Pollinator Plant Database

The Pollinator Plant Database helps you compare flowering plants by flowering season, target pollinator, nectar and pollen value, native region, and growing conditions. Use it to assemble a seasonally varied plant palette or to create a pollinator recipe for comparison in the Flowering Arc.

You can browse the catalog and plant profiles without signing in. An account is required to create and manage pollinator recipes.

The database is a planning aid, not a site-specific planting recommendation. Flowering times and pollinator use vary with climate, weather, cultivar, plant health, management, and local insect populations. Confirm important choices with local observations and regional guidance.

Open the database

Open Pollinator plants from the main navigation. When you are signed in, it is under Plants and recipes in the Pollinators section. The page heading is Find plants for pollinators.

Use the Flowering arc button at the top of the page when you want to visualise flowering coverage rather than browse cards. You can move between the catalog and the flowering visualisation without creating a recipe first.

Quick start

To find and save a first group of pollinator plants:

1. Open Pollinator plants.
2. Select one or more options under Target pollinators.
3. Choose a Flowering month if you are trying to fill a seasonal gap.
4. Optionally select a Native region or open Growing conditions to add site filters.
5. Select Search plants.
6. Review suitability and flowering period on the result cards.
7. Open View plant to compare the separate nectar and pollen ratings in the complete public profile.
8. Sign in, create or select a pollinator recipe, and use Add to recipe to keep suitable plants together.
9. Open Flowering arc and compare the recipe's coverage across the year.

Start with only the filters that answer your main question. Adding every known site condition at once can hide useful candidates whose database record is incomplete.

Filter pollinator plants

The Filter pollinator plants panel combines name, pollinator, season, origin, and site filters.

Open Growing conditions to see the Light, Moisture, and Soil texture controls. These conditions are optional and combine with the main filters. For example, selecting a flowering month, native region, and moist soil returns only records that satisfy all three conditions.

The growing-condition filters use information stored directly in the pollinator database. A plant can therefore be absent from a filtered result when the relevant value has not been recorded, even if its linked agroforestry profile contains additional information.

Search while typing

As you type in Plant name, the visible cards and plant-type counts update without reloading the page. This live card filter also matches displayed plant types, native regions, and pollinator-group names. The clear button beside the field clears the live text within the current result set.

After you select Search plants, the server interprets the same field strictly as a common or scientific plant name. A live result for a term such as a region or pollinator group can therefore disappear after submission; use the dedicated filter for that characteristic instead.

After you have submitted a filtered search, use Reset filters to return to the full catalog. Clearing only the name field does not undo the other submitted filters.

Combine target pollinators

Selecting more than one target broadens the eligibility test: a plant is included when at least one selected group has a suitability above Unknown. It does not mean that the plant has been assessed positively for every selected group.

Use the individual ratings on the card or detail page to check which selected groups the plant actually supports. This is especially important when you are trying to design for several pollinator groups rather than choosing general bee forage.

Understand ratings and match scores

Every public pollinator assessment can contain three separate values:

• Suitability describes the overall assessed fit for that pollinator group.
• Nectar value describes the assessed nectar resource.
• Pollen value describes the assessed pollen resource.

Each value uses the same four-level scale:

The dots beside a rating show its value out of three. Suitability, nectar, and pollen measure different things; a plant can have different levels for each.

How the Match score is calculated

When you select one or more Target pollinators, matching plants are ranked with this score for each selected group:

(2 × suitability) + nectar value + pollen value

Suitability is weighted twice. A fully High assessment therefore scores:

(2 × 3) + 3 + 3 = 12

Twelve is the maximum per selected group. Scores for all selected groups are added, and the result card can show a label such as Match 18/24.

The denominator is always 12 multiplied by the number of selected groups. If two groups are selected but a plant has an assessment for only one, the missing group contributes no points while the maximum remains 24. This explains why a plant can have a strong visible assessment yet receive a moderate combined score.

The Match score is a catalog ranking aid. It does not account for planting quantity, flower abundance, cultivar differences, local flowering dates, nesting habitat, pesticide exposure, or competition from other forage. Do not treat a high score as a guarantee that a plant will support a local population.

If you do not select a target pollinator, the cards do not show a Match score.

