Environment
Help to Save the Pollinators
One small step at a time and it starts with you
The garden and the countryside were my classrooms, and my mother was my teacher.
Growing up in Portugal gave me a strong love for lands and its many elements with a desire to grow things.
We spent many hours in the garden, where my mother went to great pains to show me the various plants and insects and explained their functions and relationships.
She showed me how each creature and every plant had its place in the food chain and how important they all were to maintaining a healthy ecosystem, especially the pollinators.
Pollinators are Rapidly Declining
In 2020, we are facing many disturbing and life-changing issues, but one that gets little notice from the politicians is the decline of the pollinators, vital as it is to our very survival. (Not to get all technical on you, but plainly put, if the pollinators disappear, our food supplies will be greatly under threat.)
Pollinators including birds, butterflies, and bees — even bats, snakes, toads, and frogs — are facing threats from every possible direction. Chemicals, climate change, invasive species, illnesses peculiar to the different pollinators, and loss of habitat are often cited as being huge factors in their decline.
Consequences of pollinator decline
Pollination of crops by honey bees, Apis mellifera, is worth US$117 billion per year globally (Costanza et al. 1997) and $8 billion per year in the U.S. (Isaacs et al. 2009).
Pollination is among the most visible and important ecosystem services and is necessary for the reproduction of 60–70% of all plant species and 35% of global crop production (A. Klein et al. 2007, Kremen et al. 2007, Losey and Vaughan 2006).
Not to get all technical on you, but simply put, if the pollinators disappear, our food supplies will be under threat for sure.
Birds, butterflies and bees — even bats, snakes, toads and frogs — are facing threats from every possible direction. Chemicals, climate change, invasive species, illnesses peculiar to the different pollinators, and loss of habitat are often cited as being huge factors in their decline.
Action needs to be taken.
So what can we, as individuals, do to help the pollinators?
- If we have a garden, even a very small one, we can plant things that they like to visit, eat, or can use for nesting materials, or use as a secure place to nest. (Check out the Cardinal in the image below.) There are many examples, and I will provide a list at the end of this piece.
2) We can provide water for them. Our local wild bird store advised us that water is the most important thing to supply the birds especially during the winter months.
Bird baths are great, especially a with a small fountain in the centre. The sound of the water attracts them and the fountain is great for the Hummingbirds who prefer to drink from a fountain. But birbaths do not help in the winter months unless they are heated. Ideally then a heated birdbath. (Ours is busy all year, and is especially fun to see in the Winter.)
If you have a bit of space, you might consider building a small pool. When we had a small pool, we noticed that it attracted toads, and a rock placed in the centre provided a perch for visiting birds. We installed a tiny pump and fountain in order to keep the water moving to deter mosquitos from using it as a breeding ground.
3) we can use natural ways to control pests and disease in the garden. Using chemicals in the garden is harmful to everybody. Of course. one does not want to spend hours tending the garden, only to have the plants ruined by pests and disease, so, what to do?
a — use non-chemical controls (e.g. Quassia bark against a series of insect pests, Baking Soda and dish detergent against Powdery Mildew, pheramone traps against the Bronze Beetle)
b — encourage insect pest eating predators (Birds, Toads, grass snakes) by providing them with a suitable habitat in your garden
c — avoid growing plants that are prone to disease and insect damage. (Grow hardy plants that thrive in your particular climatic zone. We are in Zone 5–6. I avoid growing plants that will not do well in our zone.
Even if all we have is a balcony, we can still help. We can provide water for visiting or passing through birds, We can provide some potted plants that will provide shade, a resting place and seeds, as well of course, as provding something pleasant for us to have. We could provide a Hummingbird feeder which will help a migrating Hummer on his or her way through our area.
We could even provide a Hummingbird feeder that could help an Oriole or a migrating Hummer on his or her way through our area. (I have never been quick enough to get an image of a Hummingbird.)
Some Pollinator Friendly Plants
Here are a few of the plants that are hardy in our climatic zone — 5–6a that provide food for birds, bees, and butterflies, nesting materials for birds, nesting spots for birds, convenient perching spots for birds. It also provides our garden with three seasons of color and interest. You can easily Google for suitable plants for your specific climatic zone.
Ornamental grasses of the Miscanthus family
Ornamental grasses are great since they provide seeds for the birds and also nesting material. The Miscanthus family is huge, with many different types, but I have found particular success with the Giant Miscanthus, and the Zebra Miscanthus.
