How to attract butterflies and other pollinators

New campaign encourages the planting of pollinator-friendly landscapes

Endangered Monarch butterflies are symbol of pollinators’ struggle

Every pot of flowers or flowering herbs helps

 

A swallowtail butterfly visits joe-pye weed. Butterflies, bees, beetles, moths and other insects are critical pollinators, and flower gardens of all sizes will attract them. Marty Ross

 

By Marty Ross

Universal UClick

Butterflies are a wonderful part of a healthy garden. They — and innumerable other insects that pollinate plants — are also ecologically and economically vital, but they are on the decline.

Gardeners can help offset the loss by planting flowers that sustain butterflies and other pollinators. A garden designed with pollinators in mind is as beautiful as any other, and perhaps even more so.

Bumblebees are pollinators, too. These bees are visiting bee balm plants in the Butterfly Habitat Garden. James Gagliardi Smithsonian Gardens

 

Butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, hummingbirds and even bats all are pollinators. Their health and welfare are critical to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, and to the production of one in every three bites of food we take, according to the National Pollinator Garden Network.

The organization has launched an ambitious campaign, the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, to encourage the planting of pollinator-friendly landscapes to invigorate pollinator populations. The goal is to register one million pollinator gardens, large and small, old and new, across the country.

“If you have four acres, that would be wonderful,” says Matthew Shepherd, communications director for the Xerces Society, the wildlife conservation and protection organization. “But if you have an urban plot, a community garden, or a spot on the balcony of your 10th-floor condo, you can plant flowers,” he says. “You can do that anywhere.”

Monarch butterflies are perhaps all pollinators’ most widely recognized ambassador, and they are among the most endangered. Millions of acres of the natural habitat of this flashy orange-and-black butterfly have been lost to development and to the use of agricultural herbicides. The Monarch Watch program encourages gardeners to plant milkweed, the leaves of these plants are the only food monarch caterpillars eat; the program is among the 25 partners in the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.

Perhaps the most prominent pollinator garden in the world is the Butterfly Habitat Garden at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The garden was established in 1995, and next year, it will have a new name: the Pollinator Garden.

“A lot of people are fearful or just don’t like insect activity,” says James Gagliardi, lead horticulturist with Smithsonian Gardens. “But it’s very positive. Flowers and fruits are not going to be around without these pollinators.”

A gardener’s role in all this is easy: Plant flowers.

Native plants rub shoulders with non-natives in the Butterfly Habitat Garden. Gagliardi grows native perennials such as goldenrod, which blooms in the fall, and mountain mint, which has silvery leaves and tiny pink flowers, and attracts an abundance of pollinators. He also grows bright annuals, among them zinnias, which are a magnet for butterflies, and Mexican sunflower, a tall plant covered with bright orange flowers — and pollinators — in late summer and fall.

Big sweeps of colorful flowers blooming through the summer are important, but the most effective and successful pollinator gardens have blooms throughout the season. Trees, shrubs and vines also fit into the picture.

“Just by planting one tree, you can really make a difference,” says Peggy Anne Montgomery of American Beauties Native Plants, another partner in the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. A mighty oak would be great, she says, but so are many small trees.

Montgomery relies as much as possible on native plants, with which North American pollinators are likely to have well-established ecological relationships. She recommends long-blooming native perennial coneflowers, phlox and ironweed. Include butterfly milkweed and ornamental grasses in your pollinator garden, too, she says, creating layered plantings that look rich and full, help hold each other up through summer wind and rain, and provide shelter for insects during the winter.

Annual flowers grown from seed are every gardener’s gateway plants to a colorful and easy pollinator-friendly garden, says Renee Shepherd, owner of the seed company Renee’s Garden. Annual sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, cleome and alyssum all attract butterflies and other pollinators. Herbs should be part of the mix, she says: Plant plenty of them, let them bloom and see how many pollinators they attract. Shepherd likes cilantro, arugula, basil and chives both for their taste and because they attract so many pollinators. She practices succession planting, so she always has fresh herbs for the kitchen and blooming herbs outside for the pollinators.

