Pollinating Blue Lake beans

An insect nirvana with lovely near-blue petals, this low-maintenance aster strives to please

FLOWERS AND PLANTS Plant Baptisia Bracteata for Blooms Pollinators Will Love

Longbract wild indigo is great in dry soil, and its spring flowers attract butterflies and bumblebees

NATIVE PLANTS Plant These Fall-Flowering Natives in Early Summer for Pollinator Love

These 3 groups of plants will support masses of beneficial insects come autumn

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Blue Vervain for Beauty and Bees

Try this tall and spiky pollinator plant for an unusual back-of-the-border look

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Polemonium Reptans Paints Woodlands Blue in Spring

Plant Jacob’s ladder in eastern U.S. woodland gardens for its bright blue flowers and delicate foliage

SUMMER FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Summer Crops: How to Grow Beans

By Marianne Lipanovich

Grow your own beans for amazing variety and healthy, convenient produce all summer

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Skyblue Aster (Symphyotrichum Oolentangiense)

This showy aster tolerates dry conditions and brings in the pollinators with its violet-blue flowers in fall

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Tradescantia Ohiensis Adds Shades of Blue

This reliable, adaptable U.S. native provides spider-like foliage and clusters of blue to purple flowers in Eastern gardens each spring

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Verbena Stricta Tolerates Tough Spots

With its subtle beauty and long-lasting flowers, this pollinator pleaser is a boon to wilder areas

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Phlox Divaricata

Plant wild blue phlox in central and eastern U.S. woodland gardens for its bright blue flowers in early spring