Raise your hand if you want to help butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. Good for you.
In my last blog post, I discussed two ways to help pollinators starting in the fall. Waiting to cut back perennials until spring and letting some leaves lie protects overwintering insects.
But there is so much more you can do to help this fall and year-round. It’s all about creating habitat, providing safe spaces for pollinators to live, eat, shelter and raise young.
My neighbors raised their eyebrows when I plunked a moss-covered log into my landscape. But it looks terrific in my woodland garden, a natural accent that provides shelter and food for wildlife.
Logs are attractive habitats for wildlife, including pollinators. Photo: Annette Cormany
So, adopt a log. Spiders and beetles are attracted to the moist areas under logs and peeling bark. Bees and butterflies nest and overwinter in drier parts of logs.
Logs help other wildlife, too. Chipmunks use them as highways, toads love their moisture, and other critters use them for sunbathing.
Lay logs horizontally, burying one end a few inches to maintain some moisture. And be sure to ask permission before tossing that log into your pickup. Mine came from a family property. Honest.
Dead-standing trees called “snags” also provide habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. As long as a tree poses no danger to you or your home, consider leaving it. What looks messy to us is beautiful to wildlife.
Beetles and other insects burrow through dead wood, creating tunnels that cavity-nesting bees such as mason bees lay their eggs in. Other insects tuck under bark. I once saw a striking mourning cloak butterfly emerge from the bark of a dead tree.
If leaving a whole dead tree is too much for your sense of order or safety is an issue, fell the tree but leave the log in part or whole. Or leave just the stump. Hardwood logs with the bark attached add more varied, longer-lasting habitat.
Stumps offer food and shelter to insects. Photo: Annette Cormany
What else can you do to enhance your habitat for pollinators beyond planting native plants that flower from spring to frost? Plenty.
Add a rock pile or wall. Bumblebees, leafcutter bees, and wasps nest in their cavities. Ground beetles and many other insects shelter where soil meets stone.
Stone walls – including this handsome one dressed in lichen – provide shelter and nesting sites for wildlife. Photo: Annette Cormany
Use different sizes and types of rocks and skip the mortar to create more protected nooks and crannies. Planting native plants nearby makes the area even more attractive to pollinators and other beneficial insects.
Thanks for all you are already doing to help support and protect pollinators. It matters.
By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.
When we talk about pollinators and how to help them, we have often focused on what plants can support them, who the pollinators are and some traits of their natural histories, or how to create habitat for them. However, besides individual actions that people can take to help them, other options that are very impactful also exist. In today’s post, I want to present one that involves a combination of community and institutional collaboration: the Bee City and Bee Campus USA certification.
What are Bee City and Bee Campus USA?
The certifications called Bee City and Bee Campus USA are labels that cities and campuses, respectively, can receive from the Xerces Society if they commit and act to protect pollinators and their habitats.
For those who have never heard of it, the Xerces Society is an organization interested in the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Over the years, it has not only become recognized as an important conservation organization but also has developed impactful and meaningful ways to support research on the topic and engage the population and institutions (and many other stakeholders!) in conservation actions that are within their reach. The Bee City and Bee Campus certification is one of those initiatives.
How does it work?
Once cities and campuses decide to receive the certification, they need to submit an application and pay an annual fee. By doing this, they commit to taking specific actions that will lead to the conservation of the thousands of species of bees and other pollinators that exist in the USA, as well as their habitats. The certification is revised every year, and if the institution or city is not performing following the set standards, the certification is not renewed. Today, many institutions and cities across the USA have joined the initiative and are actively following their commitments. If you are interested in knowing if your community is a part of the initiative, an online database exists where it is very easy to search for participating members using addresses or names.
The Bee City and Bee Campus USA website has a neat tool to search for current members across the USA.
