Pollinator-Friendly Garden, Part 1 of 2

Three-quarters of the world’s main food crop types depend on the most unassuming of creatures – animal pollinators. A 2019 study published in the journal Biological Conservation revealed that insect biomass is declining by 2.5% every year. Based on these figures, all insects will go extinct within the next century. Even the smallest disruption to the ecosystem can have devastating knock-on effects for the rest of the environment. While all gardens benefit from pollinators, the pollinators themselves benefit from gardens planted specifically with their favorite foods. Pollinator gardens come in many different shapes and sizes. They contain diverse flowering plants that are favored by bees, butterflies, and other insect pollinators. They have different flowers blooming throughout the season, so there is always nutritious forage. But pollinator gardens aren’t just about the flowers. They provide habitat, or homes, for bees and other pollinators. Pollinators can be harmed by pesticides. A pollinator garden should be pesticide-free.

One of the newest landscaping trends to protect pollinator species and enhance the local ecosystem is “meadowscaping.” While traditional lawns often require chemical fertilizers, additional watering, and gas-powered mowers, meadowscapes are low-cost, low-maintenance, and provide a dazzling, eco-friendly habitat for pollinators to thrive! Another popular low-maintenance gardening approach that’s beneficial to pollinators is “chaos gardening.” The concept of chaos gardening is simple: mix together a variety of seeds that can include grasses, herbs, vegetables, fruits, flowers, or whatever else you have lying around. “I one hundred percent recommend doing this. I threw in a bunch of different flowers. Also, the bees loved it.”