Read the results

The results header reports how many plants were found. Cards are arranged in sections by plant type, with navigation links for the types present in the current result set. Available types can include Herbaceous plant, Bulb, Groundcover, Climber, Shrub, Tree, and Other.

A result card can contain:

• a plant image or a flower placeholder;
• plant type;
• scientific and common names;
• one or more recorded flowering periods;
• plant and pollen colour indicators;
• suitability for each active pollinator group that has been assessed;
• nectar and pollen values in a pointer tooltip where supported;
• an Agro plant data badge when the record is linked to the main plant database;
• a Match score when target pollinators are selected;
• View plant and Add to recipe actions.

Plant and pollen colours describe recorded display characteristics. They are not measures of ecological value. When a colour is unavailable, the card identifies it as unknown even though a fallback colour may still be used in the visual design.

The card can show assessments for active pollinator groups beyond the group currently being used as a filter. Read the group name beside each rating rather than assuming every value belongs to your selected target. Open View plant when you need the nectar and pollen ratings: the card exposes them only through a pointer tooltip, which may be unavailable on touchscreens or to keyboard users.

Inspect a plant profile

Select a result card or View plant to open its public profile.

Who this plant supports

The Who this plant supports section lists the active pollinator groups for which the plant has been assessed. Each group has separate Suitability, Nectar value, and Pollen value ratings.

If the page says that the plant has not been assessed for the active pollinator groups, do not interpret that as evidence that the plant has no value. It means the required assessment is not available in the public catalog.

At a glance

The At a glance section summarises:

• recorded flowering period or periods;
• plant type;
• native region or regions.

An Unknown value indicates missing catalog information. Multiple flowering periods or native regions may be shown.

Linked agroforestry plant data

Some flowering records are linked to a species in the main AgroForest Designer plant database. These pages show Linked agroforestry plant data and a Complete plant information section with available facts under:

• Structure;
• Site conditions;
• Uses.

Select Open full plant profile to continue to the main plant record. Most empty or unknown core values are omitted, so sections can contain different facts for different species. Edibility and medicinal fields can appear as 0 out of 5 when the linked source has no score, so verify whether zero means assessed absence or missing source data.

When a flowering record is not linked, the page instead uses the pollinator record's own description and expandable Growing conditions. These can include light, moisture, soil texture, pH range, and finer native-range detail.

The public profile does not display internal evidence records, assessment notes, or review status. Use the visible values as comparative planning information and independently verify choices where the consequences of an error are significant.

Create a pollinator recipe

A pollinator recipe is a private collection of flowering-database plants. It lets you keep candidates together and compare their seasonal coverage in the Flowering Arc.

You must be signed in to use recipes. If you are browsing anonymously, the recipe panel shows Sign in to use recipes and returns you to the current page after authentication.

To create a recipe from the catalog:

1. Find the Pollinator recipe panel.
2. Select New recipe.
3. Enter a descriptive Name, such as “Early and late bee forage”.
4. Select Create recipe.
5. Confirm that the new recipe is selected under Add pollinator plants to.

Recipe creation is subject to your account's recipe allowance. Pollinator recipes and ordinary planting recipes count toward the same allowance. See Plans and Feature Access if the interface reports that your recipe limit has been reached.

Select an existing recipe

Use Select a recipe under Add pollinator plants to. Only your own pollinator recipes appear in this selector. After you choose one:

• View recipe opens its detail page;
• plant buttons become available;
• plants already included show In recipe;
• plants not included show Add to recipe.

The selected recipe is remembered in local browser storage so that it can remain selected as you move between pollinator pages. A different browser or cleared site data may not remember the same selection.

Add and remove plants

Select Add to recipe on a card or plant profile. The button changes to In recipe after the update succeeds. Selecting In recipe again removes the plant.

These changes are saved immediately; there is no separate recipe save button or removal confirmation. Check the active recipe before toggling a plant, particularly when you maintain several similar collections.

Each flowering plant can appear only once in a pollinator recipe. The recipe count represents distinct plant records, not the number of specimens to plant or buy.

Review a pollinator recipe

Select View recipe, or open All recipes from the main navigation and choose a card labelled Pollinator recipe.

