Sally Scalera: It's easy to attract pollinators to your yard
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June 20-26 is National Pollinator Week. To celebrate, this article will focus on the fabulous world of pollinators.
First a botany review: Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within a flower, or in the case of cross pollination, from one flower to another. Pollination is needed for the formation of fruit and seeds.
The movement of pollen can be accomplished by the wind or with the help of animals such as bats, bees, beetles, birds, butterflies, flies and moths. The primary pollinators that typically come to mind are bees and butterflies, so those are the ones I will focus on today.
Most gardeners are aware that we could not live without pollinators because of all the cross pollination they provide for many of our food crops. Just to give you some examples, cross-pollination is needed to produce blueberries, apples, oranges, cucumbers, watermelon, almonds and many other fruits, nuts and vegetables.
The goal is to provide pollinators pesticide-free food and habitat.
Honeybees are the primary pollinators we depend upon because they deliberately forage for pollen and visit specific plant species, which is known as floral consistency or floral fidelity, during every foraging trip.
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This is beneficial because the pollen is not wasted on the wrong species of flower.
Flower constancy also explains how beekeepers can produce specific types of honey like orange blossom or tupelo.
Bees prefer flowers that are white, yellow, purple or blue. An interesting fact is they cannot see red.
Bees also need broad petal, daisy-like flowers that provide large landing pads. They gather both pollen and nectar to feed their young.
Honeybees, which are not native, were brought here to pollinate the fruit trees that were also brought here, such as apple and citrus trees.
Our native bees are solitary and do not live in large colonies, so they will rarely become defensive. Native bees also need a variety of flower types blooming throughout the year.
Florida has 315 native species of bees. Of those, approximately 70% nest in the ground by digging a tunnel in bare or semi-bare, well-draining soil. The remaining 30% of native bees nest in cavities.
When it comes to plants that attract bees, the list includes small, medium and large trees, palms, shrubs, vines, perennials, herbs and annuals/wildflowers. Basically, all types of plants have species that attract bees.
The top native flowers that support the largest number of native bees in Brevard County include:
Solidago (goldenrods), with five different species of tall-growing, yellow-flowering, narrow plants that do great in dry/well-draining soil and full sun.
Helianthus (sunflowers), with three species to choose from. H. angustifolia, Narrow-leaved sunflower, grows 3 to 5 feet with a 4 to 6 inch spread and blooms in October. Helianthus debilis, East Coast dune sunflower, will produce a clump 2 to 4 feet tall with a similar spread. Plant this in a dry location, that will not receive any irrigation, and watch it flourish.
Our native geranium rarely grows taller than 18 inches and is 1 to 2 feet wide. It is a short-lived annual and can be found in the summer or winter.
Our single species of Heterotheca, H. subaxillaris, False goldenrod, can grow to 5 feet, with a narrow spread and yellow blooms in July through November.
Chryopsis (goldenaster) has six species from which to choose.
Coreopsis (tickseed) has two species native to Brevard County.
For Pityopsis (silkgrass), we have Pityopsis graminifolia, which is a small-growing perennial that blooms late summer through early winter.
Our native species of Rudbeckia (coneflower), R. hirta, the black-eyed Susan, grows 2 to 3 feet tall with a 1 to 2 foot spread.
Symphyotrichum (old field aster), has three species to choose from. The largest one is S. carolinianum, the climbing aster, which can reach 8 feet if allowed to climb, or if trimmed, will produce a 5-foot tall and wide shrub that produces lavender flowers in late fall and winter.
Grow a variety of species so there are flowers blooming from January through December.
In comparison to bees that show flower consistency, butterflies are going for nectar but might accidently carry pollen with them to other flowers. Butterflies prefer red, orange, yellow and pink flowers. They also prefer trumpet-shaped flowers that produce sweet nectar.
Butterflies require specific host plant species to lay their eggs on, as well as to find food, shelter and water.
The easiest way to begin your butterfly garden would be to identify the butterflies you already see in your yard so that you can plant at least one of their host plants. Once you have a butterfly host plant, you will officially have a butterfly garden.
When this happens, you will be able to watch and enjoy the entire life cycle of the butterflies in your yard. You will be able to find the butterfly eggs and watch the caterpillars eat the leaves, and sometimes the flowers too, of the host plant.
After the caterpillar has eaten enough, it will create its chrysalis and go through metamorphosis.
The chrysalis stage can last for a couple of weeks, and then, typically early in the morning, the butterfly will emerge. It hangs upside down for about 30 minutes as the fluids flow into the wings, and then it is ready to fly.
If you are interested in attracting butterflies, here are some host plants that you can grow in your yard:
To attract Sulphur butterflies, plant our native Bahama cassia (Senna ligustrina) or Chapman Bahama cassia (Senna mexicana var. chapmanii).
Maypop (Passiflora incarnata), yellow passionflower (Passiflora lutea) and corky-stemmed passionflower (Passiflora suberosa) will attract gulf fritillary, Julia and zebra longwing.
Monarch and queen butterflies will be attracted to milkweed (Asclepias spp.).
Dill (Anethum graveolens), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and parsley (Petroselinium crispum) are host plants for the eastern black swallowtail.
It is very easy to attract pollinators. You just need to plant the plants they are looking for. Adding pollinator plants to your landscape will increase your viewing enjoyment as the bees and butterflies fly and flitter around your yard.
Plus, if you are growing your own food, plant flowers among the vegetable plants to increase pollination so you will have more delicious meals to eat.
Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Email sasc@ufl.edu.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Butterflies, bees are fun to watch and beneficial to the environment