wildflower Gardens: 60 spectacular plants and how to grow them in your garden. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • The Wildflower Gardener's Guide: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Eastern Canada Edition. Henry W. Art

  • Gardening with Wildflowers and Native Plants. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Native Perennials: North American Beauties. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Native Plants of the Northeast: A guide for gardening and conservation. Donald J. Leopold

  • The Pollinator Victory Garden" Win the war on pollinator decline with ecological gardening. Kim Eirman

  • Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East. Carolyn Summers

  • Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies. Zerces Society Guide

  • American Plants for American Gardens. Edith A. Roberts and Elsa Rehmann

  • Gardening Without Work: For the aging, the busy and the indolent. Ruth Stout

  • Grow Your Soil! Harness the power of the soil food web to create your best garden ever. Diane Messler

  • Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing plant communities for resilient landscapes. Thomas Rainer and Claudia West

  • Urban and Suburban Meadows: Bringing meadowscaping to big and small spaces. Catherine Zimmerman

  • Lawns Into Meadows: Growing a regenerative landscape. Owen Wormser

  • Wildflora of the Northeast. Anita and Spider Barbour

  • Integrated Landscaping: Following nature's lead. L. Chase-Rowell, M. Tebo-Davis, K. Hartnett, M. Wyzga

  • How to Eradicate Invasive Plants. Teri Dunn Chace

  • Invasive Plants. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

  • Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada. William Cullina

  • Park's Success with Seeds. Anne Reilly

  • The Small Garden. C.E. Lucas Phillips

  • The Practical Gardening Encyclopedia. Roy Hay


Native Plant Lists and Guides

Before planting, research your plant to find out more about its sun and water requirements as well as the variety of species it supports.

Pollinator Pathways Native Plant Lists

Xerces Society Pollinator Plants Northeast

Northeast Pollinator: Planting for Pollinator's Guide

Audubon Society Native Plants for Birds by Zip Code

USDA Native Plants Database

Plant This, Not That (Native alternatives for landscaping)

Native Plant Trust: Natives vs. Invasives Reference Guide

Healther Holm Bee and Pollinator Plant Guide

NOTE: You may be tempted by "deer-proof" non-natives; there are many native plants that deer find unpalatable. See: Rutger's University Deer Resistant Plant Database

Visit Local Pollinator Gardens

Seeing plants in a garden setting is helpful in choosing what will work best for your own space. Many public and private spaces provide inspiration. See the

Ardsley Pollinator Garden Map for hyper-local inspiration and our Calendar of events for upcoming garden tours.

Lenoir Preserve - recently restored wildflower meadows

Greenburgh Nature Center - native plant meadow, organic gardens, forest trails

The Native Plant Center - native plant gardens on display

Old Croton Aqueduct Visitor Center & Kiosk - recently installed pollinator garden just north of the trailer at Walnut Street in Dobbs.

New York Botanical Gardens Native Plant Garden - 3.5 acre garden that installed 100,000 native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns, and grasses.

Untermyer Gardens Conservancy - some native plants, knowledgeable garden staff and educational videos.