Dandelions Are Not the First — Or Best — Flower for Pollinators

A growing voice in garden circles dotes on dandelions for pollinators, particularly as they are claimed as the first flowers to bloom in spring. This refers to the exotic dandelion Taraxacum officinale, not one of the native species we have like Nothocolais cuspidata. While early-spring insect species will use dandelion — especially generalist species and European honey bees who evolved with the flower — in many cases it is not the most nutritious option when it comes to pollen. For example, according to bee expert Heather Holm, the earlier-blooming and native pussy willow’s pollen protein count is 40%, whereas dandelion is only at 14%. Nutritious pollen is what bees are after; many are out only for a few weeks to mate and provision egg cells as quickly as possible. 

In addition, many specialist bees have evolved relationships with specific native plants, timing their life cycles for when pollen is available from those plants. Specialists are incredibly crucial to keeping the pollinator system in balance, and when we lose even one such species pollination rates for plants suffer. Need one even mention the benefit of native plants as larval hosts to a variety of insects and bugs?

Additional research shows that dandelion pollen has allelopathic properties (which it also has in its roots and tissue), and when spread to other plants reduces seed production. S

What can we do? As we alter landscapes we lose ecological function. Consider that 99% of the tallgrass prairie has been eradicated, yet so much of the wildlife that depend on the plants found within that ecosystem still exist in the same geographical area — even in cities. Let’s revive wildness and use native plants.

There are a plethora of native plants that either bloom at the same time as dandelion or weeks earlier. The below list of  plants represents a range primarily in the eastern half of the continental U.S. (but often beyond), with a special focus on the Midwest.

WOODIES

Native Willows (Salix spp.)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)
Native Currants or Gooseberries (Ribes spp.)
American Plum (Prunus americana)
Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
Native Viburnum (Viburnum spp.)
Native Dogwood (Cornus spp.)
Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.)
Leatherwood (Dirca palustris)

PRAIRIE / SAVANNA PERENNIALS AND BIENNIALS

Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)
Golden Alexanders (Zizia spp.)
Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)
Pasque Flower (Anemone patens)
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
Early Buttercup (Ranunculus fascicularis)
Cleft Phlox (Phlox bifida)
Azure Bluet (Houstonia caerulea)
Longleaf Bluet (Houstonia longifolia)
Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea)
Prairie Dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata)
Prairie Blu-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium campestre)

WOODLAND PERENNIALS AND EPHEMERALS

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
Native Violets (Viola spp.)
Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Bishop’s Cap (Mitella diphylla)
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
White Trout Lily (Erytronium albidum)
Yellow Trout Lily (Eryhronium americanum)
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Sharp-Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus)
Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)
Early Meadow Rue (Tahlictrum dioicum)
Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum racemosum)