Pollinator Garden Size and Plant Planner
Private: all planning runs in your browser. Your garden details are not uploaded or saved.
Garden and planting inputs
Planting plan
Your area, plant count, seasonal allocation, and species worksheet will appear here.
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How the garden-size estimate works
The planner uses one representative on-center spacing for the whole bed. It is most useful for an early budget and layout, before you replace generic worksheet rows with exact species and mature spreads.
Area per plant = spacing² for a square grid, or 0.866 × spacing² for a triangular grid
Plant capacity = floor(usable area ÷ area per plant)
Required gross area = plant count × area per plant ÷ (1 − reserved percentage)
Real beds have edges, curves, unequal plant sizes, transplant losses, and existing features. Treat the result as a first-pass quantity, then draw the exact mature footprint of each selected plant. The triangular option describes staggered rows; it is about 15% denser than a square grid at the same spacing.
From worksheet to a pollinator garden
- Confirm utilities, drainage, visibility, access, and any local rules before digging.
- Use local native-plant resources to fill each seasonal slot with non-invasive plants suited to the recorded light and moisture.
- Check actual local bloom months so flowers overlap from early spring through late fall, rather than relying only on broad season labels.
- Place repeated plants in visible groups, while keeping each species' mature height and spread in the final layout.
- Include nesting and overwintering structure where suitable: undisturbed soil patches, hollow or pithy stems, leaf litter, logs, or bunch grasses.
- Follow plant labels and local integrated-pest-management guidance; avoid spraying flowers or active pollinators.
Planning guidance and sources
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service — Pollinator Gardens Design Guide: continuous bloom, locally native forage, site moisture, and same-species clusters.
- USDA Forest Service — Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden: bloom through the growing season, plant diversity, native plants, and larger patches.
- USDA NRCS and Xerces Society — Habitat Assessment Guide for Yards, Gardens, and Parks: separate spring, summer, and fall forage checks plus nesting and host-plant features.
- University of Minnesota Extension — Habitat for pollinators: varied bloom times and year-round nesting habitat such as soil, stems, logs, and leaf litter.
Sources inform the planning workflow, not the geometric capacity formula. Reviewed August 3, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the plant count?
It is a geometric estimate based on one spacing value. Accuracy improves when the bed is simple, the reserved-area estimate is realistic, and selected plants have similar mature spreads. Refine mixed borders plant by plant.
Should spacing equal the plant's mature width?
That is a useful first approximation, but follow the label or local grower guidance. Some plants spread, self-seed, form colonies, or need airflow that changes the appropriate spacing.
Why use repeated groups?
Groups create a practical layout and can make a floral resource easier to find. The selected group size is only an organizer; site size, plant habit, design, and target pollinators may justify a different pattern.
Can one plant fill two seasonal slots?
Yes. If a species reliably blooms across two local periods, you can enter it in both worksheet roles. Do not double-count its physical plants when translating the worksheet into a final map.
What if the plan cannot fit every species role?
The planner flags roles receiving fewer plants than requested species. Reduce the number of roles, choose tighter-spaced plants, enlarge the bed, or let locally verified long-blooming species cover more than one season.
Does a pollinator garden need full sun?
No. Sunny sites often have many choices, but partial shade and shade can also support locally appropriate flowering plants. Match every selection to the measured light and soil moisture.
Does the planner save my inputs?
No. Calculations, copying, and the CSV worksheet all happen locally in your browser.