To create a pollinator garden in my backyard has taken four years, one Bobcat, the assistance of three people who received an ample supply of lilies and bearded iris, four different nurseries, and original design assistance from horticulturist, Bernie Angus. This year, the pollinators truly arrived, the butterflies, and the birds. All of the effort, all of the work, was worth it!

 

Pollinators matter because we do not have the intelligence, the technology, or the labor capacity to do the work that pollinators do for us. According to the USDA, US Forest Service, “Without pollinators, the human race and all of earth’s terrestrial ecosystems would not survive. Of the 1,400 crop plants grown around the world, i.e., those that produce all of our food and plant-based industrial products, almost 80% require pollination by animals. Visits from bees and other pollinators also result in larger, more flavorful fruits and higher crop yields.”