Searching your state's native plant society will give you a list of not only your native species, but will often have links and sources to purchase seeds and started plants to begin your own pollinator garden. Natives require less maintenance, improve drainage in flood-prone areas, improve air quality, and provide natural habitat to a variety of insects, birds, and mammals. Birds feed on the seeds of many native wildflowers, allowing the plants to spread and continue to grow from year-to-year.

Pictured above are black-eyed susans, which are native to the eastern US, accompanied by a common eastern bumblebee as well as an eastern tiger swallowtail. These species in particular were important for me to capture, as they have been present at our North Carolina home this past year.