Pollinator Week

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Eliza Waters

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Celebrate our tireless friends in the garden this week. We owe them a deep debt of gratitude! Click this link to see what more you can do to help them.

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About Eliza Waters

Gardener, writer, photographer, naturalist
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42 Responses to Pollinator Week

  1. Laurie Graves says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:30 am

    You bet!

  2. gaiainaction says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:33 am

    Yes indeed Eliza!

  3. Mike Bizeau says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:33 am

    Thanks for the post and link. We were just watching the bees and butterflies yesterday and thanking them for the work they do for us. We did not know it was pollinator week.

  4. Kathy Sturr says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:40 am

    Here here! I am worried about our pollinators. I am seeing fewer and fewer …

  5. Alice Pratt says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:43 am

    I, too, was just watching a Bumble on my pansy, just outside the kitchen window, bending the flower with its weight. Milkweeds will be blooming, soon, hoping to see a Momarch (or two!) saw an orange butterfly last week, it wouldn’t alight for a photo, I reasoned it was a Viceroy, as the milkweeds weren’t blooming. Eliza….is that Chamomile?

    • Eliza Waters says:
      June 19, 2017 at 7:01 pm

      I, too, saw what I figured was a Viceroy on Thurs., reasoning the same as you. The plant with the Carpenter bee is a blue aster (Symphotrichum cordifolium), probably taken in Sept.

  6. Alice Pratt says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:44 am

    🙈monarch🙈

  7. kimberlyharding says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:45 am

    oh, the joy I have with seeing a blog titled “Pollinator Week” 🙂 . thank you, Eliza!

  8. Sarah Ferguson and Choppy says:
    June 19, 2017 at 8:43 am

    Thank you for the link – you know I never would object to having more pollinators around!

  9. Kris P says:
    June 19, 2017 at 11:17 am

    A great reminder, Eliza!

  10. Gillian says:
    June 19, 2017 at 12:50 pm

    Well done for promoting this important message Eliza! We are having similar problems here in the UK with drastic reduction in bee and butterfly populations, small mammals and birds. I believe that using chemicals harms wildlife…even those that manufacturers claim are safe! How can chemicals designed to kill one thing be safe for other creatures? Besides… why would anyone want to kill tiny creatures. It’s so easy and inexpensive to create a garden for wildlife with organic gardening methods… then your wild birds will eat the pests. I’ve just posted a short article about flowering plants for Butterflies. We grow plants from all over the world as well as British natives to provide the necessary food and habitat for our bees and butterflies. I bet you are already growing lots of pollinator friendly plants!

  11. AmyRose🌹 says:
    June 19, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    That looks like a borer bee, the ones who make holes in our cedar. I know they too are pollinators but I much prefer the honey bees. The numbers of bees has been drastically low compared to other years. And as for butterflies I’ve seen ONE Monarch when I used to see them by the hundreds. I’m also seeing insects in my gardens I’ve never seen before and no they are not the friendly type. Lot of changes, many of which I am so concerned about. I have everything it takes to attract honey bees and Monarchs. Hopefully both will be seen in greater numbers this year! 💗

  12. arlingwoman says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    You’re doing quite a bit to help the bees and keep them happy!

  13. Bela Johnson says:
    June 19, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    Well, I did not know this. But both Chris and I love it that the 2 varieties of shower trees are profusely in bloom just now. If you were to stand under them, you’d hear the buzzing of bees, as we do in the Duranta planted along our walkway. I am so thrilled that the ubiquitous use of Roundup on these islands has not killed off every bee in sight, for we do see the occasional bee stunned and dying on the ground. Yet to see so many alive! And in our yard! Makes my heart sing!

  14. Rebecca says:
    June 20, 2017 at 1:23 am

    Thanks for promoting this message, Eliza. Without our pollinators, where would we be? (And I do love the photo, too :).)

    • Eliza Waters says:
      June 20, 2017 at 8:18 pm

      Thank you, Rebecca. At least a third of our food, particularly fruit and curcurbits, depend on bees for pollination. That’s a lot of food!

  15. Pingback: Howlidays: Pollinator Week – Travels with Choppy

  16. wspines says:
    June 23, 2017 at 7:49 am

    Eliza
    I so enjoyed reading this and the wonderful pictures. I have seen several of the orange butterfly’s. they seem to be attracted to the wild phlox . Somehow you got dropped from my reader this has happened before I have missed you and glad that you are back on it. This is such an important story, I spread the seeds of milkweed last year but don’t know if any took. I am only pulling out jewel weed so I hope to see some results of the seeds. My best to you.

    • Eliza Waters says:
      June 23, 2017 at 12:20 pm

      Hi Carole, thanks for your comment and glad you’re back in touch. With all the rain this spring, the jewelweed certainly is enormous. Maybe you need a scythe – good luck!

  17. naturebackin says:
    June 26, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    Thanks for the interesting links. I am “catching up” a bit late due to pressure on time! It is good to remember that honeybees are not the only pollinators, and also to see encouragement to plant and enjoy native plants and not to use pesticides in our gardens. Thanks for highlighting this important issue. I love watching pollinators, and am surprised to be finding out about ones new to me that I had simply overlooked before.

    • Eliza Waters says:
      June 26, 2017 at 1:55 pm

      Thank you, Carol. For myself, once I started looking, I noticed more and more of the ‘minor players’ on the pollinator stage. Nature is endlessly fascinating!

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