The Details tab shows:

• Number of pollinator plants;
• flowering period and native region;
• available mature height and width;
• light and soil-moisture information;
• recorded pollinator suitability assessments;
• Plant details and Comparison actions;
• a remove button on each plant card.

Use Add pollinator plants to return to the catalog. The Recipe flower comparison tab opens the Flowering Arc with only that recipe's flowering plants.

Removing a plant from the recipe detail page updates the collection immediately. Pollinator recipes can also be deleted from All recipes.

Pollinator recipes and planting recipes are separate

Pollinator recipes are deliberately separate from the standard planting recipes described in Planting Recipes.

Creating a pollinator recipe does not create a planting recipe, even when some entries have an Agro plant data link. If you decide to use those species in a mapped design, create or update a separate standard planting recipe with the appropriate main-database plants or cultivars.

Continue in the Flowering Arc

The catalog is best for examining individual records; the Flowering Arc is best for seeing seasonal coverage and comparing the contents of a pollinator recipe.

Open Flowering arc from the catalog or select Recipe flower comparison from a pollinator recipe. The visualisation can:

• show flowering periods from January to December;
• focus matching on selected pollinator groups and a minimum suitability;
• group the database by plant type, pollinator fit, flowering season, or data status;
• compare the flowers saved in one pollinator recipe;
• expose a focused plant panel with ratings and public plant facts.

Plants without a recorded flowering period cannot appear as flowering tracks, even if they are visible in the catalog or included in a recipe. See Flowering Arc for the complete visualisation workflow and interpretation guidance.

Recommended selection workflow

For a more defensible pollinator palette:

1. Define the pollinator groups and seasonal gap you want to address.
2. Search one flowering month at a time before adding strict site filters.
3. Open promising profiles and distinguish Unknown data from genuinely low ratings.
4. Check linked plant information and independent local sources for site suitability.
5. Add candidates to a clearly named pollinator recipe.
6. Compare the recipe in the Flowering Arc.
7. Look for early-, mid-, and late-season coverage rather than relying only on the total number of species.
8. Check that plants suit the actual light, soil, water, maintenance, and legal context.
9. Plan nesting habitat, water, shelter, and pesticide-free management alongside floral resources.
10. If you will map the planting, build a separate standard planting recipe with confirmed species and cultivars.

Accuracy and responsible interpretation

Flowering periods

Flowering periods are recorded by month and may contain more than one window. They do not predict an exact first or last flowering date. Latitude, altitude, microclimate, seasonal weather, cultivar, pruning, irrigation, and plant maturity can shift the observed period.

Use the database to identify possible coverage, then compare it with local phenology. Revisit the recipe after observing the site through the year.

Native regions

The Native region filter uses broad geographic records. A plant marked native to a continent may not be native to your country, ecoregion, or site. Conversely, a non-native plant may be legally usable in one location but invasive or restricted in another.

Check national and regional invasive-species rules, conservation guidance, provenance, and nursery availability before specifying plants.

Pollinator assessments

Assessments are associated with pollinator groups, not every species or life stage within those groups. Resource use can differ among insects grouped under one label. The values also do not express flower abundance per square metre or how management affects access to nectar and pollen.

The catalog, Flowering Arc, and public plant profiles display assessments for active pollinator groups; a private pollinator-recipe detail page can also list other recorded groups. These views do not expose the internal evidence and review metadata. For restoration, conservation, procurement, or professional advice, verify critical claims with suitable primary or regional sources.

Site fit and plant identity

Catalog filtering can only use recorded values. Missing information may exclude a viable plant, while a recorded tolerance does not guarantee establishment. Confirm soil chemistry, drainage, water availability, winter conditions, mature size, toxicity, and maintenance requirements.

Verify scientific names when transferring a pollinator candidate into a standard planting recipe. A linked agroforestry profile is helpful, but it does not make the two database records or recipe types interchangeable.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• Use Flowering Arc to visualise database and recipe flowering periods.
• Read Finding Plants for the standard plant-search workflow.
• Read Planting Recipes before preparing plants for a project or map.
• Review Digital Planting Plan when you are ready to place plants spatially.
• Check Plans and Feature Access for account limits and feature availability.