Plant a Pollinator Garden | National Geographic

We all want to find ways to help our planet. This spring, start small by helping to preserve a critical element of our environment: wildflowers. Wildflowers, they do more than provide lovely scents; they're pretty powerful. These beauties can hold the key to increased food and resources for local wildlife, sustaining the environment for miles around, making them unsung heroes of our local ecosystems.

Whether you have a green thumb or no experience at all, it's easy to begin right now. By planting a pollinator garden, either in your backyard or just in pots on a windowsill, you're showing that you care. They're a great way to save all sorts of insects that really need our help now more than ever, and they're right in your own backyard.

Once native wildflowers start to bloom, they are four times more likely to attract pollinators than non-native plants. This is crucial to our ecosystem because more than 30 percent of the world's crops depend on pollinators to reproduce. Wildflowers can be an important resource and habitat for local wildlife. They provide food in the form of nectar, pollen, and seeds.

One of the best things people can do to help their local ecosystem is to plant nectar-bearing plants that are native to your area and host plants so that animals like the monarch butterfly will lay their eggs and their caterpillars can grow up. Pollinators provide us with most of the fruits and vegetables we eat. This is vital to our own survival as well. It really is up to all of us now if we want to save these amazing species.

Like all of our local ecosystems, the vast Northern Great Plains depends on its native plants, covering 180 million acres in the United States from Nebraska to Montana. This region is known for such flowers as the purple coneflower and golden tickseed. But with over 33 million acres of grasslands and wildflower habitat lost across the Northern Great Plains since 2009, it is crucial to help restore this habitat.

Celebrating wildflowers is important to Airwick because they are more than just ingredients used to inspire wonderful scents. Airwick scented oils is partnering with World Wildlife Fund to help restore wildflower habitat in the Northern Great Plains, recognizing the critical role of this region. Together, they've committed to reseeding one billion square feet of native wildflower and grasslands in the U.S. over the next three years.

By following their lead and planting at least one square foot of native wildflowers, you can help provide this resource for the ecosystem in your own backyard. So, starting this spring, set aside some space for wildflowers and do your part to create a habitat for the wildlife and pollinators in your community. Planting wildflowers is an act of love for our planet.