There is a lot of chatter these days on gardening websites about providing for our pollinators. For many of us, that means we need to put flowers that the honeybees enjoy in our yards. The Green Team has chosen the topic of “pollinators” as our theme for 2024 in order to raise awareness of the many types of pollinatorsthat are active in our yards, and the need to provide more than just flowers if we hope to support their presence. Of course, we are all aware that farmers utilize the service of honeybees to pollinate certain crops, and we know some of the many ways the honey they produce can be used for human needs. There are many other pollinators that we don’t know much about and, therefore, may even try to eliminate due to unreasonable concerns about their presence. Native North American pollinators (not European honeybees) are responsible for the pollination of many of our native berry and fruit crops, and, consequently, help support the songbirds and small animals (turtles and frogs) that we so enjoy in our gardens. The native seed crops relied on by our winter bird visitors may rely at least partially on pollination by tiny wasps and flies. And even the pollinators themselves are a necessary food source for birds who are raising young in our yards inthe spring and summer. Stay tuned to this newsletter for mostly monthly articles in 2024 about various pollinators and how to build a habitat in your garden, or even in containers on your balcony, that will support this very important part of the ecosystem in our area.
