Hivegardens weekly theme is about pollinators.
Pollinators are quite important for gardening since these insects transfer pollen from one flower to another. This is needed for the process of fertilization. Whithout insects many plants will not be able to reproduce. Some plants can do self-pollination, but a lot of them don't.
So without pollinators a lot of the crops and trees will not grow any fruit.

[Disclaimer: All images in this post are mine]

How pollination works

With pollination insects try to get their nectar from the plants. While doing this they get pollen sticked on their bodies from the male flowers. When they then visit a female flower they 'acidentally' transfer some of the pollen which results in fertilization of the flower.
This causes the plant to grow fruits. It works this way with both vegetables (like cucumbers and zucchini's) as fruit trees like apple and pear trees.

How to attract pollinators

When you have a lot of flowers or flowering plants the pollinators like bees and hoverflies will come automatically.
Last year I had planted some wildflower seeds which attracted a lot of them. But my apple, peach and almond trees also blossom and that also attracts many insects, so I don't have to worry about the pollination.
Last year I also bought an insect hotel. My parents in law had one in their backyard and it was full of mason bees. They went into the little bamboo sticks. You could see that most of them were filled up by the bees.
Unfortunately my hotel is still empty after two years.
I hardly see any insect around it. I have moved it to several places in my garden, facing all directions, in direct sunlight or shade, but non of that helped.
The insects may not want to sleep in my garden, they do want to visit it a lot.

Photography

Beside the fact that pollinators are very useful for the fertilization of my plants, I also like to photograph them. Insects are such lovely subjects.
I really like to make macro shots where you can see the details of these ingenious creatures up close.
Just look at this bumblebee I photographed last year. You can see the pouches filled with pollen sticking to his hind legs.

Tips for attracting pollinators

If you want to attract pollinators to your garden you need to plant flowering plants and flowers.
One of my favorite plants is the Oxeye. This plant (the one in the photo above) attracts loads of bees and butterflies with its bright yellow flowers.
Another nice (and fast growing) plant that attracts a lot of insects is the Butterfly Bush (Buddleja). It can get really tall in just one season, so you do have to cut it back every year. They come in a couple of different colors like white, purple and pink.

Two of my other plants that attract a lot of insects are my Snowberry (in the first photo of this blog) and my Cenothus.

Our garden center also sells special bee or butterfly mixed seeds you can sow. It's quite easy and you can sow them on every small open spot in your garden.

Help pollinators, so they can help you!

Pollinators are having a difficult time nowadays with the use of pesticides, fully paved backyards and the increasing temperature, so they really could use some help.
So help the pollinators in your garden, so they can help you with fertilizing your garden!

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FriendlyMoose

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