Planting with pollinators in mind

All across the country, it seems, gardeners are taking up the cause of pollinators.

Maybe it was the plight of the honeybee (colony collapse) or the dwindling numbers of monarch butterflies (loss of habitat) that raised people's awareness. Beyond being informed, though, people are acting.

You needn't be a master gardener or have acres of land to contribute to the cause.

"In every landscape, from window box to sprawling garden, we have the opportunity to provide habitat for pollinators — and the rewards are just as great for us as they are for the bees and the butterflies," says Laurie Davies Adams, executive director of Pollinator Partnership, a San Francisco nonprofit that works to protect and promote pollinators and their ecosystems.

Before enjoying the rewards, a little education is in order.

Who are the pollinators? Bees and butterflies, for starters. But the roster is deep.

"A pollinator is any animal that helps a plant reproduce by moving its pollen from one plant to another," says Matthew Shepherd, spokesman for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Portland, Ore. "Bees are the most important group of pollinators in North America, but it also extends to flies that pollinate, moths, butterflies. Broaden it beyond insects and you'll find some species of bats that pollinate. There's one dove that helps pollinate cacti down in the Southwest. Some are as unexpected as slugs. It's a huge number of animals."

Shepherd says that whenever you see a plant with a bloom, chances are it needs a pollinator.

Do they need help? Much of the media coverage has been focused on honeybees, Shepherd says. They're important to agriculture and are facing all sorts of problems, "but there are approximately 4,000 species [of bees] in North America." Some of them are in trouble, too. "The rusty patched bumblebee used to [range] from Wisconsin to the Atlantic, and now it has disappeared in 85, 90 percent of its range. So we know these things are occurring. With other species it's hard to say with precision because not enough scientists are watching. From what we know of species that have been tracked, we know there's reason to be concerned about the loss of habitat."

The Xerces Society has a four-point campaign called Bring Back the Pollinators:

• Gardeners need to provide the plants the animals will be able to feed on.

• Some plants will need to provide a home for egg laying. With caterpillars, those are called host plants, and gardeners must accept that they'll be eaten by caterpillars so they can become moths or butterflies. "If you want beautiful adults you have to have the babies, too," Shepherd said. "Some gardeners are not too keen on that because the plants will just be chewed."

• Avoid pesticides.

• Show, don't tell. "If I were to stand around and talk, people won't listen," Shepherd said. "But if your neighbor walks by and says, 'Hey, great plants,' that's a powerful voice."

Site selection: Choose a sunny location for your pollinator-friendly garden, one with water access; start with a manageable size that you can handle, even if it's only as small as a window box. Also look for a site that is protected from strong winds.

Seeds or plants? Seeds take longer to provide habitat, but they can cover more ground and cost less. But at this point of the growing season, time is of the essence. "We don't want to discourage people from using seeds," said Mary K. Byrne, a plant ecologist for the Pollinator Partnership. "But I'm in Cleveland, and from Mother's Day to early June we're doing plants." So be sure whatever you plant has enough time to bloom.

Plant selection: Go with native plants whenever possible (Pollinator Partnership offers free regional planting guides on its website: www.pollinator.org).

The time frame: Pollinators arrive in the spring and stick around into fall, so you need plants that will provide a steady stream of nourishment. Byrne says the group usually suggests having three different species blooming during the three seasons (spring, summer, fall) to assure nourishment throughout the pollinators' foraging season.

Shapes and numbers: Pollinators have their preferences. "The round daisy-aster landing pad, some bees prefer those," Byrne said. "Butterflies have trouble accessing the foxglove, for example." So choose flowers with different shapes. And keep similar species together. Shepherd says that Gordon Frankie at the University of California at Berkeley has been doing some interesting research on bees and plants in urban and suburban gardens. "He was able to demonstrate that if you plant [flowers] in clumps they not only attract more but a bigger diversity of bees. If you create blocks of those plants, about 4 feet across, that massive flower will support more insects." Bees can forage more effectively. They have to travel less and expend less energy.

Mulch not: It's important to provide ground nesting sites with bare ground or debris, and wood nesting sites with wood blocks. "Don't cover your whole garden with thick layers of mulch," Byrne said. "Leave a little bare ground for ground bees to burrow into. Other debris might be an old log or pithy stems … instead of cutting them all back leave a few. Bees nest in them. If you like the look of a tidy garden, we're not suggesting never mulch again or have debris everywhere. One log or one stem will make a huge difference."

Water: Pollinators need a water source. Maybe a bowl on the ground or a birdbath, but be sure it's shallow, or cover the bowl with pebbles. Change the water frequently to avoid mosquito infestation. Daily watering might work, but it depends on how hot it is.

Expanding the definition of beauty: Shepherd, who has been creating gardens for decades, says that people choose plants to create a beautiful place. "But you can also make it a vibrant living landscape with pollinators," he said. "The plants you choose, the insects that live on them form the foundation for all the wildlife that comes into your yard."