Calendula Daisies
Colorful, sun-loving annuals which self-seed generously, loved by Bumblebees and Honeybees. Has many traditional herbal medicines uses, and the bright petals can be used as a substitute for Saffron in cooking.
Catmint (Nepeta cattus)
A generously flowering perennial that attracts Bees, butterflies, and American Goldfinch to it. It makes an easy-care border plant. Once it finish its first round of flowering, you simply cut it back and it will soon produce masses more flowers.
Echinacea or Purple Cone Flower
The flowers of the Echinacea appear to be irresistible to many butterflies, and the American Goldfinch and the Chickadees also love the seeds in the fall. (Which is why I leave the seedheads on the plants until the Spring.) Echinacea is also used in herbal medicine.
Lamium
A low growing perennial which flowers from early spring until late fall. It is quite shade tolerant and makes a great groundcover. As soon as it starts flowering in the spring, the bees are all over it as seen in the photo below.
Russian Sage ( Perovskia atriplicifolia )
Russian Sage is a mid-summer to late fall flowering perennial which tolerates full sun, almost any soil type and flowers from June until frost, whenever that happens. It is also a Bee magnet. I took some closeups of honey bees having a feast on this plant, which when I review them are pretty pathetic, but they do show bees in and on the Russian Sage. They are extremely fast and thus tricky to photograph. (Erika Burkhalter would have done a much better job. LOL)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Butterflies really enjoy this one in the summer, and birds love its seeds in the fall and winter. there is disagreement s to whether any of the Rudbeckia are perennial. As far as I understand, only the one know as Rudbeckia hirta is a true perennial, with most of the others simply being generous self-seeders and fast growers.
Regardless — this plant is easy to grow. Tolerant of most soils, thrives in partially shady areas or in full sun. It’s a great addition to the garden, providing mid to late summer colour.
Shasta Daisies
This is a cheery, sun-loving perennial that flowers from early summer until late summer. Much appreciated by butterflies and bees alike.
Buddleia — Butterfly Bush
This beautiful flowering shrub is late flowering and is beloved of many of the butterflies, but in particular of the Monarch as seen below. This flowering shrub is very lovely and the flowers have a very pleasant scent, but it can be temperamental. In our particular zone, it often doesn’t show any signs of life until very late spring, sometimes into summer. this tardiness may cause over zealous gardeners to think it is dead and dig it up. (True story — has happened to me!)
Sea Buckthorn — Hippophae Rhamnoides L.
Small, prickly tree originating in Eurasia. Grows in many different soils and is tolerant of both heat and cold, Provides food for berry eating birds, and Vit C, and protein for humans and animals.
The berries are beautiful, but really tricky to pick since they nestle on the branches and are surrounded by very nasty thorns. I have a fruiting tree (you need a male and a female to produce fruit) but buy the oil from a local supplier — the work involved in extracting the oil from the berries goes way beyond my energy levels.
Downy Serviceberry (Amelanchier Arborea)
A small tree or shrub that flowers in the spring and later provides delicious berries which the birds devour, or if you can beat them to it, edible by humans.
This shrub or small tree is categorized as an understory plant. It thrives in open shade. A useful plant for areas where full sun is not available, and adds a great colour note to the garden in the Fall.
Conclusionary Remarks
In this article, while outlining the sort of plants that will attract pollinators, I have also tried to show how much these plants will improve your garden, as they improved ours.
Please try to be mindful of our environment, and in particular, of the pollinators.
Final Thoughts
Quote from S M Mamunur Rahman
“ Be mindful of the environment you are living in and take action to maintain its balance. It takes a little effort from you but gives you a lot in return.”
“Let’s green our surroundings and attracts pollinators.
Let’s coexist together.”
Citations and sources
- The National academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine. National Research Council 2007. Status of Pollinators in North America. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. (https://doi.org/10.17226/11761
- https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/pollinators/documents/Session%202%20Adam%20Vanbergen.pdf
- Green Tumble ( https://greentumble.com/)
- Pollination, Seed Predation, and Seed Dispersal. Timothy D. Schowalter, in Insect Ecology (Third Edition), 2011
Authors note:
This article was previously in a Medium publication, but was removed due to the editors’ use of alternate images by random people. I can vouch for the photographs that I take. I know where they were taken (in my area, Zone 5–6) and they were inserted in the text to illustrate a point. I research my articles, and try always to provide meaningful images.I cannot accept random substitutions.
The only image used that was not mine was the one from the BioHeritage Foundation. It was used to show the Baltimore Oriole. This is one of the many birds whose numbers are declining,
