Everyone can plant a flower for National Pollinator Week!
Once again, it is National Pollinator Week and a fantastic time to thank the bees, butterflies, and other pollinators by giving them a hand. There are so many threats to pollinators — pesticides, diseases, habitat loss, and more — that one can be discouraged. But everyone can easily do one thing to help pollinators: plant a beautiful bee-friendly flowering plant.Whether adding bee-friendly perennial wildflowers to frame your front yard, planting a pollinator hedgerow along your farm road, including bee-flowers in your vegetable garden, or just planting a pot with a sunflower on your porch, any effort to increase the number of flowers available for bees can help pollinators and beautify your home or farm. Plus, it is a great joy to watch the bees visit the flowers you plant and to share this wildlife with your friends and neighbors.Here are some places you can go to find information about which plants are best for your area.
Xerces Society fact sheets: Plant lists for all regions of the U.S., including the first of a new series of regional lists. (We’ll be rolling out more new regional plant lists for bees over the coming months.)
Attracting Native Pollinators: Our best-selling book includes page after page of illustrated plant lists, as well as a host of other information about pollinators.
Don’t forget to sign the Pollinator Protection Pledgeand join the ever-expanding community of pollinator enthusiasts — and enjoy yourself as we celebrate pollinators!
Find Out More:
To discover more ways to support pollinators, including ideas for creating a bee garden in your own community, visit our Bring Back the Pollinators webpage.
Deadline June 15, and October 15
Apply Now!
A newly elected Minneapolis City Council is finally committed to enforcing city recycling rules. On Earth Day, April 2015, Minneapolis restaurants will be required to use recyclable/compostable take-out containers, and offer on site recycling.
Hennepin County has grants to help businesses with these changes:
This is from the Food Action Network and Friends of the Earth:
On the heels of recent bee declines, another important pollinator, the monarch butterfly, is also in serious trouble. In March, the New York Times reported that the number of monarchs arriving at their ancient overwintering grounds in Mexico had reached the lowest level on record.
The monarch’s sharp decline has been linked to massive increases in the planting of genetically modified (GM) crops engineered to tolerate huge doses of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. These herbicide-tolerant “Roundup Ready” crops necessitate ever-increasing amounts of the Roundup weed killer — virtually wiping out milkweed, the only food young monarchs eat.
Friends Of the Earth has launched a petition to help protect the monarch butterfly. Will you add your voice?
Monarchs, like bees, are a “canary in the coal mine.” This iconic species is one of a wide variety of pollinators and other insects, including many that benefit farmers, that are also rapidly disappearing, along with the birds, mammals and other predators that feed on them.
Tell the EPA and USDA to stop approving herbicide-resistant genetically engineered crops and to instead promote non-toxic pest and weed management to the benefit of farmers, our health, our ecosystems and the precious monarch butterfly.
This is best time of year to be outside and listen to the symphony of nature!
When many of our nesting birds reach their nesting area, they sing their beautiful unique song. Many are trying to attract a mate. In our yard the house wren sings constantly. Up north the songs of the red start warblers, song sparrow and white-throated sparrows just have to make you happy. Listen to the White-throated sparrow:
“The reason I dwell on how I do my yardwork is because this is the one task of homeownership that does not seem like a chore. Being outside with the sights and sounds of nature is something I would miss if I used a timesaving, noise-producing gadget.
I wish some of my neighbors would also stop, look and listen to nature’s surround sound theater.” Ben Cherryhomes in http://www.startribune.com
You do not need to do yard work to enjoy the sounds of May/June. Just walk around the block or walk to a nearby park. This marvelous symphony doesn’t last long. Many birds will stop singing after the eggs of the next generation are laid.
We are all worried about our bees and our butterflies! Have you ever wondered why in a city full of gardens of flowers there are so few bees and butterflies? In contrast, I observe a large diversity of bees and butterflies walking roads in northern Wisconsin where deer eat every flower within reach. The city, teaming with flowers, has less pollinators?
Unattractive flowers: Many of the attractive flowers we purchase have been hybridized so they don’t appeal to bees and butterflies.
Habitat: A combination of the two above. Have we destroyed so much native habitat that pollinators are not interested in the flowers we plant?
The purpose of this post is to encourage you to reduce or eliminate the chemicals you use in your yard. and build habitat for our pollinators by planting more native plants in your yard. Native plants do not need chemicals. With their deep root structure natives are flood and drought resistant. Also, they are resistant to invasive pests. But the best about natives is that the bees , butterflies and birds love them, and they love areas without chemicals!
It is important we plant for our pollinators. What can you do to help?
** Take a pledge not to use chemicals nor dump them into drains: The Great Healthy Yard Project http://tghyp.com/
** Build Habitat: Find a sunny place in your yard to plant pollinator loving plants or some native shrubs or trees. Plant bee balm, milkweed, liatris, cone flowers, asters and golden rod. www.xerces.com
Styrofoam is not an imaginary problem. My husband and I have spent this spring picking Styrofoam out of Lake Harriet and off the banks of the Minnehaha Creek. We have been shocked to see how it breaks into tiny particles that cannot be picked up. These particles will not dissolve, and probably will be in our lakes for generations. In contrast to a May 20 commentary (“Minneapolis: City of lightweight leaders”), we applaud the Minneapolis City Council for its concern for our lakes and waterways.
