A grove of Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, four to six feet tall, has grown up alongside my driveway, where I almost never water, and is now in its full glory. From dawn to dusk, the buzz of pollinators at work is intense; honeybees, bumblebees large, medium and small, plus sweat bees, hoverflies, little tiny bees and wasps, constantly trading places, collecting pollen and sipping nectar. Yesterday, as I made my way slowly and carefully past the grove to get to my car door, one of the abovementioned made a wrong turn and found herself between my capri pants and my thigh, and panicked. The sting was painful for a few minutes, no big deal, but may have been fatal for the unwitting trespasser.
The moral of the story is: Cleome serrulata supports an amazing diversity of pollinators, and gets big, so park on the street in August!
Of course, Rocky Mt. Beeplant, a native species, is only one of hundreds of flowers that support our pollinators, and can grow with little care. And in my garden it grows adjacent to many other species with a broad diversity of bloom seasons, flower colors, shapes and sizes, appealing to an equal diversity of pollinators.
My garden has developed over decades, but you can create a garden area of great diversity and pollinator appeal quite rapidly by planting, from pots or seeds, this late-summer and fall, as temperatures return to moderation. I’m delighted that I’m seeing more pollinator gardens popping up in my neighborhood every year. Some are perennial plantings that increase in flower-power each year. And some are from ‘wildflower’ seed mixes, which are usually composed of self-sowing annual and biennial flowers. Some of these are not native to our region, but thrive here and still have broad appeal to native and non-native pollinating insects. Seeds sown directly in the ground in mid to late autumn should produce a rich display the following year.
While we can’t design your whole garden for you on the spot, we definitely can guide you in creating a beautiful, low-maintenance garden that will make a real difference to the survival of our best friends, pollinators.
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Upcoming Pollinator Events:
National Honeybee Day – August 17, 2024 – Try some local honey, and plant pollinator-supporting plants!
8th Annual PPAN Bumblebee Bash – September 7, 2024 – Harlequin’s is proud to be a sponsor of this event. Tickets here