How Your Yard's Fence Color Can Help Attract More Pollinators To Your Garden

Looking to start a pollinator garden or attract more butterflies to your yard? Of course, you'll want to intentionally choose flowering plants that appeal to them, but you might also consider giving your fence a makeover. That's right; the color of your fence is another tool you can use to help draw in pollinators and keep your garden buzzing with activity. "Pollinators in general are attracted to colors that represent blooms which provide them with nectar and pollen," Arkearth founder and honeybee enthusiast David M. Burrows said in an interview with Homes & Gardens magazine, "Typically, those colors are pink, purple, blue, yellow, and red."

By re-painting your wooden fence or choosing a chain link variety coated in one of these bright colors, you'll transform your landscaping project into a hotspot for hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinating creatures. It's a simple switch that can make a big impact. Here's why this garden design trick works and how to implement it strategically, especially if you're looking to attract more of a specific type of pollinator.

It makes sense that pollinating birds and insects would gravitate toward the hues they've come to associate with food. Many highly saturated flowers and fruits provide essential nutrients that they need to thrive. In turn, the most colorful blooms are pollinated and reproduced the most, so this symbiotic relationship plays an essential role in the overall ecosystem. In fact, science shows us that pollinators rely on color first and foremost when searching for plants to feast on. Of course, a flower's unique shape and aroma matter too, but when it comes to locating viable blooms from afar, color is Mother Nature's way of giving pollinators the green light — pun intended. Because of this natural instinct to pursue bright colors, colorful fences work well to draw in pollinators from far and wide.

However, if you're designing your own professional-looking backyard and concerned that a candy-colored fence could clash with your vision, let your landscaping do the talking and spring for a fresh coat of white or cream paint as an alternative. White will heighten the visual contrast between your fence and whatever flowers or plants you've grown, allowing pollinating birds and insects to easily spot them from a distance. That said, a white fence won't be such an effective draw for pollinators if your garden is newly planted and doesn't have many flowers yet.

Scientific research also indicates that certain pollinators have innate preferences for specific colors. This is partly because their sight capabilities run the gamut depending on each species. For example, bees can't see the color red, only wavelengths that are vaguely reddish, like salmon or orange. Because of this, even the most saturated crimson-red chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum spp.) won't catch their eye. But purple flowers like coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) or asters (Aster spp.)? Now we're talking. Bees love purple and blue hues. Butterflies, on the other hand, have a much wider range of vision. Unlike bees, they can see red, and they adore this color as well as shades of yellow, orange, and purple; however, butterfly's color preferences vary by species. As many people know, hummingbirds favor bright red flowers, but will also be drawn to colors like pink, orange, and purple. 

You can extend this logic to fence colors, too, and use it to guide your paint selection process. Colors that fall somewhere on the purple and blue spectrum are generally a safe bet for attracting most pollinators, whereas red will work best for hummingbirds and butterflies. For a more pared-back palette, spring for a lavender or pink fence coupled with colorful flowers that will draw pollinators to your yard, and watch as this two-fold strategy makes your garden a magnet for a broad swath of pollinators.