Of course, pollinators find their way to vegetable gardens, too. Beans, squash, tomatoes and cucumbers all attract pollinators, but you’ll have more pollinators — and more impressive harvests — in a vegetable garden that includes flowers.

Above all, a pollinator garden is no place for pesticides. “We don’t use them” in the Butterfly Habitat Garden, Gagliardi says. “Our garden is very healthy and very balanced, too.” Visitors might notice holes in the leaves of a few plants, or they may discover curious striped caterpillars on the fennel or dill, “but if you want butterflies, you have to have food sources, and there are going to be holes in the leaves,” Gagliardi says. Instead of fretting over insect damage, get to know the insects. In a pollinator garden, you’ll have plenty to discover. Together with the flowers, these pretty pollinators put on quite a show.

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article35531742.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

 

Bumblebees Are Being Bumped Off by Climate Change, Scientists Say

http://beneficialbugs.org/bugs/Bumblebee/bumble_bee.htm

 

by Alan Boyle

July 9, 2015

 

Scientists say wild bumblebee species are being squeezed into extinction by climate change in North America and Europe — so much so that some of them might need help from us humans to find safe havens.

Their conclusion, published in this week's issue of the journal Science, is based on an analysis of more than 423,000 archived observations of 67 bee species, going back to 1901.

The scientists expected to find that the species have moved northward in response to rising temperatures, as other species ranging from flowers to foxes have done.

That's not what they found. Yes, the bumblebee species dwindled or disappeared in warmer southern climes, retreating an average of about 190 miles (300 kilometers). And in mountainous regions the bees moved up to higher elevations — about 1,000 feet (300 meters) higher, on average. But they didn't move into cooler, higher-latitude regions.

For some reason, bumblebees are being caught in a "climate vise," said University of Ottawa biologist Jeremy Kerr, the lead author of the Science study.

Kerr and his colleagues tried to account for other factors that have been cited as bad for bees, ranging from neonicotinoids and other pesticides to changes in land use — but they said those factors don't explain the losses in the range of the species.

The scientists emphasized that the scenario for wild bumblebees is different from the problems faced by European honeybees.

The concern about honeybees focuses on colony collapse disorder, which has been linked to a host of factors including pathogens, pesticides and diversity loss. But the concern about bumblebees is just as serious, said study co-author Leif Richardson, a bee researcher from the University of Vermont.

Richardson pointed out that bumblebees play a key role in pollinating crops ranging from apples and blueberries to soybeans. "If we see declines in the diversity or abundance of bumblebees, we should expect to see lower crop yields, higher food costs, and perhaps lower food diversity," he told NBC News.

http://beneficialbugs.org/bugs/Bumblebee/bumble_bee.htm

Why bumblebees are bummed

The researchers suggested that bumblebees aren't as capable of coping with warmer temperatures as, say, butterflies, because bumblebees evolved in temperate regions of the world rather than tropical regions.

"You imagine a car that starts running out of coolant and starts blowing steam out the front of the hood. That's kind of like an analogy for what bumblebee species do when it gets too hot," Kerr told reporters.

So why aren't bumblebee species pushing farther northward into Canada, or showing up in more northerly regions of Europe? The reasons for that aren't fully clear: It may be that the plants on which the bumblebee species feed are lacking, Or it may be that the bee colonies have to be of a certain size to take root in new regions. Kerr noted that bumblebee species with larger colony sizes seemed to handle moving into new areas better.

About a third to a quarter of the bumblebee species are in decline, but some species "seem to be expanding their range," said York University's Sheila Colla, another co-author of the study. These include the common Eastern bumblebee in the United States — as well as the buff-tailed bumblebee in Europe, which Kerr called the "dandelion of the bumblebee world."

What is to be done?

The researchers said regular folks could help out the bumblebees by planting bee-friendly crops in their gardens and backyards — native wildflowers, bee balm and milkweed, for example, or even raspberries. Another way to boost the bees is to participate in BumbleBeeWatch.org, a citizen science project that keeps track of bee sightings in North America.

