#pollinator gardens

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Revelator:

Every June, cities around the globe celebrate Pollinator Week, an international event to raise awareness about the important roles that birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals serve in pollinating our food systems and landscapes. These crucial species are declining worldwide, with many on the brink of extinction.

Cities have responded to this crisis with a variety of urban initiatives designed to foster pollinator habitats and in the process transform once-stark cement landscapes — as well as pocket parks, curb strips, and highway dividers — into lush, welcoming areas for pollinators and humans alike.

In Washington, D.C., ambitious pollinator projects are abundant on rooftops of public, office, and private spaces, ranging from the renovated D.C. Public Library’s main branch to National Public Radio’s headquarters, which hosts an apiary. Throughout the District of Columbia, municipal code requires buildings to maintain the tree boxes and curb strips outside their properties. This often leads to creative landscaping on the smallest of scales.

It’s not just businesses. Parks and other public spaces also play an important role. For example, Fargo, North Dakota’s Urban Pollinator Plots Project aims to establish more than 50 acres of high diversity, forb-rich, native prairie plantings in urban parklands.

“I think some of the bigger challenges are just simply the establishment of the prairie,” says Sam DeMarais, a park forester in the Fargo Park District, who oversees the program. “It’s a skill set and a knowledge base that really takes a keen eye and some diligence on doing it properly. Everyone thinks you can just plant the prairie and let it go, but that’s not really the case.”

Fargo’s and Washington, D.C.’s programs are each over 10 years old, and time has brought knowledge of what works and doesn’t, and the ability to adapt. But less-established initiatives across the country could provide even more clues. A new project at the Port of Vancouver, in Washington state, aims to add a small native plant and flower pollinator garden in the port’s mitigation bank in the Lower Columbia River watershed. It could serve as a case study in introducing pollinators into industrial areas. In Michigan, the nonprofit organization Detroit Hives showcases how to transform vacant lots into pollinator-friendly habitat, a program that recently contributed to Detroit joining the Bee City USA program. Researchers in Puerto Rico are examining the relationships between animal and plant resources in urban areas on the island, and conducting interviews to learn more about public perspectives on plants and wildlife.

But why stop at the city level? Pollinator programs around the world can look to Ireland, where the entire island, north and south, has implemented the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, a program that brings together community groups, local authorities, councils, businesses, farmers, and others to create a pollinator-friendly landscape.

[cselandscapearchitect]

Unveiling the Desert's Charm: Growing Penstemons and Wildflowers in Queen Creek, Arizona

Transforming Arid Landscapes into Blossoming Gardens In the heart of the Sonoran Desert, amidst the dry, rugged landscape of Queen Creek, Arizona, lies the potential for a blooming oasis. The key to this transformation? A brilliant array of penstemons and native wildflowers. This article will guide you through selecting the best penstemons for the low desert and companion wildflowers to create a…

[bwabbitv3s]

Remember choose native plants when you can for your pollinator gardens. It helps your local cryptids.

[geezerwench]

Let your garden sleep in. For the pollinators.

[worldcitiesday]

Mexico City; Mexico.

With almost 22 million inhabitants, Mexico City is the country’s most populous city. One of its most significant urban challenges is the city’s poor air quality, which the city government aims to tackle through the “Plan Verde” (Green Plan). By participating in the “Trees in Cities Challenge”, Mexico City aims to preserve and enhance biodiversity, strengthen the environmental awareness of its residents and enhance ecosystem services in its urban area. By mid-2021, the city implemented 98% of its pledge to plant 8 million new trees and shrubs, along with other activities, including the creation of 450 pollinator gardens and boosting the plant production of in its nurseries.

[yg-trollsonme]

Landscape in New York Photo of a mid-sized traditional partial sun front yard stone garden path.

[claviculars]

Flower Bed Landscape This is an illustration of a sizable, drough-tolerant backyard flower bed in a farmhouse.

[maureen2musings]

margarida.sa.maia

[besinaao3]

Pathway Landscape

[reasonsforhope]

"Next Monday [6/17/24] is the start of National Pollinator Awareness Week, and one Colorado advocacy group is hosting a flower planting drive to rewild Colorado’s meadows, gardens, and just maybe, its children too.

