In this photo gallery, Penn State Extension Master Gardener Martha Moss has shared tips and pointers for constructing your very own pollinator-friendly garden, a project that can help pollinators in your neighborhood to thrive. To learn more about creating a pollinator-friendly garden, keeping your own bees and more, visit the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research's website at http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators.
Pollinator garden 1
Creating a pollinator-friendly garden is one of the most important things a person can do for the health of the environment. Penn State Extension Master Gardener Pam Ford, pictured here, is working at the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden in Tom Tudek Memorial Park in State College, Pa. This beautiful demonstration garden has sparked the creation, so far, of about 30 satellite gardens in the community. The master gardener committee working here helps groups and individuals become involved and start their own pollinator gardens.
Pollinator garden 2
The backbone of a good pollinator-friendly garden are native perennial flowering plants. Pictured here is New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracencis), a beautiful, tall, butterfly magnet, here shown providing nectar for a monarch butterfly. For a listing of native plants for a pollinator garden, visit http://ento.psu.edu/publications/pollin-app. At this Penn State website, all the steps a person needs to take in order to certify their garden as pollinator-friendly are clearly explained.
Pollinator garden 3
A successful pollinator-friendly garden also needs to have an ample supply of colorful and nectar-rich annual plants, such as this great pollinator magnet, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia). This plant is native to more southern climes, but when it comes to using annual plants, natives are not essential. What is important is to use old-fashioned varieties of annuals, such as single-flowering zinnias or cosmos, and not the newer varieties. Bees and butterflies need a flat landing pad!
Pollinator garden 4
Here are several old-fashioned varieties of annual flowers to use in your pollinator-friendly garden. Pictured here are Cosmos and Zinnias.
Pollinator garden 4
A pollinator-friendly garden needs to have host plants as well as nectar plants. Many insects can only lay their eggs on, and have their larvae (caterpillars) feed on, plants that they have co-evolved with over millions of years. These insects have become specialists. The plants need them and they need the plants, in order to survive. Above, an eastern black swallowtail caterpillar eating fennel at the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden.Fennel is not a native plant, however, any member of the Apiaceae family of plants can be a host plant for this beautiful butterfly. These include Golden Alexanders (or Zizia aurea, native), as well as carrots, dill, caraway, and many other culinary plants. Some members of this family of plants are highly poisonous, such as Poison Hemlock.
Pollinator garden 5
Make sure to include a wide selection of plants, so that you will have flowers for early spring, for high summer, and well into the fall. Pictured here is a pollinator garden's go-to plant to late summer and fall-blooming—New England Asters. These flowers provide the nectar Monarch butterflies need to fuel their long migration to Mexico. This picture was taken on Oct.23, and as you can see, the flowers are still looking fresh and beautiful and there are still some Monarch butterflies around.
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Pollinators include bees and butterflies, but also flies, beetles, ants, and any mammal or bird that comes along and sends pollen flying. Pictured here is a blue fly pollinating common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).
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Milkweed of all kinds is the only host plant for the Monarch butterfly. Without milkweed plants, the Monarch butterfly would quickly go extinct. This is why people should plant quantities of milkweed in their gardens. Any flowering plant in a pollinator-friendly garden needs to be planted in drifts or large groups. A single flower would not attract over-flying insects, but they would notice a clump, or colony, from afar. A good idea is to plant host plants in the middle of the garden, so that they can be munched on without becoming unsightly.
Bee on flower - close - 2
Other tips to get you started: 1) Avoid the use of pesticides near your pollinator garden. 2) Leave a spot of bare ground in your garden for ground-nesting bees and puddling butterflies. Avoid roto-tilling. 3) Water is needed -- place water in a saucer containing a few flat stones. Bees stand on stones to drink. Replace the water frequently to avoid creating a place for mosquitoes to breed. 4) Leave garden cleanup until spring. Many beneficial insects over-winter in plants, especially hollow stems. For much more, visit http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators.