 

The study touches on the strategy of "assisted migration" — that is, transporting bumblebee colonies to cooler refuges. Kerr said conservation groups and government agencies will have to have a "thoughtful and quick conversation" about when and how to use such a strategy.

"We're playing with fire, and we are now going to begin paying some of those consequences," Kerr said. "If we're interested in conserving species like bumblebees for the future, it is possible that we will need to intervene in a significant and extensive way to help them adapt."

Richardson said assisted migration should be employed with extreme caution.

"We may have to do that, but if recent experience serves, there are perils that we engage in when we start moving species around," he told NBC News. Richardson pointed to the example of the European buff-tailed bumblebee, which was exported to Chile and Argentina to boost pollination but is now considered an extremely invasive species.

He said it would do no good to try saving species after species without doing something about our own species' greenhouse-gas emissions and the effect on global climate.

"To address the root cause of what's happening to the bumblebees, the answer is clear," Richardson said. "And it's as intractable as ever."

In addition to Kerr, Colla and Richardson, the authors of "Climate Change Impacts on Bumblebees Converge Across Continents" include Alana Pindar, Paul Galpern, Laurence Packer, Simon Potts, Stuart Roberts, Pierre Rasmont, Oliver Schweiger, David Wagner, Lawrence Gall, Derek Sikes and Alberto Pantoja.

For related videos and more stories go to:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/bumblebees-are-being-bumped-climate-change-scientists-say-n389041

 

 

 

 

Urban pollinators fly high along Oslo's flower-lined bee highway

The apiarian artery is the buzziest infrastructure project in Scandinavia.

 

By: Matt Hickman

July 1, 2015

 

"Excuse me fellow traveler, you wouldn't happen to know where the nearest filling station is, would you?" (Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Oslo, the Norwegian city with hot pink manhole covers and a serious garbage deficit, has embarked on an ambitious urban highway-building project complete with roadside lodging and filling stations aplenty. However, those traveling along said highway will primarily be making pit stops for pollen not petrol, nectar not bags of corn nuts. Shelter will be provided in the form of hives, not Holiday Inns. And as for tolls, since when have endangered insects that play an incredibly vital role in global food production been required to fork over a toll?

Oslo’s flower-strewn thoroughfare, a project described as the world’s first bee highway, differs from your run-of-the-mill wildlife corridor — you know, those highway-spanning bridges where, at any given moment, a bear, a moose and a family of chipmunks could be en voyage overhead.

Norway has those too, but Oslo’s urban biodiversity-fostering bee highway is decidedly less rigid, engineered. Like bees themselves, the burgeoning pollinator pike is gloriously busy, piecemeal, a bit all over the place in the best way possible. With traffic (ideally) moving east to west, the highway, in actuality, is a loose network of lush rooftop gardens, hive-laden terraces and balcony-bound pots overflowing with pollen-producing flowers that make up for an absence of bee-friendly spaces in park-starved areas of Norway's preternaturally tidy capital city.

With pollen-rich "feeding stations” situated roughly every 800 feet, The Guardian notes that the ultimate aim of the so-called Pollinatorpassasjer project is to “provide safe passage through the city.”

“We are constantly reshaping our environment to meet our needs, forgetting that other species also live in it,” explains Agnes Lyche Melvaer of ByBi (“Bee Town”), the environmental group spearheading the grassroots project. “To correct that we need to return places to them to live and feed.”

The highway itself is being "constructed" bit-by-bit by a mix of activists, apiarists, gardeners, government entities, businesses and homeowners. Key to this inaugural work of insect infrastructure — with all the potential new greenery involved, it also doubles as a snazzy city beautification project — is an interactive map in which interested participants can first identify areas along the route that are in desperate need of bee-appropriate food and lodging. From there, they can help build up the highway as they see fit, be in providing a safe nesting spot or an oversized pot filled with sunflowers.

