Tracking Your Pollinator Paradise

POLLINATORS ARE IN DECLINE!

The good news? We can help. Our cities and gardens are often way stations, oases on the edges of agricultural communities and wild areas. The U.S. alone has tens of millions of urban acres already working or waiting to be turned into pollinator support and protection zones. 

Bumble bee on bachelor button copyright Katy Pye 2017

Bumblebee on bachelor button
© Katy Pye

What do you know about your garden and pollinators?

It’s critical, of course, to plant your garden to support what pollinators need: clean, abundant, safe places to feed, rest, and reproduce or nest on/in. But do you know:

— which pollinators are visiting your garden at what levels (none, a few, a good number, lots)? 

— what plants are they using and does this change over time? How are they affected?

— what additional resources do you supply and are they used?

With this information, what garden adjustments might you make to better serve them? 

NEW WORKBOOK HELPS POLLINATOR PROTECTORS

In 2017, I expanded and monitored my home garden to attract and support more pollinators. My eyes and ears are filled with the flurry of activity. Want to know what I discovered? Some plantings were already working well. But there is always room for improvement and more things to learn in a garden, right? I’ve translated my process into a workbook to help you see deeper into and fine-tune your own garden to help our pollinators. 

More about the workbook, ordering information and the form are here.  If you want to get my periodic I Spy! newsletter, fill out the same form and add NEWSLETTER and your e-mail in its Comments section. 

A link that reproduces I Spy!‘s extensive Resources section is here.

Download this free pollinator poster“Plant It We Will Come, Protect Us We Will Stay for Generations.” It’s a great teaching tool. 

Katy Pye pollinator panel 4-22-18 @200

These articles and photos are a peek into my pollinator garden and life.

2017 Pollinator Week   “Buzz, Zoom, Duck! Get Ready for Pollinator Week”

2018 Pollinator Week  “It Takes a Neighborhood”

9/16/18 Blog post  “I Spy! Fall In The Pollinator Garden”

Caught napping © Katy Pye 2017

Caught napping
© Katy Pye 2017

California Sister © Katy Pye 2017

California Sister
© Katy Pye 2017

Longhorn bee on Rhododendron flower © Katy Pye 2017

Longhorn bee on Rhododendron flower
© Katy Pye 2017

Hover fly sp. 5792cr-KP

– Syrphid fly 2017

Find more information about supporting pollinators

The Xerces Society 

Pollinator Partnership

Native Bees of North America: Bug Guide

Butterflies and Moths of North America

Monarch Joint Venture

Audubon: How to Create a Hummingbird-Friendly Yard

U.S. and Canadian native plants by state and province