The commitments that institutions and cities make when they join the initiative involve the establishment and promotion of specific actions. These actions combine institutional and community involvement, which requires the creation of an active committee that will be responsible for running programs that will help the institution reach its goals. Once this committee is created, the group is responsible for proposing and running actions within the reach of the institution. The actions need to be oriented towards promoting the protection of pollinators and their habitats through what can be generally categorized under education, direct action, community involvement, and potential revision of standard operating procedures or policies.
The Xerces Society doesn’t just provide a certification. In fact, it has over the years produced a massive number of tools that help cities or institutions understand how to run the programs. Regular webinars are organized, fact sheets distributed, general manuals and other documentation shared, and a network of participating cities established, allowing for a “hive mind” to develop.
What can some of these actions be?
Education programs involve the distribution of information among the population (for cities) or members of the campus (for campuses). This information can take many different forms but generally educates about the diversity of pollinators, the importance of promoting habitat, the key contributions of pollinators to the well-being of the community and the environment, ways to protect them through individual or joint actions, creating information guides and fact sheets, and more.
Direct actions often require involvement of the institution in establishing habitat for pollinators, distributing resources that will allow the community to protect pollinators (e.g., distributing plants, seeds, other habitat resources), actively reducing the use of pesticides, etc.
Community involvement is promoted by any program that the institution could build to allow its members to come together and engage in projects larger than any individual would be able to take on by themselves. There are many ways this can be done, but some examples are the creation of student-faculty groups that could run research projects that can then be used to inform policies and conservation actions. Others could be the establishment and promotion of institution-wide actions, such as the promotion of months with no or reduced mowing (e.g., “No-Mow Month” initiatives), the running of citizen science projects (e.g., through iNaturalist), establishing days centered around the celebration and recognition of pollinators and their services to humans and the environment (e.g., coordinating Pollinator Week activities), and others.
Finally, one of the unique reaches of this initiative is its ability to promote changes of policies and procedures regularly used by the institution/city. Under this program, the committee should propose and the city or campus implement at least some adjustments in the way the institution in question is run. For example, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans should be created and used if they are not already in practice, Code can be adjusted to facilitate the planting of native plants, monetary or other incentives can be offered for the creation of pollinator habitat, and more.
I would like to have my city/campus join; what do I do?
If you’re interested in having your campus or city join the initiative, first go to the Bee City/Campus website and check out the requirements and some of the how-to webinars. Along with this, for cities, you may want to get in touch with representatives and present this as a request. If you’re on a campus, get a diverse group of members together and propose this to leadership. If you still feel overwhelmed by this and feel you still have a lot of questions, reach out to Bee Cities or Bee Campuses in your area and ask them for help! They will be more than happy to explain what their path was and how they came to be, so you can also become part of the national initiative.
By Anahí Espíndola, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park. See more posts by Anahí.
Anahí also writes an Extension Blog in Spanish! Check it out here, extensionesp.umd.edu, and please share and spread the word to your Spanish-speaking friends and colleagues in Maryland. ¡Bienvenidos a Extensión en Español!
Did you know that how and when you cut back your perennials and tidy your landscape matters to pollinators?
I just read a fact sheet from the Xerces Society that opened my eyes to more ways to help pollinators year-round, especially in the fall.
I already make sure I have something blooming from April to frost, so pollen and nectar are always available. And I emphasize native plants that coevolved with pollinators to support them best.
But beyond flowers, there are many things we can do to provide shelter for nesting and overwintering pollinators. And we can start some of them in the fall.
Pollinators and other insects shelter in stems and branches of trees, shrubs, and flowers. They also shelter in leaf litter, undisturbed or bare ground, dead wood, brush piles, and rock piles.
Incorporating these features in your landscape – rather than cleaning them away – supports bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
So how can you make your garden more welcoming to pollinators this fall?
Start with the stems. Don’t cut back your perennials until late spring. Bees and other pollinators hibernate in the stems in winter. Only remove unhealthy plant stems to manage disease.
But doesn’t that look a little unkempt? Yes, but messy is beautiful – and necessary for pollinators to survive and thrive.