“It will be easy to see barriers and obstacles on the map. The goal is to inspire people to fill these gaps,” Melvaer tells local paper Osloby.

 

Like any proper highway, Oslo's Pollinatorpassasjer includes a detailed map identifying bee-appropriate food and lodging. (Screenshot: Pollinatorpassasjer)

 

While hives are indeed encouraged along the Pollinatorpassasje, Melvaer points out that not all bees are social like the European honeybee. In fact, a majority of bees species are comprised of loners that would rather not hunker down in chaotic shared quarters with a few thousand compatriots. Along the bee highway, these bees require private accommodations. “Some bee species like to live in solitary rooms. They need small hollows like a crack in an old tree truck. It’s very important to have some old wood lying around.”

As noted by the Guardian, Norway’s bee population doesn’t face the same threat as in the United States and other European nations where rampant pesticide use, disease and other factors have led to alarming die-offs. Still, a third of Norway’s 200 wild bee species are considered endangered — a significant number considering that 30 to 40 percent of global food production is dependent on pollination.

So long as Norway’s urban bees don’t take any detours and keep moving in the right direction, they’ll find safe haven along Oslo's bee highway, a highway where signs of heavy congestion are nothing but a good thing — the more traffic the merrier.

Via [The Guardian], [The Local]

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/blogs/urban-pollinators-fly-high-along-oslos-flower-lined-bee-highway#ixzz3ef1xNz2p
 
    

 

 

Bees Find Better Habitat in Urban Jungle than Farm Country

6/16/2015 // By Patrick Fitzgerald

 

What do you think about when hear the word "pollinators?"

Images of honey bees or bumble bees come to mind for most. Many of us urban and suburbanites have an idyllic image of bees and butterflies in the countryside. Something like this…

 

Idyllic rural area. Photo by Nicholas A. Tonelli via Flickr Creative Commons

 

Unfortunately, it more often looks like this…

 

Monoculture crops. Photo by Jan Tik via Flickr Creative Commons

 

A recent study published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B by scientists from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom found that land near towns supported greater insect diversity than those in rural areas. Lead researcher Dr. Deepa Senapathi explains that species have been declining in both urban and agricultural areas for years, but species declined further in rural areas. This is in part due to the increases in large expanses of monoculture. And this dynamic rings true in the U.S. as well with nearly 50% of America's land set aside as managed cropland, rangeland, pasture, or production forest land.

Dr. Deepa goes on to say, "While concreting over the countryside may appear to be bad news for nature, we've found that progressive urbanization may be much less damaging than intensive agriculture," she said.

 

Consider some of these pollinator gardens in our nations urban areas:

 

Creating pollinator gardens in Baltimore. Photo by Carolyn Millard

 

Students collect herbs on PS 41′s greenroof in Manhattan. Photo by Megan Westervelt

 

Native prairie in Chesterfield Central Park, MO. Photo from City of Chesterfield

  

A monarch butterfly feeds on nectar from goldenrod in Rhode Island. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Bernadette Banville

 

 Here in the U.S. there is a real movement underway in our urban and suburban areas to help provide habitat for our nation's smallest wildlife – pollinators.

 

One Million Pollinator Gardens 

The White House has launched a new national strategy to address the decline of honey bees and other pollinators.  In response to this strategy the National Wildlife Federation and our partners founded the National Pollinator Garden Network and launched the Million Pollinator Network Challenge with a goal of planting 1,000,000 pollinator gardens in urban and suburban areas by the end of 2016.

 

Cities and Communities Making a Difference

City governments are already stepping up to help pollinators, including the monarch butterfly.  St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has been a champion for the monarch butterfly and launched a successful and growing Milkweeds for Monarchs program.  Austin Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council recently passed a resolution to get more milkweed planted on city properties and launched a pollinator challenge.  Alpharetta, GA, is joining the Million Pollinator Challenge as well, encouraging its residents to create habitat within the community.