Created by constitutional amendment in 1992, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) is a state-funded independent board that invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces.

This year, GOCO’s offshoot Generation Wild is distributing over 100,000 free packets of wildflower seeds to collection points at museums, Denver Parks and Rec. offices, and libraries all over the state to encourage kids and families to plant the seeds in their backyards.

The Save the Bees! initiative aims to make the state more beautiful, more ecologically diverse, and more friendly to pollinators.

According to a new report from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, 20% of Colorado’s bumblebees are now at risk of extinction. Even in a small area like a backyard, planting wildflowers can make a positive impact on the local ecosystem and provide native bees with a healthy place to live.

“The Western Bumblebee population has declined in Colorado by 72%, and we’re calling on kids across Colorado to ‘bee’ the change,” said GOCO Executive Director Jackie Miller.

Named after Generation Wild’s official mascot “Wilder,” the Wilderflower Seed Mix was developed in partnership with Applewood Seed Co. and packets are now available for pickup at designated partner sites including more than 80 Little Free Library boxes.

By distributing 100,000 Wilderflower packets, Generation Wild is providing more than 56 million seeds for planting in every nook and cranny of the state. All seeds are regionally-native to Colorado, which is important for sustaining the living landscape of bees, birds, and other animals.

Additionally, by using flower species adapted to the Mile High climate, landscapers and gardeners need to use less water than if they were tending non-native plants.

“Applewood Seed Co. was excited to jump in and help Generation Wild identify a seed mix that is native to the Colorado region and the American West, containing a diversity of flower species to attract and support Colorado’s pollinator populations,” stated Norm Poppe, CEO of Applewood Seed Co. “We hope efforts like this continue to educate the public on pollinator conservation and the need to protect our native bees and butterflies.”

Concluding her statement Miller firmly stated that children grow up better outside, and if you or a parent you know agree with her, all the information on how to participate in Save the Bees! can be found here on their website, including a map showing all the local pickup points for the Wilderflower Seed Packets."

-via Good News Network, June 13, 2024

[typhlonectes]

Plant a Bee-friendly (and butterfly friendly) garden!

See higher quality image and find out more:

PollinatorGardenBrochure.pdf (sierraclub.org)

[turtlesandfrogs]

If you're in the U.S. and want to support local plants and pollinators, I hope you've heard of the Xerces Society. Weird name, but super cool resource for gardening for insect pollinators (and they work for other invertebrate species, too)

They've got regional native plant lists:

They've also got super helpful things in their resources section, including Washington's plan for helping bumble bees:

Another really cool resource is the National Wildlife Federation's list of key stone plant species by ecoregion:

[melancholic-pigeon]

there is a special place in hell for cat owners who allow their cats to free-roam a residential neighborhood because it's ~natural~.

The amount of devastation and heartbreak I have seen from loved ones whose cats accidentally got out makes me like twice as mad too because I cannot. I cannot fathom the cruelty and selfishness required to ignore what we know to be best practice for cat husbandry because your feefees get uncomfies when people tell you it's animal abuse to wilfully, knowingly cut your cat's expected lifespan from 15-20 years to 2-3.

KEEP. YOUR. FUCKING. CATS. INSIDE.

[margocooper]

Мордовник шароголовый (лат. Echinops sphaerocephalus) и привлеченные сладким ароматом пчелы. Август 24. Echinops sphaerocephalus and bees attracted by the sweet aroma. August 24.

[bronze-and-silver-keys]

Just had a vision of Gonta making an entire huge pollinator friendly garden with water features that he expands on constantly and he ropes his classmates in on helping him after the game (mainly because my mom is doing that with her garden and it's awesome)

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 3 July 2024

The two annuals Calendula officinalis 'Neon' (pot marigold) and Orlaya grandiflora (white laceflower) were creating a show in a bed adjacent to the wildflower meadow of Great Dixter, Sussex, providing an additional food source for pollinators.

Jill Raggett