1. Backyard Gardening For Pollinators

2. What Do Pollinators Need?
Food
Shelter
Protection From Pesticides

3. Food

4. Providing Pollen and Nectar
Nectar – energy and amino acids
Pollen – protein

5. Providing Pollen and Nectar
Goals:
Use a wide variety of plants
Provide diversity in flower size, shape, structure
Provide continuous bloom early spring through late fall
Provide butterfly host plants

6. Variety in Flower Structure

7. Flower Variety in Size, Shape, Color

8. Flower Types Attractive to Pollinators

9. Our Concept of ‘Weeds’

14. Noxious Weeds Shatter cane (Sorghum bicolor).
Russian thistle (Salsola Kali var. tenuifolia).
Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense L. (Pers.)).
Wild parsnip ( Pastinaca sativa).
Wild carrot (Queen Annes lace) (Daucus carota L.).
Oxeye daisy (Chrysanthermum leucanthemum var. pinnatifidum).
Wild mustard (Brassica kaber var. pinnatifida).
Grapevines: when growing in groups of one hundred or more and not pruned, sprayed, cultivated, or otherwise maintained for two consecutive years.
Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense L. (Scop.)).
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum).
Cressleaf groundsel (Senecio glabellus).
Musk thistle (Carduus nutans).
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).
Mile-A-Minute Weed (Polygonum perfoliatum).
Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).
Apple of Peru (Nicandra physalodes).
Marestail (Conyza canadensis)
Kochia (Bassia scoparia).
Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri).
Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata)
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)

15. Invasives

16. Variety in Bloom Time

19. What About Wintertime?
Leave plants with fruits and seeds standing

20. Butterfly Host Plants
Black Swallowtail Spice Bush Swallowtail Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Parsley, carrot, celery, dill Spicebush, sassafras Black cherry, ash, tulip tree, spicebush
American Painted Lady Viceroy Monarch
Pearly everlasting Willow, poplars, black cherry Milkweed

21. Butterfly Host Plants
Flowers: Aster (Aster spp.) Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) Hollyhock (Alcea rosea) Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja spp.) Mallow (Malva spp.) Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) Pussy-toe (Antennaria plantaginifolia) Rue (Ruta graveolens) Ruellia (Ruellia spp.) Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum spp.) Silver Brocade (Artemisia stellariana) Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) Spider flower (Cleome hasslerana) Sunflower (Helianthus spp.) Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) Swamp Verbena (Verbena hastata) Tall Verbena (Verbena bonariensis) Violet (Viola spp. ) Water Dock (Rumex verticillatus) Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa) Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
Vines: Passion Flowers (Passiflora spp.) Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla
Herbs: Dill (Antheum graveolens) Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Grasses: Little Bluestem Grass (Schizachyrium scoparium) Orchard Grass (Dactylis glomerata ) Panic Grass (Panicum spp.)
Shrubs: Coontie (Zamia pumila) False Indigo (Baptisia australis) Spicebush (Lindera benzoin )
Trees: Aspen Tree (Populus spp.) Common HopTree (Ptelea trifoliata) Elm Tree (Ulmus spp. ) Flowering Dogwood (Cornus) Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Sweet Bay (Magnolia virginiana) Willow (Salix)

22. X

23. Natives Adapted to our climate Tolerate poor conditions
Low maintenance
Beneficial for native pollinators

24. Other Considerations Spread elements throughout yard Plant in groups
Avoid modern hybrid flowers, especially those with "doubled" flowers.
Night-blooming flowers will support moths and bats.

25. Getting Started

26. Where to Get Plants Native plant nurseries Native seed companies
Local native plant sales
Cox Arboretum
Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm
Marianist Environmental Education Center

27. Shelter

28. Shelter Protection from severe weather and predators Sites for nesting
Solitary bees make small tunnels in the ground or use beetle tunnels in trees
Social bumble bees use small cavities, like rodent burrows

29. Nest Sites

31. Water

32. Water Features Pools, ponds, small containers
Should be shallow or have sloping sides

33. Protection From Pesticides

34. Protection From Pesticides
Insecticides are dangerous to bee and butterfly species
Herbicides kill potential food sources

35. Integrated Pest Management

36. Attracting Beneficial Insects
Beneficial insects, many of which are also pollinators, help destroy harmful insects
Attract them by:
Planting flowering plants surrounding your garden (nectar and pollen will attract beneficials)
Plant ‘insectary plants’ which attract and sustain beneficial insects

37. Insectary Plants Sweet alyssum (white variety) Buckwheat Fennel
It belongs to the mustard family. Flowering period is long (several months). Natural enemies attracted include minute pirate bug, lacewings and ladybugs (predators) as well as small parasitic wasps that can attack aphids and other small insects.
Buckwheat
It is very attractive to honeybees, hover flies, soldier beetles, parasitic wasps and parasitic flies. Plus, predatory insects including assassin bugs, shield bugs, and predatory stink bugs.
Fennel
This plant attracts many ladybeetles, wasps, and hover flies. Fennel is also a host plant for the caterpillars of the anise swallowtail butterfly.
Sunflower
This plant can attract predatory insects such as big-eyed bugs, wasps, lady beetles and predatory bugs. 
Mustard
It is very attractive to lacewings, ladybeetles, and parasitic wasps that attack aphids and other small-sized insects.

38. When Using Insecticides
Choose selective insecticides when possible
Read labels carefully
Apply according to label instructions
Apply at night when pollinators are less active

39. Other Considerations

40. Other Considerations
‘Salt lick’ – Sea salt on the ground or mixed with water
A place to rest, such as rocks
Windbreaks

41. Questions?