By MARY ELIADES
Voice correspondent
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE FEB. 24, 2026, ISSUE OF THE HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE VOICE. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION.
Spring is coming and thoughts are turning to flowers and birds and bees and…yardwork. Some look on this with pleasure, while others dread the constant fertilizing, watering and weeding in the battle with nature.
Sharon Prislipsky, longtime HSV Audubon member, presented a program to members and guests on “Attracting Pollinators to Your Backyard,” which centered on landscaping with native plants. Prislipsky is an accomplished photographer and illustrated her talk with stunning photos of bees, butterflies, and birds visiting her carefully planned garden.
She opened her talk with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt that motivated her to change her gardening style. “Do nothing to mar its grandeur, for the ages have been at work on it and man cannot improve it. Keep it for your children, your children’s children, and all who come after you.”
Prislipsky and her husband, Vic, lived in Michigan for 32 years and were always gardeners. Sharon was more interested in perennials for the “color and curb appeal,” while Vic usually tended some tomato plants. On moving to Hot Springs Village in 2009, the couple joined HSV Audubon and the Arkansas Native Plant Society and started thinking about how gardening affects the environment. “Grassy lawns use vast amounts of water, fuel for mowers, and chemicals that harm the environment,” she said. “The watershed is where our lawn chemicals end up,” she added. “Avoid pesticides and fertilizers.”
The Prislipskys realized they wanted more from their garden than just a pretty vista. Sharon said, “A garden has to sustain wildlife and pollinators.”
In 2019, two factors combined to move the Prislipskys “from inspiration to cultivation” – the “monster snowstorm” and the Covid-19 pandemic. Stuck at home and with lots of dead plants after the harsh storm, they set out to transform their mostly rock yard to a life-giving pollinator garden.
The planning process itself took months. Sharon sketched out areas of plantings and then began her research, searching for plants that matched the conditions in her yard. In her talk, she discussed things to consider during the planning process: Amount of sun at different times in the growing season, soil conditions, critter resistance, drought resistance, and winter hardiness.
The process took an entire season, but when the results were in, the Prislipskys were ready to dig in (literally), seeking native plants from reputable nurseries. Sharon cautioned plant buyers: “Don’t let your impulses get the best of you.”
Prislipsky explained the difference between cultivars, hybrids and native plants. “Cultivars are plants that have been selected and bred by humans for specific desirable characteristics.” She added that cultivars often have “luscious blooms and beautiful colors” but lack nectar that attracts pollinators.
“Hybrids are crosses between two related species,” she said, but usually lack nectar and are sometimes sold (misleadingly) as native plants.
“Native plants,” she continued, have evolved and adapted to local conditions. They are the ones we see growing along roadsides.”
Native plants “require little care,” minimal irrigation or fertilizer, and are naturally pest resistant.
Prislipsky described the top 15 Arkansas native plants from Arkansas Heritage and then offered some “do’s and don’ts” for planting:
· Do use “living mulch” – shredded leaves, pine straw, grass clippings
· Don’t mulch close to the stems.
· Don’t use landscape fabric as a weed barrier.
· Don’t use chemical fertilizers; native plants have learned to survive in lean soils without a lot of nitrogen.
Most people are fascinated by hummingbirds, and Prislipsky suggested selecting native plants with tube-shaped flowers – such as Agastache, bee balm, golden currant, honeysuckle, penstemon, and salvia – to attract the hummers. “Also, avoid pesticides,” she said. “Eighty percent of a hummingbird’s diet is spiders and insects: aphids, gnats, fruit flies, mosquitoes, etc.”
Prislipsky cautioned against the lure of beautiful blooms, citing zinnias as an example. “Cultivated varieties have two or more rows of petals. These extra petals develop at the expense of pollen and nectar production, so offer little (if any) value to pollinators. Bees may visit them to explore but can’t find the food they need.”
Butterfly bushes are popular additions to Village gardens, but while they are colorful and attract many pollinators, they are invasive and need frequent deadheading to stop the spread of seeds.
Prislipsky also suggested a light hand with fall garden clean-ups. “Old shrubs, leaf piles, and brush are bird hotels,” she said. “Want wrens, robins, and cardinals in spring? Give them a place to rest and nest.”
Although it took several years to transform the landscape around their home, the Prislipskys are reaping the benefits now. Sharon said that two years ago, they counted 50 different butterfly species in their garden. It may seem like a lot of work, “but you’ll see the results down the road,” she said.
Prislipsky concluded her talk: “Everything we care about – our wildlife, our pollinators, the health of our ecosystems, and even the stability of our food chain – depends on the choices we make right now.”