Master Gardener sign explaining why a messy garden is good for pollinators. Source: A. Cormany
The Master Gardeners and I believe this so strongly that signs in our teaching gardens say, “Excuse our mess, pollinators at rest,” to explain why we don’t cut back plants in the fall.
Next, leave some leaves. Most butterflies and moths use leaf litter to protect eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, or adults over the winter.
Wooly bear caterpillars tuck into leaf piles. Luna moths wrap their cocoons in leaves. Some butterflies lay eggs on fallen leaves. Queen bumble bees burrow into soil under leaves.
A luna moth cocoon wrapped in leaves to wait out the winter. Photo: M. Raupp
So pile some leaves around trees, shrubs, and perennials as a natural mulch. They will suppress weeds, hold moisture, and feed the soil. I chip some leaves but leave some whole.
I often use leaf mulch in my vegetable garden, too. And when I had a larger landscape, I kept a 3-foot border of leaves against a stone wall to provide more shelter.
Leaves aren’t litter: they’re habitat. Ideally, some leaves will become a permanent part of your landscape. Pick a corner, an edge, or a garden. I let leaves lie in a small woodland garden.
But if you need to remove some of the leaves, try to leave them in place until mid-spring to give overwintering pollinators a chance to emerge.
This is really a glimpse of the many ways you can invite and support pollinators year-round. Learn more about Pollinator Gardens on the Home and Garden Information Center website.
Thanks for all you are doing to protect pollinators. It matters.
By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.
Having grown up in the plains of Argentina, surrounded by large rivers, swamps, hot summers and humidity, I can attest that I am pretty “heat tolerant.” While others complain of the heat, I just enjoy the “embrace” that a hot day gives me. The heat in the last few weeks, however, was even too hot for me! And while I was trying to cool down, I was also worrying about what I was seeing outside: the plants, the insects, the soil… all suffering like me. And because I happen to work on some of these topics, I also knew that it wasn’t just that some plants were drying out; this heat wave (and drought) is also affecting the whole network of interactions that happen around us. So, today let me tell you a bit about how these extreme heat waves affect one of those interactions – pollination – and how what we do in our green spaces can help reduce some of those effects to the benefit of all.
Pollination is affected by heat in more ways than we usually think
Extreme heat waves and droughts such as those we have been experiencing recently affect not only us but also the ecosystems that are exposed to the heat. One of the most evident effects we may see is how much plants suffer. Just look outside and you will see hanging leaves, tiny flowers (if any), and a lot of dry material. As with all organisms, plants also have optimal temperatures at which they can survive; if the temperatures and water availability change, important body functions will not be able to be performed, and even some central parts of their bodies will fail.
In plants, one of those functions is photosynthesis, the process by which plants can make sugar using the energy of the sun, carbon dioxide (CO2), and water. This process is the way the vast majority of plants make their food. If the process is disturbed, the plant will have less energy available to survive, grow, and reproduce. It turns out that extreme heat and water needs affect the ability of plants to photosynthesize. The consequence of this is that, suddenly, the plant has less energy available, needing to enter a sort of “survival mode.” Along with this, the heat affects several protection systems that the plant has, especially those that protect the DNA (the genetic material), as well as the functioning of the machinery that literally “builds” the different parts of the plant. This inefficient protection leads to the DNA being damaged and the plant being poorly “built”, making that part or the whole plant start malforming.
During the heat waves, these beebalm plants had a rough time, with almost no flowers produced and a lot of the plant material simply drying out. Photo: A. Espíndola
In relation to pollination, we know that these changes explain why, under heat and water stress, plants become smaller in size, have tiny or no flowers, lose a lot of leaves and biomass in general, and have parts that start to look “funky.” The changes in the energy availability make the composition of some secretions change as well, such as with nectar, which tends to be less rich in sugars and less abundant (especially when drought is experienced).
