(HOST) Commentator Charlie Nardozzi has been thinking about the latest insect mystery, and one simple step we might take to help solve it.
(NARDOZZI) The numbers are staggering. Up to sixty percent have disappeared in the Western United States – more than seventy percent in the Eastern U.S. Even internationally, in Germany almost twenty-five percent have vanished. And no one knows why.
What am I talking about? Bees. Specifically, honey bees. When bee keepers opened their hives this spring they were shocked by what they saw. Or more accurately, what they didn’t see. Hive after hive was empty. While bee populations have struggled in recent years because of attacks from mites and diseases and having fewer places to gather pollen, this widespread collapse of bee hives on a massive scale is the most devastating blow of all.
Why am I concerned about honey bees gone missing? Consider this. One out of every three bites of food you take is directly attributed to bees. From apples to soybeans, bees are essential to agriculture and our food supply.
Home gardeners need pollinating insects as much as farmers. Ever wonder why a zucchini, pumpkin or cucumber isn’t setting fruits? It could be due to the absence of bees visiting the flowers.
One solution is to plant flowers, trees and shrubs to attract a diversity of pollinators such as bees, birds, bats, butterflies and beetles. The National Gardening Association in South Burlington recently received a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust to install a Pollinator Garden on their grounds. This demonstration garden is free and open to the public. It will feature plants essential to pollinating insects and creatures.
You don’t have to plant a whole pollinator garden to help. Simply provide the essential ingredients pollinators need to thrive. It starts with the plants. Plant a diversity of flowers, trees and shrubs that bloom throughout the season. Plant yellow, blue, and purple colored flowers to attract native bee species. Plant flowers with clusters of small blooms, such as zinnias, phlox, and mint, for short-tongued bees. For butterflies plant calendula, butterfly weed and yarrow. Moths like light-colored flowers that open at dusk, such as evening primrose. Pollinating beetles prefer open flowers, such as aster and sunflower. Hummingbirds are attracted to tubular-shaped flowers such as honeysuckle and fuchsia — and bats, although mostly a Southwestern U.S. pollinator, like night flowering plants, with a strong, fruity fragrance, such as some cactus.
You should also provide food sites for pollinating insects when they’re young. Cultivated plants such as fennel, violets and rudbeckia along with native grasses and weeds provide food and shelter. Provide a water source such as a mud hole, bird bath or small pond. Create places for insects to over winter such as under cut plant stems, small brush piles or over turned clay pots. Also, avoid using pesticides in the garden. Even some organic pesticides can be harmful to pollinating insects and bees.
Any thing you can do to make pollinating insects and creatures more at home will translate into rewards in your garden and on your table.
Charlie Nardozzi is an all-around gardening expert with a special fondness for tomatoes and roses.