Plants that support pollinators and tips for a pollinator-friendly garden
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Very informative article! One thing that must be pointed out for the sake of accuracy though, is the first photo featuring a monarch butterfly nectaring on "milkweed", isn't milkweed; it's Joe Pye Weed. Still, Joe Pye Weed is an excellent nectar source for pollinators.
Leaving stuff alone in your yard is a great idea unless you live in a stupid HOA or the city fines you for not " cleaning up" your property.
Very true! It’s important to follow local laws and guidelines when building out your yard and garden plans.
Yes it is a very good and interesting and helpful article- with helpful links.I have read it with a absolutely great interest-Thank you very muck!
Thanks for this article. Gratitude for everyone interested in creating pollinator-friendly gardens, as they are ultimately the most beautiful, natural, and surprisingly the simplest perennial gardens to maintain imaginable. We can all enjoy them while also playing a role in protecting our pollinators, upon which, (whom??), our very existence was made possible. Many beneficial insects are up to be next on the worldwide list of species considered to soon officially be extinct. This is the real case with the Monarch Butterflies. Along with the disappearing native bumblebees we could face times when we will not to be able to see much less be able to benefit from our pollinators, including local, native bumblebees, migrating butterflies, thousands of different kinds of bees, flies, wasps, even moths and bats. It is a fact that without the plants that have sustained these creatures since they first appeared on the earth they will disappear, become extinct by the hundreds of thousands due to the lack of those life-sustaining plants that once grew wild in the U. S. Their former homelands and countryside’s aren’t there when they return, as many have been replaced by development coast to coast, destroying the plants, waterways, yet leaving us in the unique position to possibly help restore hope through our 2020- 2021 victory gardens, container gardens, and deck or patio gardens...which is how I started growing plants. Our plants can make a difference. I have observed Monarch Butterflies over the past 3 years. They do depend on a specific yet available to us to plant and grow milkweed plant that comes in different varieties, one or more of which does grow in your local area. If interested through resources online or locally find and support your local nurseries that practice organic sustainable gardening/plantings and your state’s agricultural and home extension offices. You may also enjoy discovering JourneyNorth.com, a university and butterfly enthusiasts supported organization, that tracks, follows, and invites participation if you wish in the many signs in nature including the huge Eastern U. S./Mexico North American migration of the Monarch Butterflies between the two countries. We can contribute to helping sustain the migrating Monarchs’ by just starting and maintaining native milkweed. Our family has learned through observation and somewhat by default that Monarch Butterflies and many other varieties of stunning butterflies have been amazingly easy to attract here in the Piedmont of N. C., and have learned over the past few years that they love the same things that we do- beautiful, flowering, perennial native plants,(most importantly the one of a limited list of 1-2 Native Milkweed plants that sustain them for their entire lives, from the eggs they lay, through all stages/instars as caterpillars, until they eclose as adult butterflies. Naturally this also provides flowers and nectar along with all the other native wildflowers you plant that may return each spring and summer. Best to all, stay safe, enjoy life.
Wonderful article. Thank you for all the useful information and videos. Blessings, Kathy
Plant flowers in swaths: it's easier for bees to spot from above. Also, apparently the color red is difficult for honeybees to see, so you might want to consider flowers of a different color if this is your intent. And remember that flower gardens can exist at all levels! Flowering trees and shrubs are sources of food and shelter for pollinators. Flowering vines can be grown up lattices and over bowers. Some evergreen ground covers flower annually, plus flowering vines can also be left to sprawl along the ground.
For some reason an unused strip of yard next to my house sprouted a mass of jewel weed this year. Being a master procrastinator and since it was basically out of the way I never got around to pulling them up. Gazing out of my bathroom window one day I noticed the incredible amount and variety of bees and "flower" flies visiting these "weeds". The patch is ten feet away from my container garden of cucumbers, eggplants and tomatoes. I had been wondering if the stories about the dearth of local bees would mean I would be out there with Q tips in hand doing all the pollinating. Not to worry. After visiting the invaders, the winged army has been more than happy to visit my crops. One persons weed is an others gardening ally.
A lot of great ideas to create a natural oasis. I'm turning the borders of my yard into wildflower meadow. Should help with pollinators and my garden and less mowing!
A wildflower meadow or even borders of wildflower meadows along the edges of fields can achieve a great deal!
A small border isn’t difficult but if you’re planning on a larger wildflower meadow, it’s important to establish correctly.
You may find Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center a helpful reference. See this article: www.wildflower.org/learn/plant-wildflower-meadow