Spring is the ideal time to embrace biodiversity. Gardeners can see the effects, perhaps not overnight, but over a season it becomes evident that our plots are thriving when we’ve attracted wildlife into our gardens by helping to create the balance that nature needs to properly prosper.
Take the humble bumblebee for example. It really is our best friend in the garden! Even though these hard working pollinators might seem scary to some people, they very rarely sting and when they do, it’s always used a last resort when defending themselves.
As pollinators, a bee’s importance cannot be overstated. Approximately 80 percent of food crops grown around the world require pollination and that’s mainly done by the hardworking bee. Unfortunately the bees are having a particularly hard time at the moment. It’s become entirely clear that the use of pesticides and herbicides are the main contributor to what has been described as ‘colony collapse disorder’. Millions of bees have died and this disturbing occurrence is not just taking place in North America, but all over the world. Because of this, it’s crucial that we home gardeners do what we can to ensure the survival of the bee by offering them a safe haven from chemicals. Considering just how important they are with respect to our food supply, the consequences could be devastating to say the least.
We can help by offering bees and other pollinators, plants that are attractive to them when foraging for food. Consider growing bee balm (monarda) in the garden. It’s an excellent choice and certainly lives up to its name! The bonus is that bee balm is extremely appealing to hummingbirds and some butterflies, too! Other varieties that appeal to bees are Aconitum (Monkshood), Delphinium, Digitalis (Foxglove), Lupinus X polyphylla (Lupine) Physostegia virginiana (Obedient Plant), and Pulmonaria (Lungwort).
As luck would have it, the same gardening practices that attract and help wildlife also improve our air, water and soil quality so the benefit goes beyond our gardens, and it only takes a few plants and some forethought to create a habitat for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. We can even attract these wonderfully helpful creatures to our garden by adding just a couple of containers with some flowering annuals. Gardeners with limited space may want to plant vertically by using wall space or fences to grow perennial vines like honeysuckle, Virginia creeper or annuals like sweet pea or morning glory. Even planting a hanging basket or two attracts pollinators.
Butterflies are drawn to more open-faced yellow and purple flowers, as well as herbs like dill, thyme, oregano and parsley, but by choosing native plants to our region, we offer the ultimate gift as they are even more attractive to pollinators than anything else we could grow.
By making a conscious effort to not use harmful chemicals in the garden, we are encouraging beneficial insects like ladybugs to visit and they eat aphids! Toads and frogs are also great allies in the garden because they eat slugs and grasshoppers. I have a couple broken clay pots, turned upside down, which offers these creatures some shelter during rainstorms, and placing by placing seashells in the garden which will collect water, that offers them a place to drink.
With very little maintenance, the garden will be a welcome haven for all kinds of insects and birds, and wildlife, while adding beauty and creating sustainability at the same time. Whether it’s mulching beds, reducing the size of lawn, which happens to be the most unnatural landscape of all considering the chemicals and water use that go into maintaining one, or by harvesting rainwater in a barrel for use on annual containers, we all benefit by preserving the environment and creating an ecological balance in our own backyard.