These black-eyed Susans were able to make flowers this year, but they are significantly smaller than usual! Photo: A. Espíndola
As said before, flowers tend to be small or absent, but even when they are present, the petals and reproductive organs are often misshapen, with the plant becoming unable to produce seeds and fruits. Finally, and super importantly for pollination, a major effect of this is that heat affects pollen quality, reducing the amount that is produced and often making the pollen inviable… meaning that even if the pollen was to land on a stigma, it would likely not germinate, and fertilization would not take place. This latter point is worrisome because it means that even plants that are not animal-pollinated (e.g., plants pollinated by wind or water) will be unable to produce seeds and fruits.
Pollinators suffer the heat, and that affects their survival and pollination
Pollinating insects are also affected by the heat, and some of these effects are related to the same facts we mentioned for plants. On the one hand, like plants, pollinators also have their own DNA and “body-building” machinery that is disturbed by heat. Some of the major consequences of this are that their development can be either interrupted (the larvae or pupae die off) or interfered with. If the development is interfered with, we see malformations in different organs, such as the wings, legs and mouth parts, and particularly in males, of reproductive organs and sperm. Further, extreme heat appears to affect bee neurological abilities, with their behaviors and memory affected, as well as changes in the way they visit and manipulate flowers, which in turn makes pollination more difficult.
Along with these issues, because of the changes in nectar quality and quantity associated with plant heat stress that we mentioned earlier, the pollinators’ nutrition is also negatively impacted, which further amplifies the developmental, behavioral, and neurological problems mentioned above. Although all insects experience these types of effects when they are exposed to excessive heat, some of them are a bit better at protecting themselves from it. For example, it seems that social bees suffer less from excessive heat than solitary bees, while bees that nest in the ground or in stems tolerate it better than those that nest in cavities.
Here’s what you can do to help mitigate the effects of heat and drought
Although we can’t instantaneously reduce the heat, we can assist plants and insects to better tolerate these conditions. A very effective strategy is diversifying our green spaces, which can lead to local reductions of heat, either through the shade created by the plants and/or the reduction of the excessive presence of bare soil. In particular, this same plant diversification can also increase the amount and quality of foods available to pollinators during these heat events: more diverse plants mean more different types of possible nectar sources available to pollinators, which in turn would increase their chances of survival and boost their health.
If possible, one can also water plants in our green spaces. By doing this, the water stress will be reduced and at least part of the symptoms displayed by plants will also be mitigated. If one were to do this, it is important to water with a slow flow and for a longer period of time, so the water can properly enter the soil. Along with this, using mulch or letting the fallen leaves cover the ground will also help retain some of the soil humidity, all while also providing shelter to insects.
And besides diversifying and supporting our green spaces, it is thoroughly accepted that the current extreme heat and drought events we are seeing are a consequence of climate change. Starting to reduce our and our communities’ emissions is another way to help plants and pollinators, pollination, and at the end of the day, the production of many of the foods we depend on. You can check out this awesome website by Dr. Sara Via and learn about what we can all do, and even sign up for super informative seminars that help you become familiar with and start acting on some of these topics.
By Anahí Espíndola, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park. See more posts by Anahí.
Anahí also writes an Extension Blog in Spanish! Check it out here, extensionesp.umd.edu, and please share and spread the word to your Spanish-speaking friends and colleagues in Maryland. ¡Bienvenidos a Extensión en Español!
We tend to think about protecting our insects when and where we see them. This is perhaps why we may have a higher propensity to think about protecting pollinators we can see flying around rather than organisms that live in the darkness of the soil or hidden in the leaf litter. In today’s post, I would like to bring some attention to other groups of insects we may tend to forget about but which we can also help protect: insects that are active at night.
Don’t insects sleep at night?
Although many insects are generally less active at night due to the lower temperatures and their inability to move when the temperatures drop below a certain threshold, many insects are adapted to being active at night. For example, if they are pollinators of nocturnal or dusk-flowering plants such as several moth species are, they will be active when darkness falls. Other insects are active at night as predators, or at certain times of the season looking for mates and egg-laying sites. For all these insects, the absence or reduced presence of light is important for allowing them to take on what they need to do to survive and/or reproduce. For this reason, the presence of artificial night lighting in our outdoor spaces, especially in the warmer periods of the season, can interfere with these insects, leading to potentially very negative effects.
