Succession of Bloom in Your Pollinator Garden

Presented by Nancy DuBrule-Clemente on March 16, 2023

Sponsored by the Kensington Garden Club and the Berlin Land Trust

According to the Pollinator Pathways website, “Pollinator pathways are public and private pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinating insects and birds.” The connections between these corridors are important because the size of habitats determines the level of biodiversity.

Our landscape is very fragmented. Roads, highways, and mowed lawns can interrupt habitats. Fragmentation of habitats can lead to local extinction of species.

Professor Douglas W. Tallamy has written books and co-founded the non-profit Homegrown National Park. We can learn to create habitat corridors by reading his books, and by studying the website www.homegrownnationalpark.org. His books include:

• · “Nature’s Best Hope”

• “The Nature of Oaks”

• “The Living Landscape” co-authored with Rick Darke

Dina Brewster, Executive Director of CT NOFA (Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association) tells us that “You have a part to play. Your neighborhood has a part to play. We are the ONLY species that understands what a property line is.”

Why Should We Plant Native Plants?

•  Only 3% to 5% of undisturbed habitats are left in the United States. That is NOT enough! 95% of native plants could go extinct!

• Alien species of plants do not sustain our native wildlife.

•  Native plants support more pollinators and produce more food for pollinators than non-native plants do.

What Can We Do to Help Pollinators?

•  Minimize our lawns.

• Let violets grow! They are larval food plants for butterflies.

• Aim for 70% native plants and 30% non-native plants in our pollinator gardens.

• Find the keystone plants for your zip code at https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder. Plant 5 species from the list. These plants are best at supporting what Dr. Tallamy calls “local food webs”.

• A pollinator garden should appear to be organized. We do not want our neighbors to complain about our yards.

• A pollinator garden must be organic. Pesticides harm pollinators.

• CT NOFA offers a program about organic gardening.

• If you need organic insecticides, apply them ONLY at dusk.

• DO NOT use neonicotinoids. They are absorbed by plants.

• Lawn chemicals KILL fireflies.

• Toads are a sign of a healthy habitat.

• Some creatures live in leaves on the ground. Please leave the leaves.

• Leave seed pods and stems standing over the winter. Do not remove them until we have had a full week with temperatures of 55 degrees or more. Then the creatures who are living in the pods and stems will have time to leave them.

• It is OK to build a brush pile somewhere in your yard. It will provide habitat.

• Umbel flowers feed beneficial insects.

Recommended Resources

• “Attracting Native Pollinators” published by the Xerces Society.

• Annie S. White, Nectar Landscape Design Studio, Stowe, VT, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Vermont Graduate College Dissertation and Thesis: Evaluating Native Herbaceous Flowering Plants Versus Native Cultivars for Pollinator Habitat Restoration.

• Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware (mtcubacenter.org).

• PollinatorsNativePlants.com, the website of author Heather Holm.

Suggestions for Planting

• Plant for a succession of blooms, with at least 3 varieties of plants blooming each month.

• Connecticut is in ecoregion 59, level 3.

• Asters are easy to grow.

• Solidagos, or Goldenrods are the herbaceous plants that support the highest number of pollinators and beneficial insects.

• This note added by BLT:  Page 74 of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens” by Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe states “There are dozens, if not hundreds of moth and butterfly species whose caterpillars host on goldenrod, and literally hundreds of native bees feed that on goldenrod. The insects that feed on goldenrod are critically important for songbirds, who primarily feed their young a protein-laden diet consisting of larval insects like caterpillars.”

• Red maple trees are GREAT to have in our yards.

• It is OK to plant annuals in a pollinator garden. They offer curb appeal.

Nancy encouraged us to get every group in town to make a pollinator garden happen in Berlin!

Learn more about pollinator garden basics and the Natureworks Garden Center by clicking on the green buttion below: