What did you have for breakfast?
If your plate included toast with jam, fresh berries, granola with nuts, coffee and juice, you had a nice balanced breakfast, right? Take away everything that needs a pollinator and your left with only dry toast and plain granola. That’s how dull and diminished our diets would be without pollinators.
Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are responsible for one in three bites we eat. They are crucial to not only our food supply, but to our ecosystems. Pollinators build healthy habitat. They keep plant communities vigorous and able to reproduce naturally, supporting biodiversity and providing food, cover and nesting sites for wildlife.
Unfortunately many pollinators are threatened by habitat loss, pesticide use, disease and changes in the way we manage the land. They need our help. While bees and butterflies are our pollinator poster children, we should also thank wasps, flies, moths, beetles, hummingbirds and bats for their services.
How does pollination work? Buzzing, flying, crawling and humming along, pollinators get dusted with pollen as they sip nectar and gather pollen from a flower.
When they visit another flower – bam! – pollen gets transferred which triggers the formation of seeds and fruit. That is how plants grow our food.
Without pollinators, there would be no strawberries, juicy peaches, crunchy nuts or corn on the cob. I’m not willing to give that up. Are you?
I didn’t think so. So join me in helping pollinators by creating a pollinator-friendly garden.
Start with diversity. Plant many different flowering plants that bloom from spring to frost so pollinators have a constant source of pollen and nectar. Mass plants to give them a better chance of being noticed by pollinators. Plant three coneflowers, not just one, to put out the welcome mat.
Include native plants. Since native plants co-evolved with native insects – including Maryland’s 400 species of native bees – they naturally support them best with better nutrition.
Think big. Include not only annuals and perennials, but trees, shrubs and vines. Each plant type provides habitat for different pollinators’ needs from food and shelter to places to raise young.
What are some favorite plants for pollinators? The list is long but includes columbine, phlox, purple coneflower, bee balm, butterfly weed, goldenrod and asters, redbud, ninebark, oak and birch. Here are some good resources for pollinator plants from the Xerces Society and Pollinator Partnership: and this guide on pollinator.org.
Provide habitat for nesting and egg-laying by pollinators by adding shrubs, grasses, a brush pile and orchard mason bee house. Add water with a birdbath with a few rocks for pint-sized pollinator access.
To really boost your yard’s pollinator appeal, limit or eliminate pesticides. Bees, in particular, are very sensitive to chemicals. Opt for kinder, gentler organic controls like insecticidal soap and hand-picking.
Learn more about creating a pollinator garden at our University of Maryland fact sheet. You’ll find resources for native and pollinator plants as well as tips for garden design and maintenance.
I hope you will make your garden a pollinator hot spot, the place to be. Or is that bee?
Annette Cormany, horticulture educator, University of Maryland Extension – Washington County
This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media.