For the Birds & the Bees

We have a bee charmer across the street, a field dotted with white boxes, a chorus of humming. I imagine what the bees must see as they fly above the bramble hedge from his field to ours, a sea of ultraviolet, attracting them to the nectar within each flower. We depend upon each other for flower, food, beauty...life. Each of us can be a part in this gift, no matter our garden size. A potted lavender outside your balcony or a whole field of flowers. The smallest contribution is welcome to our pollinator friends especially ones that travel long distances in urban areas where parking lots or lawns may have taken the place of native foods. Wherever we are we can offer an oasis of delight.

How we can create a garden pollinators will flock to...

Plant flowers that bloom throughout the year, providing consistent food sources for hummingbirds and other pollinators. Floral nectar is the majority of a hummingbirds food source and they expand so much energy in flight that they need to constantly be nourished.

 Hummingbirds are attracted to color and will return for years to come if you plant enough for them. They have long tongues, made for sipping nectar from trumpet shaped flowers like hyssop, catmint, nasturtiums, honeysuckle, butterfly bush and columbine...there's an abundance we can choose from! You can click here to view all our flowers for pollinators.

Build an insect hotel! There's thousands of bee species that all play a part in pollinating different fruits, foods and flowers & we can create habitats for them to thrive. 

We can opt out of using pesticides and herbicides which are harmful not only to pollinators, but also the soil. 

Plant pollinator plants like catmint, hyssop, coneflower, daisy, lavender & yarrow. Monarchs need us and we can help by planting their only food source, milkweed! Swallowtails and bumble bees love a broad flower to land on like butterfly bush(pictured above), yarrow, pincushion and coneflowers.

Berry producing shrubs & trees provide double duty as wind breaks, higher and safer places to nest, as a well as food. 

Preserving and planting shrub & tree canopies bring in other species of birds and safe places from predators while giving you their beneficial droppings, light tilling of the soils, continual insect gobbling and some birds, like hummingbirds are pollinators. Birds devour caterpillars, insect eggs throughout the bark on trees, weed seeds in the soil and so much more. If planning on using any insecticide on those bugs, consider the birds, who if provided for with a habitat of protection & food sources, will in turn balance out any pests to the garden. 

There's so many little things we can do and none of it will go unnoticed by the birds & the bees. 

With love, Laura