Gardening for pollinators

1. Gardening for pollinators Attracting bees, butterflies, and birds to your garden

2. Bees • Decline in health, populations • Colony collapse disorder, tracheal mites, foul brood, pesticide use, commercial beekeeping • Honeybees provide over $3 billion in pollination services annually in the US alone

3. Fear of bees is irrational if you aren’t allergic • Bees typically will not sting humans unless provoked • Bees die after single stinging incident • Swarming bees are most docile • They have no brood or honey to protect

4. Bees forage throughout the growing season • Early spring to late fall as weather and nectar availability permit • To attract bees, plant a variety of forage plants that flower at different times of the year • Ease the burden of long MN winter with early- and late-flowering plant species

5. EARLY-flowering plants • Overwintering garden plants, early weeds (ex: dandelions), crocus, hyacinth, borage, calendula, lilac, alfalfa, red clover, buckwheat, apples, cherries, chokeberries, Juneberries, pussy willow, currant, alder, bleeding heart, hawthorn, mountain ash

6. MIDSEASON-flowering plants • Bee balm, cosmos, echinacea, snapdragons, foxglove, hosta, globe thistle, lavender, Liatris, skullcap, mullein, verbena, Baptisia, buckeye, linden/basswood, raspberry, French marigold, fuschia, many annuals

7. LATE-flowering plants • Zinnias, sedum, asters, witch hazel, goldenrod, chrysanthemum, snapdragon, chelone (AKA obedient plant), Joe pye weed, perennial sunflower, helenium

8. Native bee food plants • From the University of MN:

9. Qualities to look for in bee forage plants: • Your bee garden should be at least 1 meter in diameter or bees may ignore it * Single-flowering varieties • Doubles are pretty but they produce less nectar • Open-pollinated (non-hybrids) • Bees also need pollen for protein and hybrids are usually sterile so they produce little or no pollen No!

10. Other bee-friendly actions: • Don’t use broad-spectrum or synthetic pesticides in your garden (or anywhere!) • Provide bare ground for ground-nesting bees • Let brambles or hedgerows grow wild and weedy • Make a wooden nest box for mason bees

11. How to provide habitat for Minnesota’s native bees: • Practice no-till gardening • Leave logs, snags, stumps, and clumps of grass for bees to nest in • Plant hedgerows with dogwood, pussy willow, sand cherry, brambles, or other flowering plants • Don’t spray chemicals in bee habitats

12. Gardening to attract native bees: • Use native plants • Choose several colors of flowers • blue, purple, violet, white, & yellow • Plant flowers in clumps • Include flowers of different shapes • Bees come in all sizes and have differing tongue lengths

13. Mason bees • Solitary • Only live in existing holes (don’t make new ones) • Very gentle, rarely sting

14. Mining bees • Solitary • Not aggressive, rarely sting • Habitat: exposed, well-drained soil

15. Gardening to attract butterflies • Butterflies are also pollinators (so are flies, beetles, male mosquitos…) • Group similar-colored flowers together • More attractive to butterflies • Avoid double flowers • Choose plants with varying bloom times • Annuals: constant blooming • Critical time: mid- to late summer • Choose plants that produce multiple florets with high nectar content

16. Butterfly gardening • For specific butterflies, research host plant of caterpillars • Monarch: milkweed • Swallowtail: fennel, dill • Bog fritillary: willow, violets, smartweed • Silvery checkerspot: black-eyed Susan, sunflower * Keep in mind that caterpillars may do some damage to your plants • Usually not serious or enough to kill the plant

17. Butterfly & caterpillar food • Butterflies usually feed on something other than what caterpillars feed on • Some butterflies lack mouthparts, never eat • Some butterflies eat rotting fruit, dung, mud, carrion, or nectar

18. For the butterflies that eat nectar: • General butterfly-attracting plants: • Lilac, coneflower, butterfly weed, milkweed, butterfly bush, asters, most plants in the mint family (sage, oregano, rosemary, lavender, lemon balm, basil, thyme…) • (extensive lists in handouts)

19. Other considerations • Provide wet sand or mud for butterflies • Males need these mineral salts to complete life cycle • Called “puddling”

20. Other considerations • Provide a hedgerow of butterfly-attracting plants • Butterfly wings are delicate, easily tattered • Hedgerow protects them from damaging winds

21. Other considerations • DON’T SPRAY PESTICIDES! • If you must use them, choose organic & target specific • Don’t use on or near butterfly garden/habitat (esp. Bt for caterpillar pests)

22. Speaking of caterpillar pests: • Watch out for these destructors in your landscape • Gypsy moth • Tent caterpillar • Cutworm • Army worm • Imported cabbage looper

23. Cheap & easy butterfly attractors • Sugar water in a tray or wicked jar • Tray of rotting fruit

24. Gardening for birds

25. Why create a bird garden? • Birds are losing habitat to human activities • A third of North America’s native birds are experiencing population decline • Birds help us • Pollinate some flowers • Eat pest insects • Add to natural beauty of our landscapes

26. Attracting birds • Plants that attract birds: • Aster, bachelor buttons, black-eyed Susan, chrysanthemum, columbine, marigold, sunflowers, cedar, cherry, crabapple, dogwood, hawthorn, plum, Juneberry, sumac, blackberry, boxwood, elderberry, grape, holly, honeysuckle, myrtle, raspberry, witch hazel, yew, viburnum….

