For a list of pollinator-friendly plants, from the Penn State Master Gardeners, with some plants that will work in the Mid-Atlantic states, go to:


 http://extension.psu.edu/plants/master-gardener/counties/lancaster/pollinator-friendly-garden-certification/2013-pollinator-trial-results/at_download/file

Best Plants for Pollinators

Photos by S.R. Vrana, used by permission only.

The Penn State Extension Service has published a list of the best plants for pollinators.  Because many pollinators are in decline (and they are very necessary for human life!), it would be helpful for all of us to plant more of these species.  For the list, go to:
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/master-gardener/counties/lancaster/pollinator-friendly-garden-certification/2013-pollinator-trial-results/at_download/file

Also, contact your local Extension Agent for more information!

National Pollinator's Week 2011

[photo of bee on salvia by SRV]

Thanks to Betsy Franz for the reminder that this is National Pollinator's Week: see: http://www.pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2011.htm

What have you planted for your pollinators lately?

Happy gardening!

Colony Collapse Solved?

The cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (what's been killing the bees) may have been determined: a virus and a fungus working together to damage the bee's ability to digest food. As you know, bees are essential to gardening and our very lives- we would not have many fruits, vegetables or grains, nor would we have many plant seeds, without them! The New York Times has a great article on this at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

See my entry on pollinators for what you can do to help the bees!
Happy gardening!

4th Annual National Pollinators Week: Part 2

[Photo Credit: SRV]
Save the Pollinators!
I hope you have been a busy bee and engaged in National Pollinators' Week activities! What, you haven't? It's not too late. Pollinators, and other wild creatures, need just a few things to thrive, so here goes:
1. Plant something that flowers. A yard of regularly mown grass is as useless as a desert to a bee. Most flowers will do, though some are better, like native plants. Plants that I see abuzz with activity for bees, birds and butterflies include salvias, asclepias, buddelias, African blue basil and many fruiting plants and shrubs. Even a few well cared for pots of flowers will help!
2. Walk on the wild side- is there any area of your yard or garden that you can allow to grow a little wild? We have a small copse of trees and brush that is a habitat for many critters.
3. Provide a shallow basin of water (changed regularly) with a rock in it that stands above the water line and butterflies will thank you! They cannot go into water to drink, but can land on the rock and drink. They like natural seeps as well, where they get minerals along with their water.
Protecting pollinators is important- as I wrote last time, no pollinators, no food.
Happy gardening and pollinator protection!

Native pollinators

Mason Orchard bees

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this last year were these two bee nesting boxes-top photo (thank you Jeannie!). We all have heard of the decline in honeybees, but did you know that honeybees were not native to America and that we have a variety of native bees? Some of our native bees are non-social (or “solitary”), that is, they do not live in large communities or hives. The two nesting boxes (or blocks) are great for these non-social, cavity nesting bees. And these bees are good pollinators for your garden.

A few years ago my brother Ed built me a mason orchard bee (Osmia lignaria) nesting block out of non-treated, but rot-resistant, lumber (the second photo). I actually purchased two tubes of mason orchard bees for them. These bees are excellent pollinators for those early flowering fruit trees, like apples, peaches and pears. It might just be coincidence, but the year I got them I had a bumper crop of peaches and apples. Mason orchard bees like to have tubes of a specific diameter (1/4 to 3/8 inches in diameter). They do their early pollination, then lay eggs in the individual tubes or holes, cover with a plug of mud and are done for the year, often filling multiple tubes. These blue-black bees live for about a month and are generally gentle, rarely stinging. They do have a tendency to move on, but your bee block can be inhabited by new bees year to year. Unlike honeybees, they need no special care.

Happy gardening!