POLLINATOR GARDENING
TIPS
STORY BY DONALD A. PROMNITZ
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
As people get their overalls and gardening gloves back on, there’ s a strong desire by many to grow flowers and plants that are not only pleasing to the eye, but beneficial to the environment.
Pollinator gardens are becoming popular, with their conservational benefits being a major draw. Suzette Striegel, horticulture and education program coordinator for ISU’ s Extension and Outreach center for Mahaska County, noted that 75 % of flowering crops and 35 % of food crops rely on pollinators. These include corn and soybeans, the lifeblood of Iowan agriculture.
Striegel said pollinators go beyond bees, with birds and even mammals playing a part in the process.
“ Pollinators are necessary to develop the fruits and vegetables that surround seeds, so that’ s a lot of food,” Striegel said.“ And it isn’ t just the butterflies and moths and bees— which would include the solitary bees, as well as bumblebees and sweat bees— It also includes ants and flies and beetles, birds, bats, even.”
However, over recent years and with the help of ongoing conservation efforts, one insect in particular has become the poster child for pollinators.
12 AGRICULTURE MAGAZINE