It’s the time of year when produce sections at grocery stores and farmers markets teem with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Farmers get credit for growing these crops, but they are the first to acknowledge this richness of resources would not be possible without help from a small source: the many different insects that pollinate the crops.
The National Wildlife Federation and other organizations are trying to get the word out about these essential creatures, declaring June as National Pollinators Month.
Among those organizations is the University of Illinois Extension, a network of faculty and staff experts that links communities with the university for programs focused on public health and well-being. With a mission that includes environmental stewardship and food safety and security, the topic of pollinators is an important one for the Extension staff.
“If we didn’t have pollinators, we wouldn’t have anywhere near the plant diversity that we have right now,” said Gemini Bhalsod, an Extension horticulture educator. “Over 150 crops need pollinators to reproduce. Without pollinators we wouldn’t have many of the foods we enjoy today, such as apples, pears and pumpkins, that we find at the grocery store.”
Although some pollination can occur through wind and rain, and some plants self-pollinate, the primary pollinators are animal agents, mostly bugs. As they drink the sweet nectar and eat the protein-rich pollen from plants, the powdery pollen sticks to their bodies and is transferred to the next plant they visit.
Bhalsod said the major insect pollinators are bees, including the European honeybee introduced here in the 1600s, as well as over 4,000 species of native bees. Insects including butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles, flies and ants are also pollinators. Hummingbirds and bats help too.
But some populations of pollinators are in trouble, because of habitat loss, pesticides and diseases. One of the goals of National Pollinators Month is to encourage people to establish gardens to provide food and habitat to reverse the decline of pollinators, bees in particular. Manicured turf lawns provide little to no value to pollinators.
“For a pollinator garden, you want to plant plants that bloom all the way from early spring to late fall,” Bhalsod said. “The annual flowers, vegetables and herbs we plant are incredible for pollinators in summer. Native plants are great almost all year round, from blooming shrubs in the spring to goldenrod in the fall.”
Some people think gardens with natural wildflowers, long considered weeds, look unkempt, but Bhalsod said that with a little bit of design work, a natural garden can be as attractive as a more traditional garden, or be incorporated into a more formal garden. She suggested starting with sketching a design on paper for a well-thought-out garden.
Other tips include grouping native plants in clumps rather than as single flowers, to make it more colorful and attract more pollinators. Edging, or creating a border around the garden to stop it from overspreading keeps the garden “neighbor-friendly,” according to Bhalsod, “because you want to encourage more people to plant these native gardens.”
Native plants and native pollinators evolved together, and certain species have specific dietary needs supplied by native plants. For example, monarch butterfly caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed, and eastern black swallowtails feed on plants in the carrot family like Queen Anne’s lace, parsley, and dill.
A source of water, such as a shallow dish with stones for perches, can be included, and should be cleaned regularly to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Pollinators also will drink water off leaves and flowers and from puddles.
Pollinator gardens aren’t just about planting, Bhalsod said. It’s about creating a habitat where they can breed as well. Leave some old plant material over winter for pollinators to use for winter habitats, she said. Leaf clutter and tall stems like coneflowers and sunflowers are advantageous. Birds will take off the heads of the flowers for the seeds, allowing the stems to be used by solitary bees to lay their eggs in the tubes for hatching the following spring and early summer.
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Though attracting bugs such as bees to one’s yard could make some people leery, Bhalsod said native bee species live solitary lifestyles and do not even have stingers. Social bees, like honeybees and bumblebees that do have stingers use them to protect their nests.
Nevertheless, Bhalsod said pollinator gardens should be planted away from areas of heavy foot traffic and where children play for the safety of both the pollinators as well as the visitors.
Last but not least, one of the most important covenants of a pollinator garden is to avoid the use of pesticides and other chemicals.
“Practicing good general maintenance and integrated pest management is the way to go. Chemicals are always the last resort in an environmentally friendly garden,” said Bhalsod. Integrated pest management uses techniques like habitat manipulation and pest-resistant plants for prevention.
There are numerous programs and resources available for Illinois gardeners through the Extension. Garden plans, information on bees, and even a yard certification process are covered on the website extension.illinois.edu. Staff experts and master gardeners are available to answer questions.
A “Million Pollinator Garden Challenge” was started by the National Pollinator Garden Network in 2015, and within three years, more than a million gardens in the U.S. had registered, creating about 5 million acres of habitat. Chicago was one of the metro areas with the highest number of registered gardens.
Now the challenge is for each and every gardener to add one pollinator friendly native plant per season per year. Violets or dogwood in spring, raspberries or purple coneflower in summer, goldenrod or asters in fall — the options are numerous and varied to fit in any garden. Taking a little time to do that this year will help assure bountiful harvests in years to come.
Carol Flynn is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.