 

DC Inner City Outing volunteers Max and Corey. Photo by Kris Unger

 

Join the Movement

We need YOUR HELP to reverse the troubling decline of pollinators by creating pollinator habitat where you live, work, learn, play and/or worship.  Please join the 150,000+ Americans who are part of the National Wildlife Federation's Garden for Wildlife movement and access resources through Facebook, our Wildlife Promise blog and our website.

 

Certify your pollinator habitat so it is counted in the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. Already certified? Then rally your entire neighborhood or city to get certified through the NWF Community Wildlife Habitat program.

 

WE NEED FARM COUNTRY TOO!

To reach the scale of habitat restoration needed to turn the tide for monarchs and other pollinator species, we will need cooperation from urban, suburban, and rural landowners and land managers. We must all do our part. Combining our work in urban and suburban areas with restoration of habitat on public lands; utility, highway and railroad right of ways; hobby farms; stream buffers; edges of crop fields; rangelands; and on the 26 million acre Conservation Reserve Program; we can provide the acres of habitat needed to help insects that pollinate our food crops and those in steep decline, such as the monarch.

---

from Wildlife Promise

 

 

 

 

It's National Wildlife Week and the theme is "Living with Wildlife"

So let’s learn “How to Live Responsibly Alongside Our Wild Neighbors”

from Wildlife Promise

 

A fox family outside their urban den in Colorado. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Kimberly Hill.

 

Urban ecosystems are increasingly becoming critical habitats for wildlife. It’s time we embrace it, roll out the welcome mat and find ways to live responsibly alongside our wild neighbors. This list is simply a starting place, please add your advice and tips below!

 

Hang bird feeders 3 feet or less from windows to prevent collisions.

Collisions with windows is the number one cause of migratory bird population decline. It’s the leading cause of bird mortality, killing an estimated 100 million to 1 billion birds per year. Most of that mortality happens during migration, but birds flying to and from feeders and birdbath are also often victims of window strikes. We can protect birds from these collisions by positioning bird feeders and baths 3 feet or less from your windows. When feeders are close to windows, birds cannot build up enough momentum to injure themselves should they hit your window. Bonus: bird-watching right outside the window!

 

Example of the recommended placement of bird feeders, 3 feet or less from windows. Photo courtesy of FLAP.

 

Another way to prevent window collisions is to decorate your windows, especially during the migratory season. Applying window film or decals is one option, but keep in mind 80% of the window must be covered to be effective.

 

Make sure about 80% of your window is covered if you choose to use decals. Image courtesy of FLAP.

 

Keep trash and food sources out of reach of wildlife.

Have you ever been startled by the rustling noises and glowing eyes at night around your garbage bin? Animals are attracted to our garbage as a potential source of food. This scrounging can be avoided by storing waste in wildlife-proof containers (e.g. metal, sturdy lid). If this is not enough to deter critters, try adding motion lights, bungee cords or a twist on lid. Finally, put your trash out the morning of collection to avoid a night raid.

 

Supervise your pet cats and dogs.

A great number of birds and small mammals are injured by off-leash dogs and especially by free-roaming cats. Domestic cats (both pets and stray or feral animals) take a massive toll on our native wildlife, killing an estimated 3.7 BILLION birds and other small animals each year. The solution is to prevent your dogs and cats from chasing, attacking or playing with wild animals. If you’re unable to watch your pets outside, consider keeping cats indoors, or dogs on a leash.  I’ll admit I’ve also tried putting my cat on a leash. He didn’t love it, but it kept him from chasing other animals.

 

Leashes are one solution to keep cats from attacking birds outdoors. Photo by Dani Tinker.

 

Keep dead trees and plant new ones.

Dead trees (logs and snags) are anything but dead, they’re crawling with life! They provide vital habitat for over 1,000 species in the United States. If you must remove dead trees, please be respectful of any species living inside. Go the extra mile and plant more trees, either in your yard or community!

 

This marbled salamander was found by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Nicholas Kiriazis after flipping a log in Illinois.

 

Give wildlife a brake.

