Hi Quinn, 

Thanks for your interest in creating a pollinator garden. I would like to know a little bit more about the space you want to transform. How big of an area is it and, are you interested in a pollinator lawn or garden (i.e. are there restrictions where you live that impact what you can do with your lawn such as maximum lawn height?

Hi Quinn,

The grant and subsidies provided for creating pollinator gardens are typically for larger tracts of land (2+ acres) (like the Michigan Pollinator Initiative and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund). Here is a resource for funding opportunities, but again, many of these are for very specific types of land - agricultural for instance: https://pollinators.msu.edu/resources/growers/funding-opportunities-for-establishing-pollinator-habitat.aspx.

If it is within your budget to start small perhaps doing sections of your yard each year, here is an excellent resource from the Michigan Pollinator Initiative https://pollinators.msu.edu/resources/pollinator-planting/index.aspx and another resource for creating pollinator friendly habitats can be found here https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/landowner-resources

I hope this helps. It is certainly a worthwhile endeavor. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any further questions.

What a great plan! It looks like that will allow you to be flexible and  it is in small, manageable sections. Any funding that I see listed has been for larger tracts of land or specific types (like wetlands) so the best I can suggest is to start small and look for local plant exchanges, or local sales. Another way to keep the cost down is to try planting from seeds. Here is a resource for checking out the various types of plants for your garden: https://pollinators.msu.edu/resources/pollinator-planting/pollinator-gardens.aspx

Good luck, it looks like it’s going to be fun!