BEEBO SAYS: Go Ye Therefore and Pollinate

Man oh man, I just about missed it! Lucky I heard about it yesterday before it was all over. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry joined other governors nationwide in declaring the week of June 22-28 as National Pollinator Week. That's THIS week! I wonder if our friendly neighborhood birds, bees, butterflies, flies, moths, bats and beetles know this week is special for them. I'll go share with them as soon as I'm finished sharing with you.



I heard Steve Buchmann, the international coordinator of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, talk to Melissa Block on All Things Considered (NPR of course) about National Pollinator Week yesterday.

You might not know this important information from the Pollinator Partnership:

"Pollination is vital to our survival and the existence of nearly all ecosystems on earth. 80% of the world's crop plants depend on pollination. Pollinators, almost all of which are insects, are indispensable partners for an estimated 1 out of every 3 mouthfuls of food, spices and condiments we eat, and the beverages we drink. They are essential to the fibers we use, the medicines that keep us healthy, and more than half of the world's diet of fats and oils. Insect pollinators, including honey bees, pollinate products amounting to $20 billion annually in the U.S. alone."

That's awesome. Let's see, since I've been writing "one out of every three mouthfuls of food", would include 1 of the 3 spoonfuls of Snickerdoodle cookie dough from my fridge, 1 of the 3 tall glasses of iced tea, one of the three slices of last night's pizza. Thanks bees. I'm sure that's not what the Pollinator People meant, but I'm appreciative, nonetheless.

To ensure the survival of pollinators for future generations of people and plants, Steve, the save-the-bumble-bees guy from the NPR interview, recommended planting native wildflowers as part of your landscaping.



I actually spend a spectacularly unreasonable amount of my time doing just that. The yellow flowers in the picture are a species of Coreopsis that I yanked from the field behind Elaine's house last summer before developers scraped it bare for the new housing being built there. There are white Yarrow flowers to the right of the photo that I snuck out of the site of the new school just before construction began there last fall.(orange flip flops, rain-soaked hoodie, barbed wire fence... NOW do you remember that story?) I'm excited that these stolen treasures actually survived the transplant and the winter, and are growing like wildflowers should! The Butterfly Milkweed, another variety of Coreopsis, the Sumac, Gaillardia, prickly pear cactus, wild plum, and Black-eyed Susans that I planted last year came up again too. I visit them daily.



Steve also mentioned planting heirloom varieties of vegetables and flowers that need and enjoy lots of pollination. That is, instead of planting highly hybridized varieties, you can look for the ones marked "heirloom", or just go rob your great-granny of the cannas that have been in her yard since before you were born. Those ruffly double knockout roses in my front bed look great, but I haven't noticed many bees, since there probably isn't much pollen present.



Bees do love my lavender plants though.




I have one heirloom variety of tomato, a dark Cherokee, that I love. It has blossoms but not fruit yet.




So, anything pollinatin' at your place?