Guides
Practical, Long Island-specific guides to native plants, pollinators, and getting a community project off the ground, written from what we've learned since 2021.
how-to · 9 min read
A step-by-step guide to planting a native pollinator garden on Long Island: choosing a site, removing turf, picking plants for three seasons of bloom, planting, and the low-maintenance care that keeps bees and butterflies coming back.
monarchs · 6 min read
Tropical milkweed is sold everywhere as monarch food, but on Long Island it can disrupt migration and spread the OE parasite. Here is the science, and the three native milkweeds to plant instead.
native plants · 6 min read
Double coneflowers, purple-leaved ninebark, sterile butterfly bush: why many garden-center hybrids and cultivars feed fewer pollinators than straight native species, and how to tell which ones are still worth planting.
goldenrod · 4 min read
Goldenrod gets blamed for fall hay fever every September, but its pollen is too heavy to blow in the wind. Ragweed, blooming unseen at the same time, is what makes you sneeze. Here is how to tell them apart and why goldenrod belongs in every pollinator garden.
how-to · 8 min read
How Pollinate Happiness designs, builds, sites, and plants a public pollinator planter bench, from choosing a host site and materials through the steel sign, soil, plant list, and first-year care.
students · 7 min read
Aidan and Ben were in 5th and 6th grade when they won their first grant. Here is how young people can fund a native planting, cleanup, or habitat project: youth grants, Eagle Scout projects, sponsors, crowdfunding, and how to pitch a host site.
bloom calendar · 6 min read
A month-by-month calendar of native plant bloom times on Long Island and what pollinators depend on them, from March spicebush and April blueberry through October asters and goldenrod, so your garden never has a gap.
invasive species · 8 min read
The most common invasive plants in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, how to recognize each one, why it matters for pollinators, and the native plant that fills the same role in your yard.
how-to · 9 min read
A practical guide to saving seed from native pollinator plants: how to tell when milkweed, coneflower, bee balm, goldenrod, and asters are ripe, how to collect and clean them responsibly, cold stratification, and the milk-jug winter sowing method that turns a handful of seed into a garden for free.
native plants · 7 min read
Straight species, local ecotype, and where to actually buy them: verified Long Island native plant nurseries and plant sales, mail-order sources that ship Northeast ecotypes, and the questions to ask before you buy.
native plants · 8 min read
Nassau County's sandy outwash soils, oak canopy, salt air, and zone 7a/7b winters call for a specific set of native plants. What to plant for full sun and dry ground, part shade under oaks, wet spots, small yards, deer pressure, and the shoreline.