Many people I know, myself included, often run to the grocery store for simple needs such as vegetables, fruits and herbs. Although we may be growing these items in our own gardens, we often struggle to produce enough food to sustain our households. However, there is an often-overlooked way to help increase garden yields. The solution may be to boost the number of pollinators.
Bees and other pollinators are vital to the garden ecosystem. One way to support them while contributing to the beauty of your own garden is to construct a pollinator habitat.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, "pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma. The goal of every living organism, including plants, is to create offspring for the next generation" The Forest Service also tells us how pollen grains are transferred between different plants stating that "these vectors can include wind, water, birds, insects, butterflies, bats, and other animals that visit flowers." You’ll find more information at: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/What_is_Pollination/.
A study based in Lore Lindu National Park, Indonesia, found that an increase in vegetation does not necessarily lead to more pollinators and may even cause fewer pollinators to be present. However, the study did find that an increase in floral vegetation led to an increase in pollinators. The study goes on to credit the rise in pollinators for improving crop yields.
One key element in creating your pollinator habitat is understanding what floral vegetation should be used. It is important to provide pollinators with a variety of plants that bloom from spring to fall. For example, pollinators can benefit from golden currants, which bloom in early spring, and rabbitbrush, which bloom in the fall. The City of Flagstaff has a great list of pollinator plants: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/What_is_Pollination/.
Some perennial favorites are scarlet cinquefoil, golden columbine, coral bells, purple coneflower, and poppy mallow. Shrubs, larger bushes, and trees are also valuable to pollinators. A few examples are Gambel oak, woods' rose, fernbush, the three-leaf sumac, and chokecherry. All of these different plants are important for pollinators and help keep the pollinator habitats robust.
An increase of these pollinator plants also helps increase the yields of plants surrounding the pollinator ecosystems. A study conducted in Witzenhausen, Germany, showed the effects of increased pollination in local cherry trees. It demonstrated that an increase in biodiversity leads to more bee diversity and that an increase in the proportion of high-diversity bee habitats resulted in more fruit set.
Nearly all of these elements of pollinator habitats can be mimicked in small urban gardens using native or nonnative flowering plants. The use of small, raised beds full of various perennial flowers, a grove of flowering trees, or even shrubbery around a house would suffice. For example, in my home in Colorado, my mother utilizes a small flower bed where she grows poppies that are very beneficial to pollinators and produce beautiful blooms. I eventually see myself using pots around my house to grow many different flowers to help local pollinators, which will benefit local gardeners.
All of the studies discussed lead to the same conclusion: an increase in floral biodiversity leads to an increase in pollinator populations.
Jacob Kaiser was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He moved to Flagstaff last August to study Environmental Sustainability at NAU. He is an avid outdoorsman and has summited many 14ers in the Colorado Rockies, backpacked in Colorado backcountry, and visited many beautiful landscapes. He hopes to one day take his love for the outdoors and turn it into a career.
We are taking applications for the next Master Gardener course that starts in January 2022. We are offering it as an in-person class and online. For more information about the program well as the application, visit: https://extension.arizona.edu/coconino-master-gardener.
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