flukedoesecology:

Hello all! Now that spring is starting (assuming most of you are in the Northern Hemisphere) people will be thinking about what to plant in their gardens. Some people might need to wait a bit (including me – because there’s still snow on the ground here in Maine…) but spring will come. Eventually. We didn’t have any catastrophic volcanic eruptions, so we should get spring and summer at some point in the coming weeks/months. (You can look up expected dates of the last spring frost for your area. For example, here’s a map.)

Anyway. For those of you inclined to plant things when the weather turns nice, I urge you to consider planting for pollinators! The most common/well known are bees and butterflies, but pollinators can also include birds, bats, moths, and other insects. The co-evolution of plants and flowers dates back millions of years, to the time that flowering plants first evolved during the Cretaceous. (There’s direct evidence of this in the form of a 100-million-year-old insect, in amber, with pollen clinging to it. It’s really cool…. Check it out.)

Where am I going with this? What I’m trying to say is that pollinators are important. And right now, many of them are struggling. Pesticides have harmed many insect populations, including bees. Then there’s the fact that they’re running out of food sources. As more and more land is developed or farmed, the native plants that pollinators evolved to survive on are disappearing. And some of these relationships are crucial. (For example: monarch butterflies are dependent on milkweed as a host to their young. Without milkweed, they can’t reproduce. The adults can feed on multiple species, but the caterpillars depend on milkweed.)

So, what can we do?

One of the simplest things that we, as individuals, can do to help the pollinators is to provide plants for them! If you have a garden, or even a window-box, you can make it a welcoming place for pollinators. By providing plants native to the area, you provide food and nurseries to pollinators. There are other benefits to planting local, too: one of the most notable is the fact that local plants are adapted to the climate conditions. This means they require less maintenance, which means less watering, fertilizer, and pesticides. Many native plants are also perennials, which means that the don’t require re-planting every year.

So that’s why I’m recommending you look up guides for native plants. I’ve found these guides to be very helpful, but there are others out there. In this case, you type in your zip code, and it tells you which eco-region is appropriate to your location. (The guides are for U.S. and Canada–people living elsewhere will have to find other native plant guides, I’m afraid. But a bit of research should bring up some results.) The guides at Pollinator.org begin with an introduction to the region, and to pollinators in general–and then they provide charts of the plants that are native to your region, when they flower, and which pollinators are attracted to them.

(Note: Sometimes, native plants are harder to find than the usual flowers and shrubs sold at nurseries. But if you can get your hands on them, the results can be well worth the hassle.)

And finally: Pollinators need water, too. But drinking can be quite hazardous for little critters like bees. You might consider making them a little drinking dish, where they can safely get the water they need. If you look up how to make a water station for bees, there are many lists of instructions, but most follow the same simple theme: Get a shallow bowl, fill it with pebbles or marbles, then add water. It’s as easy as that.

For anyone else who enjoys gardening, I hope you have a good growing season! If spring has already arrived where you’re living, even better! If you’re in a place where spring is still a long way off, I feel your pain.

Happy spring, and happy planting!
-Mod Terra