Time to celebrate our pollinators! From June 17-23 is National Pollinator Week and time to think about what we can do to help pollinators thrive. Pollinators play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of most fruits and vegetables. These hard-working animals help pollinate over 75% of our flowering plants, and nearly 67% of our food crops.
At Bees N Blooms we host numerous pollinators—native bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, hoverflies, honeybees, bats, as well as many other insects. This week at the farm stand, we have many flowering plants (including lavender!) that are favorites of Sonoma County pollinators, so stop by to enhance your garden space with these beauties.
Monarchs and Milkweed
Monarch butterflies are the iconic butterfly of North America. The California Monarchs overwinter in the Central Coast region of the state, migrating from the Western U.S. and Canada in the fall. Sadly, this year’s Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count conducted by the Xerces Society revealed critically low numbers of monarchs. In the 1980s, there were an estimated 4.5 million monarchs overwintering in California. Over Thanksgiving 2018, the population was counted at 28,429 monarchs—just 0.6% of the historic population and below the projected threshold for collapse of the western monarch migration.
Monarchs are dependent on Milkweed to survive as it is the only plant the caterpillars will eat. The sap of the plant renders the caterpillars toxic and bad-tasting to birds, which protects them from predators. Thus, butterflies seek out milkweed and lay their eggs only on this plant.
Over the last 25 years, changes in agricultural practices have led to a dramatic reduction in Monarch habitat. The decline is due to the increase in use of genetically modified herbicide-resistant crops, where routine spraying kill everything but the resistant plants. The result is loss of milkweed in fields and along field borders. Additionally, herbicide sprays to control roadside vegetation has also reduced the abundance of milkweed nationwide.
You can help by planting milkweed for pollinators in your gardens
At Bees N Blooms we have three varieties of native milkweeds for sale; Showy, Indian and Narrowleaf, all from Larner seeds (https://www.larnerseeds.com/) in Bolinas. Stop by and pick up some plants!
Right now, we are in height of lavender bloom (check out the Lavender Bloom Status page), a great opportunity to see not only our honey bees, but all of the pollinators at work. Bring a picnic and enjoy the hum of busy bees.
