Every little bit counts

Pollinator week (see next post) became more personal to me when I made this small discovery. Outside my office door at work is a little garden plot with a random assortment of interesting things to try and keep records on. This year I included a curly parsley plant that I allowed to go to flower knowing that it is the primary host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polyxenes. Swallowtails are some of the largest and most attractive butterflies, which are usually yellow or black, and have distinctive two-pronged wing protusions, like the swallow (bird). I hadn't thought much about the parsley or the promise of its symbiotic relationship with catepillars for several weeks, but just recently examined the plant and found six larvae carefully camouflaged amongst the flowers. Hooray for encouraging pollination and species survival!

So what can you do for pollinators?

• design your garden so their is a continuous succession of plants flowering from spring to fall.
• use plants native to your region that provide nectar for adults plus food for insect larvae.
• avoid pesticides
• supply water for all wildlife
• share fun facts, such as this one to add to your "gee-whiz" collection: Did you know that one out of every three mouthfuls of food we eat and beverages we drink is delivered to us by pollinators?