Managing Central Texas land for pollinators
Last checked September 26, 2026. Written by Nathan Exley, beekeeper and rangeland ecologist.
You don't need five acres or a bee yard to do any of this. Most of it works on a quarter acre, and most of it costs less than what you're doing now.
Why pollinators are the keystone
Native bees, butterflies, moths, flies and beetles move pollen between flowers. About 87 percent of the world's flowering plant species depend on animals to do that, and in temperate places like ours the estimate is about 78 percent (Ollerton, Winfree and Tarrant, 2011). The seed that comes of it is next year's wildflowers and this winter's food for quail and songbirds.
Honey bees are the working half of what I do: they carry the agricultural use and make the honey. The diversity half is the habitat. The native pollinators depend on what grows on the land and how it's handled, which is where you come in.
Forage across three bloom seasons
The goal is something in bloom from February to November. The hard stretch in Central Texas is August, after the spring flowers have seeded out and before the fall bloom starts. Beekeepers call it the dearth. Ground that has bloom in August is worth more to every pollinator on it than ground with twice the flowers in April.
All of these are native to Central Texas. Which do best on your place depends on soil and rain; the native plant guide I write after a site visit sorts them for your ground.
| Plant | Blooms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata) | February to April, heaviest in February and March | Evergreen shrub; one of the first honey plants of the year. |
| Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) | February to April | Small tree; special value to native bees. |
| Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) | March to May | Worked by bees chiefly for pollen. Special value to bumble bees. |
| Engelmann's daisy (Engelmannia peristenia) | March to July | Nectar plant; birds take the seed. |
| Plant | Blooms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) | May to August | Special value to native bees. |
| Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera) | May to October, longer with rain | Special value to native bees; seed for birds. |
| Mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea) | April to October | Special value to native bees. |
| Leavenworth's eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) | July to September | Blooms into the August gap; special value to native bees. |
| Plant | Blooms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) | August to November | Special value to native bees and honey bees. |
| Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) | August to November | Special value to native bees and honey bees. |
| Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) | July to December, mostly fall | Special value to native bees and honey bees. |
| Prairie broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) | July to November | Yellow haze over old pastures in late summer. |
| Snow on the prairie (Euphorbia bicolor) | July to October | Bees work it, but honey from it can burn the throat. Fine in a wildflower planting; not a plant to put next to a bee yard. |
Bloom months and pollinator notes: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant database, each plant's page, checked September 26, 2026.
Water
Bees drown in deep, steep-sided water. Give them a shallow edge: a stock tank with a float board or a pile of rocks at one end, a saucer of gravel kept wet, a dripping faucet over a pan of pebbles. Keep it full in July and August, when every other source dries up.
Nesting ground
About seventy percent of native bee species in the United States nest in the ground (Xerces Society). They want bare, sunny, well-drained soil that nobody tills. A patch of bare ground at the edge of a field is habitat, not neglect.
The rest nest in hollow stems, old beetle holes in dead wood, and snags. Leave some standing stems through winter, and leave a dead tree standing where it's safe to.
What to stop doing
- Mowing before seed set. Mow the wildflower ground after the seed drops, not while it's still blooming. For spring flowers in Central Texas, that usually means waiting into June.
- Blanket herbicide. Spot-treat what needs it. A broadcast spray takes the forbs along with the weeds.
- Clearing every brush line. Fence rows and brush edges hold agarita, plum and nesting stems. Thin them; don't erase them.
Native seeding establishes slowly. Plan on three years before you judge a planting.
Read your own place: set a photopoint
- Drive a rebar stake. Pick a spot that looks across the ground you want to change, and paint the top so you can find it.
- Take a compass bearing. Write it down. Every photograph from this stake faces the same way.
- Use the same lens. Same phone or camera, same zoom, held at the same height.
- Shoot every March and September. Never crop, never edit. A dry September frame is part of the record.
After three years you'll know more about your land than any survey can tell you.
What I do about it on your land
On five to twenty acres, I can build a Bee Yard and plant the ground around it. On larger places already under an agricultural valuation, I write wildlife management plans built around native pollinators.
Either way, it starts with a free site visit, and you get a native plant guide written for your address whether or not we work together.
Nathan Exley, (512) 298-1526, exleyapiary.com
Request a site visit
A plan starts with a visit and a look at what's already growing.
The visit is free. If your place isn't a fit, I'll tell you why and what might work instead, and you'll still get a native plant guide written for your address.