If you haven’t heard, bees are experiencing significant population decline and their presence is critical to a healthy ecosystem. In addition, other pollinators, like hummingbirds, butterflies, birds, and other beneficial insects may not be in quite the same dire situation, but they do face significant challenges with habitat loss and chemical usage. These pollinators are crucial to plant health and biodiversity in our neighborhoods. They directly affect our ability to cultivate edible vegetation and beautiful flowers and plants. Pollinators are a key element in the abilities of plants to reproduce. Without reproduction, the diminished plant variation and vitality will limit food choices of us and other animals in our shared ecosystem.
Now that I have familiarized you with the benefits of pollinators in our community, let’s encourage pollinators to come to your yard and frolic through your garden to witness their beauty and handiwork. You may be able to entice them to stay, collect some pollen, and spread it into the rest of the neighborhood. How do we go about doing that and helping them out? There are multiple ways you can get involved and lure pollinators into your yard. Read along for ideas to consider and implement.
Let Your Grass Grow
Let your lawn grow a bit. You may have read my article to discourage scalping, and this is one of the reasons why. I am not talking about leaving your yard like a jungle. I am saying to adjust your mower deck to the highest setting and let nature take over.
Taller grass and other turf management practices encourage bees to come and check out some of the flowering species in your yard, like clover. Taller grass allows the ground to retain better moisture and keep your grass healthier. Besides all of that, mowing less gives you more time to do something else.
Go Native
Planting native flowers can be as easy as picking up a pack of seeds at the store. You can plant zinnias, asters, cosmos, or many other types of flowers by spreading seed around in your garden. For years, I have planted zinnias by sowing the seeds directly onto the soil in late spring. When fall comes around, I trim off a bunch of blooms and throw them in a pot for the winter. Next spring, I break up the pods and spread the dry seeds to start a whole new crop of gorgeous flowers for bees and butterflies.
If you want to go a bit further, try a perennial or flowering shrub for your yard. In Ohio, Coneflowers and Rudbeckia (black-eyed susans) grow incredibly well in your yard. Rose of Sharon bushes and Daylilies are very hummingbird friendly and easy growers. Butterfly bushes got their name for a reason and they make a fun back yard specimen. Check out this article for some great ideas on new vegetation for your gardens.
To aid the Monarch Butterfly population specifically, encourage Milkweed to grow in your yard. Monarchs will pollinate many different types of flowers, but they only lay their eggs on Milkweed. The caterpillar babies’ nourishment can only be satisfied with food from this plant. They are beautiful to the eye and Milkweed is also beneficial to other pollinators in your garden. If you have room in your garden and you are an adept gardener, I encourage you to find room for this most interesting wildflower.
Give Pollinators a Place to Settle Down
If you want pollinators around, it will help to give them shelter in addition to filling their bellies. You can do this naturally by leaving leaves through the winter in your garden and not clearing them out until later in the spring. Also, rock piles and sticks and logs in your garden are wonderful hosts spots, particularly for bees.
If you want to build or buy something to aid the process, bee houses are designed for Mason B
Take it Easy on the Gas
Pesticides not only kill the bugs you don’t want, but they may kill the creatures you do want. Nature was designed to be self-policing. When humans interfere, it rarely works perfectly and pesticides are a good example. No matter what it says on the label. a product that kills certain species will not be good for the health of the butterflies, bees, bats, birds, and moths. Encourage some bats to your yard. They eat tons of mosquitoes.
The same advice goes for herbicides. I know weeds can be unsightly, but throwing poison on your yard harms the pollinators and it will also kill their habitat. neither of which is good for your yard’s environment. Either spot spray, pull them by hand, or let them go. If you take care of the rest of your yard, your neighbors will not even notice some stray weeds.
Help Wanted!
Pollinators are critical to the health of your yard and your community. Without them, plants will not be able to reproduce and provide flowers and food that we really need. Vegetation is also critical to drainage, water conservation, and air quality. The pollinators are a piece of the cycle that we cannot live without.
In addition, having bees, hummingbirds, and other beneficial animals in our neighborhood makes life more enjoyable. Have you ever watched a bee work for pollen on a flower or delight over a hummingbird working a million miles per hour pulling nectar? For me, these are joys of life. I take the opportunity to walk around my yard and marvel over their work. Help me keep these animals engaged in their beneficial work.
In fact, the engagements benefit all players involved. According to recent research from Scientific Reports, people’s feeling of good health or high well-being became significantly greater when they experienced direct contact with nature for at least 2 hours per week. It’s the ultimate win-win. The pollinators, the plants, and the human beings all experience enhanced lives and improved outcomes. Let’s get to work!
It’s not really work if you are enjoying what you do. When I watch them work, I think that applies to hummingbirds, too.