National Pollinator Week

The United States Department of Agriculture has designated this week as National Pollinator Week. Bees are normally the first that come to mind when thinking about nature’s pollinators, but birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, and other beneficial insects provide this valuable service. Numerous National Pollinator Week events are being held around the country. One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself on the different pollinators and the things you can do to make their “job” easier. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service pollinator webpage is a great source of information about pollinators. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a landowner to help with the plight of pollinators. Practically anything can be grown in a container nowadays. And if you happen to be one of those people who forget to water your plants, or find it difficult to make time to water there are many attractive styles of self-watering planters on the market. Interestingly, a study from Leeds University found that bees prefer to keep things simple. In other words, bees like working class gardens as opposed to fancy plants. That’s because many of the fancier plants often contain less pollen and more petals that make foraging harder for the bees.