Portland Pollinator Partnership Mission
Wild bees and other insects are as crucial to maintaining our flowers, vegetables, and other plants as honey bees. Planting appropriate pollinator and insect-friendly vegetation has many benefits to Portland’s ecology.
Our mission is to protect and advocate for pollinator habitat and native species in Portland, Maine, through encouraging sustainable practices, providing education and resources, and discouraging the use of synthetic pesticides and other harmful chemicals.
Founded in April of 2014, we partner with a number of community residents, businesses, and organizations. We hope you will join us in exploring ways to enhance our natural environment for the benefit of all.
For more information, email portlandpollinators@gmail.com.
NEW: Pollinator Habitat Map
Check out our new Pollinator Habitat Map and add your garden or project!
Community Pollinator Garden Guide
Download and Print: Community Pollinator Garden Guide
Projects
Heart-Leafed Alexander
Western Promenade Native Pollinator Garden
On May 20, 2016 we planted a native pollinator garden in Portland’s West End in partnership with the Wild Seed Project and the City of Portland, facilitated by the generous support of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Gulf of Maine Coastal Program. This educational community amenity serves as a model for native, sustainable urban pollinator gardening.
The garden is modeled on our Sunny Garden Template (see below) and includes: Rose Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata); Aromatic Aster (Aster oblongifolius); Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum); Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum); Heart-leafed Alexander (Zizia aptera); Rough Blazingstar (Liatris aspera); Prairie Onion (Allium stellatum); Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis); Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta); Smooth Aster (Aster laevis); New England aster (Aster novae-angliae); Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata); and Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans). Not all plants will bloom this year, but will, over time, provide a sustainable source for pollinators.
Native Perennial Pollinator Garden Bed Templates
We are currently working with our partner, Wild Seed Project, to develop more gardens in partnership with the City of Portland and others. We recently developed these “sun” and “shady” templates, based on an 8″ x 10″ garden, which can be adapted to a number of garden shapes and sizes:
Sunny Native Perennial Pollinator Garden Bed Template
| AA | Aromatic Aster | Aster oblongifolius |
| CR | Culver’s Root | Veronicastrum virginicum |
| G | Wild Geranium | Geranium maculatum |
| JL | Jacob’s Ladder | Polemonium reptans |
| L | Liatris | Liatris aspera |
| NEA | New England Aster | Aster Novae-angliae |
| NO | Nodding Onion | Allium ceruum |
| P | Beardtongue Penstemon | Penstemon digitalis |
| R | Black-eyed Susan (Rubeckia) | Rubeckia hirta |
| RM | Rose Milkweed | Asclepias incarnata |
| SBA | Smooth Blue Aster | Aster Laevis |
| V | Blue Vervain | Verbena hastata |
| Z | Heart-Leafed Alexander | Zizia aptera |
Side View
Download PDFs of both the sunny and shady templates here:
Garden.Shade.Template
Garden.Sun.Template
Portland Pollinator Vision Plan
In the winter of 2015, our community partner Wild Seed Project engaged the Conway School of Landscape Design to conduct a research project focused on a city-wide pollinator corridor for Portland. The goal was a unifying vision for pollinator habitat throughout the city that would also connect urban residents with nature on a daily basis. This remarkable research project is filled with site analyses and multiple opportunities available to create pollinator habitat in the Portland metropolitan area. It is a first step to creating a different view of the built environment. Wild Seed Project will be generating a variety of design templates over the next year to give Portlanders the information they need to help realize this vision. Read the plan here. You can also download it as a PDF here: 2015_PollinatorVisionPlan_Low.
Cultivating Community Summer 2015 Newsletter
Portland Pollinators is mentioned in our partner Cultivating Community’s summer newsletter in an article on Community Gardening in Southern Maine. The newsletter also has lots of info about the future of CSAs, their Food Hub project and other news. Read the newsletter here.
PPP Handout
Help spread the word! Click here: PPP.InfoSheet to download and print copies.
Pollinator Plant Recommendations for the Northeast Urban Garden
In partnership with the Wild Seed Project, we have recently created an easy to use guide to pollinator plants, including annuals, perennials, natives, and resources. Click here: Portland Plant Guide.Final to download and print your copy.
Landscape and Garden Resource List
Click here: PPP.ResourceList to download and print copies of our local Resource List.
Pesticide-Free Zone Lawn Sign
It’s here! Make your own Pesticide-Free Lawn Sign. Simply click on the link to print this Pesticide Free Lawn Sign on heavy stock, laminate at your local copy center, and attach to wooden stakes.
Bayside Trail Pollinator Garden
Our first Pollinator Garden planted on the Bayside Trail behind Trader Joe’s in September, 2015, has been a huge success!
A huge thank-you to Broadway Gardens who donated most of the plants, to City Arborist Jeff Tarling, and to the volunteers who helped to plant. Bees began circling and lighting on the Blue Fortune before we even got it in the ground! Plants at this garden include
Joe Pyeweed
Swamp Milkweed
Rozanne Hardy Geranium Cranesbill
Blue Fortune Agastache Hybrid
Portland Pollinator Partnership 
March 27, 2015 at 7:15 pm
excellent work, I work with a group called humming for bees in shorewood, minnesoata and it’s uplifting to hear about the work of other groups across the country working so hard to help the pollinators. go Portland pollinator partnership!!!
March 31, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Hello, My friend Heather McCargo sent me to your site and work. I am delighted to see this work!! Heather and I talked about my coming down to present a slide show of medicinal plants and flowers for pollinators if you are interested. This has been part of my work for over 10 years. Wishing you the best with this wonderful work and look forward to meeting you. Deb Soule, Avena Botanicals-we are launching a new website tomorrow-April 1 so currently our site is down….