How can outdoor night lighting affect nocturnal insects?
Insects can be perturbed in different ways through outdoor night lighting. One of them is its potential interference with their temporal rhythms. In fact, like most animals, insects use light-darkness and the presence of certain night sky cues (e.g., full moon) to regulate their developmental cycles and perceive the progression of the season. The presence of supplementary lights during the night hours can lead to altered developmental cycles, making them longer or mismatching those of organisms belonging to the same species. This can lead to the insects missing their optimal mating times, losing their ability to forage on specific plants, or properly preparing for the arrival of colder nights as the season progresses.
The use of often non-essential lighting, such as light strings and other nocturnal accent lights in our spaces, can negatively affect the development, survival, and reproduction of many nocturnal insects. Photo: P. Danilyuk (CC)
Another issue that artificial nocturnal light can produce relates to the spatial disorientation of nocturnal insects. This can occur when insects are attracted to nocturnal light sources instead of moving towards their optimal habitat. This can lead to increased predation in those areas (the insects become more exposed to being seen), as well as their spending valuable energy by spending time in an inhospitable region. Further, disorientation can happen in a more indirect way by the light’s interference with the patterns present in the canopy. In fact, many insects have been shown to use the contrast pattern of the canopy and the sky to navigate and identify optimal habitats. The presence of nocturnal artificial lights can lead to the disappearance or a stark modification of that contrasting pattern, interfering with their ability to find their way in the ecosystem and decreasing their ability to find a proper habitat for their survival.
Some insects like fireflies use bioluminescence for inter-species recognition and mating. Photo: T. Ota (CC)
In some cases, the presence of nocturnal artificial light can interfere with mating and intraspecific recognition behaviors. Many groups of insects, such as fireflies and glow worms, use light cues to attract and recognize each other. In regions such as ours, where fireflies represent such an important part of our ecosystem, the use of outdoor nocturnal artificial lighting can interfere with the finding of mates and can potentially lead to much reduced abilities to reproduce and sustain populations.
What can we do to reduce this type of nocturnal pollution?
The obvious answer to this question is that if we want to reduce this type of pollution, our best bet is to turn off non-essential outdoor night lights, in particular during times of the year when insects are active. Doing this may actually save us some money, but also will allow us to support a higher diversity in our area, all while potentially letting us appreciate even more the nocturnal activity that may be present in our region. For example, doing this may make it easier to support fireflies and participate in their conservation, but can also support the reproduction of plant species that depend on nocturnal pollinators.
If leaving lights on is unavoidable, one should consider the intensity that is being used. Can the light be dimmed to a lower intensity? Could it be filtered to display a color that is less disruptive to insects? The Xerces Society has put together a really neat guide on this (Firefly-Friendly Lighting Practices – PDF), and I strongly encourage you to consult it if interested.
Finally, another way we can contribute to reducing unnecessary night lighting is by engaging in our communities. Initiatives such as DarkSky can help with this, both promoting best practices at the community level and engaging in conservation through community certification programs that are conservation-effective. You can learn more about these nocturnal conservation programs here.
By Anahí Espíndola, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park. See more posts by Anahí.
Anahí also writes an Extension Blog in Spanish! Check it out here, extensionesp.umd.edu, and please share and spread the word to your Spanish-speaking friends and colleagues in Maryland. ¡Bienvenidos a Extensión en Español!
We may have all found ourselves in that situation in which we see an insect on a flower and we wonder whether it is a wasp or a bee, and we may have also seen people panic when they encounter a bee, thinking that it is indeed a wasp. Although the two groups are very distinct and there are several ways of telling them apart (check out this previous post to see how to do it), this difficulty is in part a signature of the shared evolutionary history that the two groups have. In today’s post, I want to tell you about the evolutionary origin of bees, how it is interwoven with that of wasps, and how evolutionary studies can help us understand and explain the diversity of our charismatic bees.
