Sunday, June 12, 2011

Help Pollinators


I was in whole foods this evening and found a great leaflet about pollinators and how we can help them. There's a great organization pollinators with a purpose, on reading I am amazed to find out that 1/3 of America's food supply depends on bee's. Foods and beverages produced with the help of pollinators include: apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds, and tequila.
In the United States, pollination by honey bees, native bees, and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually - from pollinators with a purpose site.

Here's a link to a PBS documentary The Silence of Bee's 


So what can we do?
 Here are some tips:

1. Plant a bee garden - lavender, lemon balm, clover, poppy, mint, sunflowers and thyme
2. Plant native plants to attract native pollinators and help local agriculture
3. colorful gardens attract different pollinators
4. Don't pick the flowers
5. Teach kids to love butterflies and bee's and the importance of them
6. avoid using pesticides




Just some food for thought, I am going to keep buying flowers for the bee's and butterflies, have a buddleia lavender, thyme and others they seem to like ;-)

Did you know this was such an issue and do you ever consider pollinators when planting your gardens?



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15 comments:

  1. Very interesting! Hadn't consciously considered it, but we do have a large yard with garden and flowers and don't use pesticides at all. The flowering bushes (can't remember the names)in our desert garden attract a lot of bees.

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  2. This is so interesting and something we don't think of often enough. Thank you for sharing this valuable info.

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  3. Such a good message. I am wondering what I can do without a garden in NYC. It makes me very concerned. Will tweet this too.

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  4. Great post, Rebecca. I don't have a garden anymore but I remember we had one particular bush that attracted bees and monarch butterflies. I could sit and watch it for hours.
    Nice to find out what can be done to encourage bees in gardens.

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  5. Bees love my giant lavender plant, as do the butterflies. I'm going to plant more next year as I need to landscape a small, dying area near my house. It's so easy to grow once you get started and it's a great deal of fun watching the good bugs be happy.

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  6. Great tips Rebecca! You've inspired me to go and buy some flowers. xx

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  7. Priscilla so your already doing a great job :-)
    Maris my pleasure
    Lauren thanks for sharing its important
    Barbara oh I love butterflies as well
    Lisa oh hope mine grows well
    Lisa smiles

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  8. Very interesting, Rebecca. I hope the honey bees do come back. My garden attracts lots of bees and, unfortunately, nasty ground hornets too.

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  9. So glad that you posted this. Scary to think about the bee population in decline.

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  10. Rebecca, This is such a good post. Our bee populations are in decline and it is serious. We have plenty in our garden because we are bee-friendly.

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  11. Susan oh thats a shame
    Kim my pleasure
    Judy :-) good job

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  12. I wish I had a garden! But either way this is an interesting post, thank you for sharing.

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  13. Katherine my pleasure thanks for stopping by

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  14. amazing tips. Not many people fully grasp the importance of pollinators. They are why we are here. No machine can do what they do!

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