Styrofoam is expensive and difficult to recycle. Minneapolis is trying to get residents to recycle cans and bottles; adding Styrofoam would add another enormous expense. Businesses that offer polystyrene cups and containers should be forced to offer and manage the recycling of these containers. Why does government need to be there to pick up the mess of business?
I am encouraging Minneapolis and other city governments to ban Styrofoam. The past 42 days I have done daily litter pick-ups on my walks in Minneapolis. I was picking up Styrofoam along with wrappers, cans and plastic. Some of what was picked-up could be recycled, but Styrofoam, which is recyclable, is hard to find a place to recycle. I think the Twin Cities area has one place to recycle Styrofoam which is miles from my home.
At an Earth Day pick up along the Minnehaha Creek . I was surprised to notice how much the Styrofoam along the creek was breaking down into little pieces. Pieces so small it was impossible to pick up. Water and sun cause it to break up faster. The past few days I have been picking Styrofoam out of Lake Harriet. It has broken into pieces that might never dissolve and survive in the lake for generations. I wonder what harm this does to the birds and fish?
Banning restaurant containers is only a very small piece of this, but it is a start. The best part of banning Styrofoam could be that it heightens awareness for individuals who never think about the consequences of Styrofoam.
Finally, I have never figured out why businesses that sell products that are so harmful to the environment are not held responsible for what they spew. Why aren’t they at least required to offer recycling?
“People are already paying a price for allowing this packaging (styrofoam), noting the cost to remove the materials from the recycling stream, uncloging storm drains and picking up litter. You’re paying for it in so many different ways,” Minneapolis Council Member Andrew Johnson http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/258989321.html
Water, Our most valuable resource! It’s everyone’s responsibility to keep our rivers, lakes and oceans clean! Living in the City of Lakes, Minneapolis, and the first major city draining streams into the Mississippi River, we take our relationship with water quality seriously. I have an easy way for those lucky enough to live along a stream, river or lake to create sustainable pollinator habitat and keep our waters clean.
The Minnehaha Creek, a few blocks from my home is often part of my walks, bird watching and litter pick up. This Creek runs through south Minneapolis, and flows into the Mississippi River. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul sit on the banks of the Mississippi River which divides them into two cities. Last weekend my neighborhood, boy scouts and high school students did a big clean up of the creek. Every piece of litter we picked up was one more piece kept out of the Mississippi River and possibly the Gulf of Mexico.
It is also important to keep pollutants from running into the creek. Cleaning storm drains, installing rain barrels, rain gardens, and redirecting drain spouts are initiatives we promote in trying to do our best for the mighty Mississippi.
What is the problem? I was sad to read that some that farmers and others that live along water ways are not following Minnesota law to keep our rivers clean. Minnesota has a state law that requires farmers and others to create small 50 foot buffers of grasses, trees or shrubs along creeks and rivers to keep pollutants from washing into the rivers and lakes.
What can you do? An easy way to create and maintain these buffers is to plant a 50 foot strip of native plants. Why native plants in these buffer zones? Native plants have deep root structures that keep the soil in place and filter contaminants. Planting buffers of natives would build habitat for our struggling bees and butterflies, and keep our streams and lakes nitrate and phosphorous free. It’s a win-win! Unfortunately, the buffer law isn’t enforced like it should be. Many don’t like government regulation, well then…. Take responsibility to protect of our water from pollutants.
What are some plants to use? I would recommend seeding the buffer area with native perennials that take care of themselves. Some of following natives would be great water filters and create bee and butterfly habitat: Golden Alexander, swamp milkweed, Culver’s root, bee balm, little blue stem, cone flowers, vervain, asters, golden rod and any native sedges. Purchase seeds from http://www.prairiemoon.com/ Native plants are almost maintenance free once they start growing. Mowing in the spring, just once a year, would keep out trees. Good Luck!
Lake Superior is still covered with thick ice, but it is very alive, and it talks and groans. Everything surrounding the lake radiates the hope of spring. The song sparrow sings his spring song as he sits overlooking and lake, and a juvenile eagle watches for ice-out from his favorite white pine post.
New migrating birds arrive daily. Some stay, but most rest up and journey across the lake. The ancient sand hill cranes,and purple finch will be nesting in the neighborhood. Busy flickers and yellow-bellied sap suckers explore new trees before they travel further, and the flitting kinglets and yellow rumps will soon be on their way north.
A hermit thrush is exhausted and rests on a tree branch.
Our fox friend is marking his territory and the wolves/coyotes howl under the clear starry nights.
Bright green ferns are under the snow
Every day is unique and bring constant challenges to the vegetation and wildlife
The weather is close to perfect, and it is a fabulous time of the year. Get outside and enjoy our magnificent planet.
Our earth’s water, air, birds, bees and butterflies need better care, and extreme weather has become the norm. I wish our earth was healthier, and hopefully on this special day we can make a new commitment to do more to help her.
Six easy things you can do to love our earth:
1. Everyday appreciate our beautiful earth.
2. Recycle, recycle, and recycle some more, and remember to recycle those plastic bags–Many stores collect them. We should recycle 74 % of our trash according to the EPA.
3. Ask when you purchase plants if they have been treated with neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, dinotefuran) and never apply these chemicals to your yard. Some bird seed is also treated with these poisons-ASK and read labels!
5. Purchase quality products, and products that can be reused. Also, look for products made from recycled materials. EcoFact If the entire world lived like the average American, we’d need 5 planets to provide enough resources.
6. Leave your car at home one day a week, and turn off lights when not in use.
Yours for all life,
Health4earth 