Evolutionary histories and the big family we are all part of
Before jumping into the main topic of this blog, please bear with me so I can give you a bit of context for what I’ll tell you, and so you can fully appreciate the power of the discoveries I will tell you about in just a second. One of the foundations of today’s biology and the way we understand life is that living organisms share a common ancestry and that evolutionary processes such as natural selection, mutations, dispersal, and random processes have led to the establishment of new lineages that can evolve into new species and new groups of organisms. What this means is that all the living organisms we know can be placed in a sort of genealogical tree, where more closely related species and groups appear placed on branches of the trees that are also closer to each other (we call these trees “phylogenies” or “phylogenetic trees”). Also, this means that if we were to take these trees, and we were to follow the evolutionary process “backward” (from the tips to the internal branches; that is, from the present into the past), we would be able to identify branching points, which represent the now extinct ancestors of species we know today.
A phylogeny can be compared to a genealogical tree we may want to build for our family. In this tree, the most closely related members of our family share recent ancestors (marked with diamonds), but are still connected with more distantly related members of the family with longer branches and other more ancient shared ancestors. In the same way, a phylogeny represents the relationships between species or groups of species, with branches connected by their shared ancestors. Image: University of Iowa
Although this may sound like a biological nerd moment of mine, I hope that you will appreciate the enormity of this principle. This simple concept indicates that each of us and all species that exist on the planet have shared ancestors at some point in our history. We are all related to each other, like a huge family… and as for all families, the study of our history can teach us fun and interesting things about who we are, helping us understand and explain things we observe today. Let me tell you what the study of these phylogenies has taught us about wasps and bees (and their shared history) and why this excuses us in part from not always being able to tell them apart 😉.
Bees and wasps, and the vegetarian wasp
As you may know, bees and wasps are both insects that belong to the order Hymenoptera. Despite the fact that people knew they were related but distinct from each other, it was not until relatively recently that people understood what that relationship was. In fact, because they share a lot of common traits, scientists were for a long time confused about what the most closely related group of Hymenoptera was for bees, wasps, and ants. Some years ago, with the development of new methods that allow for more detailed studies of phylogenies, researchers found strong evidence that ants are a group of organisms that is related but distinct from another group formed by bees and by a particular group of solitary and usually ground-nesting wasps called crabronids. Besides the taxonomic and purely conceptual importance of this discovery, what this meant biologically was on the one hand, that bees are evolutionarily extremely closely related to wasps, to the point that we could consider them “non-carnivorous wasps”. On the other hand, this discovery showed that all bees we know today would have evolved from a wasp-like ancestor that was solitary and ground-nesting, like the crabronids we know today.
In 2017, Branstetter and collaborators used phylogenies to demonstrate that all bees and a group of wasps (crabronids) shared a common ancestry, indicating that bees can be considered a type of “vegetarian” wasp. In the figure, the position of the common ancestors is shown with arrows and stars. The main groups are labeled on the left. Image: modified from Branstetter et al., 2017
If you’re like me and find this fun, keep reading because it gets even more fun! 😊 So, after this discovery, the people who work on these topics wanted to know more. For example, can phylogenies tell us more about how the transition from a meat-based diet (wasps are carnivores) to a pollen-based one (bees feed mostly on pollen and nectar) could have happened? To investigate this, researchers ran a similar analysis, but this time considering a lot more species of both bees and crabronids. Constructing phylogenies using genetic information, they figured that when the evolutionary relationships of these groups were studied, it appeared that bees were the most closely related to a particular group of crabronids that is known to predate on thrips (a family called Ammoplanidae).
Bees have been shown to be very closely related to a group of tiny wasps in the family Ammoplanidae which are known to hunt on thrips. Photo: CBG Photography Group (CC).