Wildlife don’t understand the danger of being in the road. When driving in areas with high populations of wild animals, or during migrations of certain species, please be alert. You can also advocate for wildlife crossings or corridors, which safely get wildlife to the other side of the road. For example, right now there’s a campaign to save California mountain lions by building a wildlife crossing!

 

A moose leads her calves across an Alaskan road by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Mike Criss.

 

Respect the “wild” in wildlife.

It’s easy to forget that even if animals aren’t deep in the woods, they are still wild. Never try to approach, touch, feed or make a pet our of a wild animal. In some cases such harassment of wildlife is illegal and even when it’s not, a letting wildlife be wild allows animals the space to continue their typical behaviors (e.g. feeding, nesting, breeding). It also keeps you safe!

 

A Toledo, Ohio, homeowner’s dog found this raccoon kit in her yard. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Ginny Sussman.

 

Don’t litter or spit gum out.

Enough said.

 

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wI7eNpHJe90

 

Plant native.

Welcome wildlife to your backyard by adding native plants. This will avoid the negative impacts of non-native species. Consider planting native milkweed, a critical way to help declining monarch populations.

 

Newly emerged monarchs dry off on milkweed in Missouri. Beginning this month, monarchs will be laying the eggs that develop into the migratory generation. Photo by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Lisa Serda-Ansel.

 

Celebrate National Wildlife Week

The theme of this year’s National Wildlife Week is “Living with Wildlife,” and the goals are to educate and raise awareness. Take this opportunity and spread the word that we must live responsibly alongside the wild animals in our urban and suburban spaces.

Tweet: It’s National #WildlifeWeek and I think it’s about time we live responsibly alongside our wild neighbors! A few tips: http://bit.ly/1aO2J9w

 

http://blog.nwf.org/2015/03/how-to-live-responsibly-alongside-our-wild-neighbors/?utm_content=buffer40270&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

 

 

 

Group moves hives, raises awareness

Bees are very important as pollinators to our environment so the more we can do to save them, the better!  -- Gene

 

Group moves hives, raises awareness

 

Broward Beekeepers Association members recently relocated hives from two homes. (Submitted photo)

 

By Randy Abraham, Sun-Sentinel

 

Homeowners who recently discovered an unwanted beehive got a chance to see the Broward Beekeepers Association in action.

 

The group was called out to remove a beehive in Pompano Beach resident Pamela Conner's black olive tree. They also removed and relocated a hive found in Fort Lauderdale resident Susan James' backyard shed where she stored her hurricane shutters.

 

"It was like watching a hazmat (hazardous materials) team spring into action," said James, describing her reaction when group members, dressed in protective suits, gloves and head coverings, came to remove the beehive.

 

Beekeeping has become marginalized as society has become more urbanized, but with the changing of the seasons, some members hope the timing is right for their message.

 

"Spring is coming, and it's important for people to know who to contact" should they discover a beehive, said group member Dara Kustler. "The bees pollinate and are important for the survival of mankind. … So we are here to educate Broward County residents, and we hope that we can become a leading county for bee preservation and protection through our efforts and outreach. … Most bee colonies can be rescued and relocated and will survive and thrive."

 

Member Dan Novak added, "The most important things that bees do is pollinate. Pollination is needed for plants to reproduce. Bees pollinate at least 80 percent of the food crops we rely on. And this is the reproductive season when they multiply."

 

The group, which has 66 members, wants to raise awareness of bees' role in the environment and the production of plants and food. Members have spoken about their activities at schools, libraries and the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale.

 

They bring the rescued hives to an apiary — a place for beehives —in a vacant lot in Coconut Creek. That site was recently rezoned and sold to a firm that seeks to develop the property, and the group is hoping to find a new site to place their apiary.

 

Conner said she was surprised to learn about bees and is grateful she did not hire an exterminator.

 

"We wouldn't have food if it weren't for bees. Exterminating them should only be done as a last resort," she said.

 

For more information, visit Browardbees.org.

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-cn-bees-0222-20150218-story.html