Three Ways to Support Pollinators Year Round
Did you know that pollinators need our help year round, not just in the summer?
Many of our native pollinators only survive for a very short time during the growing season. Once they’ve lived out their lives, they lay eggs underground or in rotting wood, which protects them from the cold until they hatch in the spring. What looks like debris around the yard to us can actually make great habitats for pollinators and their eggs!
Here are three things you can do to help support pollinators in your yard, community garden, or local greenspace:
Leave a pile of sticks, yard clippings, etc. in your yard. These piles make a perfect habitat for all kinds of critters in the wintertime, including pollinators.
When a branch or tree comes down, leave some of it in your garden. Fallen logs offer some of the best places for native insects to lay their eggs as well as providing ideal cover for insects like queen bald face hornets, who hibernate during the winter.
DON’T collect your leaves or cut back your plants until early spring! By being a “lazy” gardener in the fall, you’re actually providing a perfect habitat for pollinators who make their nests inside of the stems of dead plants or rely on the insulation from a leaf layer to survive the winter.
These practices may not be possible everywhere, but even small changes in our land management habits can make big differences. That’s especially true in urban and suburban landscapes.