27. Other things that attract birds • Bird feeders • Nesting sites • birdhouses • Brush piles & dead trees • Good habitat/shelter • Water features • Birdbaths, ponds

28. Birds can also be pests • Eat berries & other crops • Nest where you don’t want them • Poop • attack

29. solutions • Share your bounty & tolerate minor losses • Dedicate a less-used part of your yard to bird/wildlife habitat • Bird-proof the things you don’t want to share • Ex: bird netting for berries • Don’t jump to conclusions • Birds in garden may be eating pests

30. Learn more about native pollinators: • Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course • June 13, 2012 • 9am-4pm in Duluth • $45 • Register online at www.xerces.org • www.xerces.org is an EXCELLENT resource for more info on pollinators

31. Problem-solving with plants Wet soil, dry soil, shade, and deer issues

32. Problem #1:Wet soil/standing water • Solution: plant a rain garden • Shallow depression filled with flood-tolerant shrubs, flowers, and grasses that collect & filter storm runoff • Attracts birds & butterflies • Reduces mosquito habitat

33. Problem #1: wet soil/standing water • Plants to use (list provided in handout): • Obedient plant, prairie dropseed, daylily, Joe pye weed, boneset, willow, tamarack, river birch, caterpillar grass, cardinal flower, swamp milkweed, switchgrass, lupine, Veronica, Liatris… • Bigger plants take up more water

34. Rain Garden Placement • Easiest to create in low point in yard • Where water naturally flows already • Next to hard, impermeable surfaces or where more water flows • Alley, sidewalk, driveway, flow from gutters • Keep it @ least 10 ft from buildings • Avoid damage to foundation • Best to start with design before you start digging

35. Problem #2: sandy/dry soil • Very common in this area • Plant in depressions and mulch to preserve water • Set transplants slightly lower than soil surface • For small spaces, you can add organic material • Increase water-holding capacity of soil • Mix 50/50 with existing soil when transplanting • Might only be temporary

36. Problem #2: sandy/dry soil • Select drought-tolerant, native plants • Ex: Juneberry, chokeberry, bearberry, butterfly bush, smoketree, creeping juniper, spicebush, honeysuckle, bush cherry, sumac, currant, Rugosa rose, lilac, viburnum, Artemisia, Penstemon, Echinacea, sage, yarrow, tickseed, lamb’s ear

37. Problem #3: shade • Many tall trees in the area • Selective culling or pruning can help • Or choose shade-tolerant plants

38. Problem #3: shade • Shade-tolerant plants: • Honeysuckle, lady’s mantle, valerian, lenten rose, goldenseal, wild ginger, blue cohosh, black cohosh, hostas, ferns, trillium, bleeding heart, alder, beech, redbud, witch hazel, ironwood, hemlock

39. Problem #3: shade • Shade-tolerant edibles: • ostrich fern, serviceberry, wintergreen, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, cabbage, bokchoy, kohlrabi, chokecherry, highbush cranberry, chokeberry

40. Problem #4: deer • Exclusion is the best deterrent • Tall fence • 3D fence • Outward-angled fence

41. Problem #4: deer • Cheaper deterrents: • Dried blood around garden perimeter • Plantskydd • Repellex (for ornamentals only) • Capsaicin systemic—makes plants spicy! • Works on white cedar (a favorite food of deer)

42. Deer’s favorite foods • White cedar • Apples • Hostas • Clematis • Roses • Azalea • Hibiscus • Phlox • White pine • Mountain ash • Asiatic lilies • Burning bush • Endive • Lettuce • Bitter greens • Crabapple • Crocus • Pansy • Flowering almond • Hydrangea

43. Deer-resistant plants • Yarrow • Ageratum • Barberry • Lamb’s ear • Allium • Columbine • Wax begonia • Coneflower • Heliotrope • Sweet alyssum • Daffodil • Peony • Poppy • Geranium • Russian sage • Marigold • Bittersweet • Forsythia • Scots pine • lilac

44. Selecting deer resistant plants • IN GENERAL, they are: • Furry • Thorny (exception: roses) • Not green • Toxic

45. Proper planting techniques For trees, shrubs, and perennials

46. Trees & shrubs • Materials: • Shovel • Compost or manure • Mulch (optional) • Tree protector (optional)

47. Trees & shrubs • Method: • Dig a hole as deep as pot and twice as wide • Mix extant soil with compost 50/50 • Place plant in hole • Separate/spread pot-bound roots • Backfill with 50/50 mix • Mound soil around plant • Make a small “moat” around plant to hold water • Cover with mulch

48. Perennials & annuals • Materials: • Shovel • Compost/fertilizer (optional) • Mulch (optional)

49. Perennials & annuals • Methods: • Dig hole @ least as big as pot • Mix extant soil with compost or fertilizer (optional) • Place plant in hole • Separate/spread roots if rootbound • Mulch (optional)