Besides confirming the discoveries of the previous study, this one provided a logical and interesting biological and ecological context for the transition from carnivory to pollinivory in bees. Thrips are a group of insects known to feed on plant materials, often found on flowers, where they feed on pollen. This new study proposed that a possible evolutionary opportunity may have appeared when a lineage of thrip-predating wasps evolved the ability to not only digest thrips meat but also the pollen they contained in their guts (!!). This transition could have set the evolutionary foundations to eventually transition to a diet fully based on pollen, which opened opportunities to the newly emerging lineage to feed on a new dietary resource not already in use by other wasps. If this is true, this transition would have provided an important evolutionary advantage (e.g., reduced competition for food), which would have led to the huge diversification of bees, leading to the extreme diversity we see today.
By Anahí Espíndola, Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park. See more posts by Anahí.
Anahí also writes an Extension Blog in Spanish! Check it out here, extensionesp.umd.edu, and please share and spread the word to your Spanish-speaking friends and colleagues in Maryland. ¡Bienvenidos a Extensión en Español!
With warmer temperatures and spring blossoms we are likely ready to get back into our gardens. Before we get our hands dirty, let’s learn how to support the beneficial insects in our landscapes that are and will be emerging from their overwintering sites. In today’s post we will review some information and tips on how we can support, and not disrupt, the life cycles of beneficial insects like our native bees, when we do any spring garden cleanup or prep.
Plant stems, leaves, and other debris can be home to many beneficial insects during the winter months that are waiting on warmer days before they emerge this spring. Wait as long as you can before removing any plant materials. Photo: M.E. Potter, University of Maryland Extension
Overwintering beneficial insects
Some insects migrate (e.g. Monarch butterfly) to avoid the cold temperatures, but there are many insect species that overwinter (spend the winter months in one of their life stages- egg, larva, nymph, pupae, or adult) in Maryland. Insects like luna moths (Actias luna) who overwinter in the pupal stage in cocoons within leaf litter (see photo below), the great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele) who overwinters as caterpillar larvae in leaf litter, bumble bee (Bombus spp.) queens who can overwinter as adults underground, small carpenters bees like Ceratina strenuawho overwinter as adults in plant stems, and praying mantids like the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) who overwinter in the egg stage as ootheca (an egg case) laid on woody plant stems and other structures. All these examples are of beneficial insects, who provide services like pollination and pest control during their active life stages. This goes to show, even in the cold and quiet winter months, your garden can be full of life!
Luna moths overwinter as pupae in cocoons made of fallen leaves and silk. In late spring the insect will emerge as an adult moth. Photo: M.J. Raupp, UMD
When is too early for spring cleaning?
Generally, the longer you can wait the better! Insects do not all emerge at the same time. There are some native bee species that emerge from their overwintering sites as early as March (e.g. some Colletes spp.) and some that typically do not emerge until late May (e.g. Blue-green sweat bees). Due to the changing climate and the diversity of insect life cycles, we unfortunately cannot point to a specific date on the calendar to know all the overwintering insects have emerged from our green spaces. We can look for different cues in our environment to hint at insect emergence.
Before last frost and consecutive warm days
Once we are out of risk of evening frosts and daytime temperatures are consistently above 50°F for several days in a row, many insects will begin to emerge. Otherwise leaf litter and other plant debris are vital for overwintering insects to survive the cooler temperatures. With climate change, and the chances for more drastic temperature changes, fallen plant material becomes even more important for protecting overwintering insect populations. Think of a fallen leaf as a blanket for our beneficial insects!
Looking for spring blooming trees like cherry, peach, or eastern redbuds can clue us in on this year’s seasonal changes and timing when it comes to insect emergence. Once fruit trees have finished blooming, many of our overwintering bees and beneficial insects have likely emerged. Photo: Nancy Lee Adamson, Wild Bee Plantings
Before fruit trees bloom
Many of our fruit trees (along with natives like Eastern redbud and red maple) bloom in early spring, providing nectar and pollen for our early riser pollinators; check out the figure below on native bee and orchard bloom phenology. If you wait for any garden cleanup until these trees have finished blooming (around mid-May), many of our insects will have likely emerged by then. Since phenology (seasonal changes in a plant’s life cycle, such as the timing of bloom) can shift with changing climate conditions, always keep an eye on the trees and blooms around you. A great excuse to get outside and get to know your local plant life.
