Wild Flora's Wild Gardening: Happy National Pollinators Week

Happy National Pollinators Week

TOMORROW, JUNE 24, MARKS THE BEGINNING of the first National Pollinators Week in the United States, where it will be commemorated by the release of a Pollination Stamp Series by the U.S. Post Office. When placed together, these stamps form the lovely image shown above.

For those of us who love pollinators (and who wouldn't?), the great news is that Pollinator Week brings with it a host of pollinator-related events in the United States (and one event being held in Mexico), along with goodies available via the Internet for everyone to enjoy. The Pollinator Partnership website has information on National Pollinator Week activities, including:

A gorgeous poster that can be downloaded in .pdf format. Up to 3 copies of this poster can be ordered for a shipping charge of just US$5; this shipping offer is apparently available in both the U.S. and Canada.

A clever "Pollinator Garden Wheel" that gives a simple explanation of why pollinators are important and some basic advice on creating a pollinator-friendly garden. This can be downloaded in .pdf format or ordered for US$5 shipping. Again, this shipping offer is apparently available in Canada as well as in the U.S.

Copy of a National Academy of Sciences study on the status of pollinators in North America,. The book costs US$43 book if you buy it in paper format, but you can read it online for free.

"Fast Facts for Gardeners" downloadable fact sheet in .pdf format.

Downloadable versions of the stamp art shown above. I'm using mine as wallpaper for my computer. (See the Pollinator Partnership website for links to these.)

Downloadable brochure from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service on Farming for Pollinators. (This is different from the publications on farming for bees and pollinators available from the Xerces Society.)

For additional resources, also see the website of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service press release on National Pollinator Week, and the Xerces Society's Pollinator Conservation Program.

I'll spend the rest of Pollinator Week reviewing materials from these sources and sharing information I think gardeners might find especially useful.

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About this blog and its owner

I’ve lived and gardened in Chicago and the Seattle area, and now I live on 250 acres in eastern Canada. Most of my life has been spent as a journalist and editor, but after moving to Seattle I took a detour and ended up designing and installing wildlife-friendly gardens. For a long (sorry) but (I think) funny essay about this experience, please click here.

In this blog, I try to combine my gardening experiences with journalism-type research to come up with items that I hope will be useful to you, the gardener who wants to be kind to wildlife. The blog will probably be most useful to people living in areas where I have some practical experience, namely the band of states and provinces that are on either side of the United States-Canada border.

Being self-employed, I go through spells when I’m self-unemployed and am able to post frequently, and spells when I’m involved in a project and not able to post. This site is a labor of love and, alas, like so many labors of love it often has to take a back seat to labors of lucre.

If you like what you find here, please consider joining the site as a member or adding it to your “follow” list. The modules for this are below.

Q&A

Question: I have a neat old elm tree in the front yard which is sorely afflicted with mistletoe. I don't know quite what to do with it, as every windstorm drops branches, bark and other parts down on the yard below. I know the infected wood will have to go, at least that is what I'm told, but a considerable amount of tree must be removed in the process. It is a dear tree, and I don't want it to come to fatal harm. What should I do? From Mary

Answer: Dear Mary, old is not ugly, dying is not bad, and dead is part of the natural order. At least if you're a tree.

Old, diseased trees, and the dead trees they eventually turn into, play just as important a role in an ecosystem as the young, healthy ones do--even more important because, thanks to the misguided practices of the past, dead and dying trees have become so rare. Holes in dead and dying trees are vital nesting spots for many birds and small mammals. Dead branches and other litter (which is not necessarily a sign of disease--healthy trees drop litter too), if left to decompose naturally, are also important for ecosystem health.

When working with old trees it's important to get advice from an arborist who understands their value and won't be in too much of a hurry to make drastic changes. Before hiring an arborist, I'd ask him or her to explain the ecological value of dead and dying trees. Ideally I'd want to work with an arborist who could show me examples of dead or dying trees he/she has left standing (aka snags).

I don't know much about mistletoe because I've never lived anywhere that it grows, but I wasn't surprised to read in the Wikipedia that it is an ecologically important species. All too often, valuable native species are classified as pests just because they don't fit preconceived notions of attractiveness. To me it sounds like a pretty cool plant and one I would be happy to have in my garden.

All in all, as long as the tree doesn't pose a hazard to people or property (the advice of a professional could be helpful in making this decision), I would leave it alone to live out its life in dignity and peace. If the tree does pose a hazard, I would look for an arborist who is willing to do the least amount of work necessary to remove the hazard, making every effort to leave as much of the tree as possible and not destroy its appearance.

With any luck you will find someone who appreciates the aesthetics of old trees--who recognizes the beauty, as well as the ecological importance, of big holes, broken limbs, and gnarly wood. (With any luck, we will all find people like this as we get older--but that's another story!)

I like to answer questions! Send me a question at wildflora at gmail dot com and I'll try to answer it. If you provide an email address, I usually respond privately within a few days. (If I forget, please forgive me and send me a reminder.)

Looking for a question and answer that appeared here previously? I am archiving them at my new website. Currently you'll find one question and answer about how to get rid of a multiflora rose and another about how to move a bumblebee nest.

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