by Connie Oswald Stofko
No matter what size garden you have– even if it’s only a few containers on your balcony– we invite you to join the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.
One of the significant threats to the health of pollinators is the scarcity and degradation of plants that they use for forage. The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge wants to increase the number of landscapes of every size– including pots on a balcony– that have plants that provide the nectar and pollen that bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators need.
The challenge aims to count one million gardens. If you register your garden, you could bee one in a million!
A group that I belong to, the Association for Garden Communicators (GWA), is encouraging gardeners to register their gardens. Your garden doesn’t have to be large and it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you are trying to take steps to attract pollinators, you can register your garden.
I’ve registered mine– It’s easy to do. You can add a photo or video from your garden if you like. And where it asks for your Organization/Partnership Affiliation, if you could choose the Association for Garden Communicators (GWA), that would be great.
The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge is an initiative of the National Pollinator Garden Network, a collaboration of stakeholders from the garden, pollinator and conservation communities working together to support the health of pollinating animals.
You can find lots of useful resources for attracting pollinators at the site of one of those groups, Pollinator Partnership. I especially like their planting guides. Type in your Zip Code to find the right guide for your area. It’s interesting that different parts of Western New York fall into different ecoregions.
We’ve talked before about the importance of pollinators to our gardens and some of the dangers facing pollinators.
Pollinators are responsible for one out of three bites of food we take each day, yet pollinators are at critical point in their own survival. Many reasons contribute to their recent decline, but we know that providing more flowering plants and trees will help improve their health and numbers.
I get a wide variety of pollinators in my garden. Many are native bees too. Sadly there has been a decline in Bumblebees this past year.
Thanks, Linda. They really do have great information.
Wow, This is quite a project and there is a real wealth of information available through the National Pollinator Garden Network. Thanks Connie.