Planting Wildflowers in Montana? Read this First

My social media feed has been jammed with bee-related content lately, and I'm not sure why. I haven't been looking up bee stuff, ordering honey or bee things online, or even talking about bees (since we all know our phones are listening), more than normal. Which is rarely.

Regardless, I'm seeing a non-stop barrage of "Save the Bees!" content lately. I'm not mad about it... the declining bee population has been a serious issue for years. A Penn State report says "beekeepers have lost about 30 percent of their colonies every year since 2006", while Washington State University reported last month that up to 70% of honeybee colonies could disappear in 2025. 

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Wildflowers can help save the bees.

"Maybe I'll plant some wildflowers to help save those poor bees!" I think to myself, as another meme pops up, sharing how important these buzzing little insects are to our ecology. The USDA says that 35% of the food we eat wouldn't exist without pollinators (including bees, wasps, bats, birds, and other critters).

Commercial and residential pesticides take the biggest blame for the bee decline, however, the USDA says several factors are at play, including habitat loss, disease, and parasites. Planting native pollinators can help.

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Read wildflower seed mix labels carefully before planting.

A majority of generic wildflower seed blends you'll find at the big box stores and Amazon contain a variety of non-native or even invasive plant species. Narrowing your search results to include "Montana wildflower seeds" might help somewhat (this mix is reportedly a decent choice for Montana), but even some of these seed mixes can contain less-than-ideal cultivars for your area.

Reach out to your local MSU county extension office for help.

Which wildflowers grow best in the Gallatin Valley foothills could vary significantly from what types do best along the Eastern Plains of Montana. When I emailed my MSU County Extension Office, they sent me the Billings, Montana Region Pollinator Plant Guide, a handy PDF with two dozen native flowers (with bloom dates, plant height, and flower color) that are known to thrive in my area.  Your local office likely has a similar publication for your county.

Even smaller patches of wildflowers can make a difference for pollinators. One MSU study regarding the planting of native flower strips in or beside commercial farm fields recorded 130 species of wild bee visitors.