A generalized look at native bee emergence and fruit tree bloom period for the eastern U.S.; this timing can vary based on your latitude and microclimate. Observe the fruit trees around you and utilize the end of their bloom period as a sign many of our native bees have emerged. Chart: From Wild Pollinators of Eastern Apple Orchards and How to Conserve Them, used with permission from The Xerces Society
Before consistent lawn/turf growth
Noticing consistent lawn/turf growth in your area? Cool-season grasses begin their spring growth once soil temperatures are between 50° and 65°F. A general guideline is once lawns need to be mowed it is a good sign it has been warm enough for many of our overwintering insects to emerge. If you have lots of lawn in your space, consider reducing and replacing the lawn with beneficial insect friendly native plants! If you are wondering what you could plant instead, check out Lawn Alternatives. And if you have heard of No-Mow May, check out the Pros and Cons of the No-Mow May Movement and the Controversy Surrounding No Mow May, by Dr. Gail Langellotto.
Sometimes less is more
Less garden cleanup can have a positive impact on beneficial insect populations! Rethink removing plant debris in certain areas of your landscape. Unless the plant debris comes from a diseased or pest infested plant, leaves, stems, sticks and more can be left, relocated, or reused as wildlife habitat. Your plant debris is some animal’s home! Preliminary data from a study conducted by Max Ferlauto, PhD student in the Burghardt lab, at the University of Maryland, Department of Entomology, shows the number of emerging moths and butterflies are reduced by approximately 67 percent in areas where leaves are removed. If you are removing any plant material, consider relocating the materials to an unmanaged, “habitat area”, or to a compost pile after late spring.
Help fight climate change’s impact on beneficial insects by providing shelter to help insects withstand adverse conditions. Consider leaving and/or adding one or more of the following sources of habitat in your green space this spring!
Leaves
Flower stalks/plant stems
Fallen/removed twigs
Wooden logs
Rocks/rock piles
From “messy” to sustainable
If you are worried about your space looking messy from less spring cleaning, there are ways to get creative to transform your and the public’s view of your conservation areas. An opportunity to personalize your green space with unique and practical “signs of care” (also known as “cues to care”).
Signage
A sign in your green space can not only enhance the look but also help educate others. Why are you leaving the leaves? Let others know by adding a sign about how leaves support native wildlife. Look to local artists and organizations to find a sign that works for your space and could convey a science-based message. You can earn a sign from our Bay-Wise Master Gardener program once your landscape is Bay-Wise certified. To learn more, check out our Bay-Wise program page.
Fencing or edging
Even a short fence or edging can make a space look purposeful and cared for. Edging can be made out of repurposed materials (pebbles, stones, sticks, even glass bottles) or can be purchased from most gardening centers or hardware stores. Think of it as putting a frame around the artwork and beauty that is your garden. For ideas check out, Edging Makes Landscape Beds Pretty, Easy to Keep or Landscape Edging Materials.
Fencing or edging around your garden beds or green spaces can help make areas look more cared for and attractive. Ensure any nearby pathways are clear, creating accessible green spaces for all. Photo: M.E. Potter, University of Maryland Extension
Tidy, accessible paths
Ensure any pathways, especially areas around public sidewalks, are clear so all can access and enjoy the space and surrounding area. Cut back overgrown plants that may be blocking or obstructing pathways. If you are working in a community garden, consider the accessibility of your landscape so we may create more inclusive green spaces for all. To learn more about accessible green spaces, check out these pages, Create an Accessible Garden for Those of all Physical Abilities and Gardens Are For Everyone: Ideas for Accessible Gardening.
