The passion and urgency that inspired WWI and WWII Victory Gardens is needed today to meet another threat to our food supply and our environment—the steep decline of pollinators. The Pollinator Victory Garden offers practical solutions for winning the war against the demise of these essential animals.
Pollinators are critical to our food supply and responsible for the pollination of the vast majority of all flowering plants on our planet. Pollinators include not just bees, but many different types of animals, including insects and mammals. Beetles, bats, birds, butterflies, moths, flies, and wasps can be pollinators.
But, many pollinators are in trouble, and the reality is that most of our landscapes have little to offer them. Our residential and commercial landscapes are filled with vast green pollinator deserts, better known as lawns. These monotonous green expanses are ecological wastelands for bees and other pollinators.
With The Pollinator Victory Garden, you can give pollinators a fighting chance. Learn how to transition your landscape into a pollinator haven by creating a habitat that includes pollinator nutrition, larval host plants for butterflies and moths, and areas for egg laying, nesting, sheltering, overwintering, resting, and warming. Find a wealth of information to support pollinators while improving the environment around you:
• The importance of pollinators and the specific threats to their survival• How to provide food for pollinators using native perennials, trees, and shrubs that bloom in succession• Detailed profiles of the major pollinator types and how to attract and support each one• Tips for creating and growing a Pollinator Victory Garden, including site assessment, planning, and planting goals• Project ideas like pollinator islands, enriched landscape edges, revamped foundation plantings, meadowscapes, and other pollinator-friendly lawn alternatives
The time is right for a new gardening movement. Every yard, community garden, rooftop, porch, patio, commercial, and municipal landscape can help to win the war against pollinator decline with The Pollinator Victory Garden.
ISBN-13: 9781631597503
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Quarry Books
Publication Date: 01-07-2020
Pages: 160
Product Dimensions: 8.50(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Kim Eierman is an environmental horticulturist and landscape designer specializing in ecological landscapes and native plants. She is the Founder of EcoBeneficial, a horticulture consulting and communications company in Westchester County, New York. Kim teaches at the New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Native Plant Center, Rutgers Home Gardeners School, and advanced education classes for Master Gardeners. An active speaker nationwide on many ecological landscaping topics, she also provides horticultural consulting and ecological design to commercial, municipal, and retail clients.In addition to being a Certified Horticulturist through the American Society for Horticultural Science, Kim is an Accredited Organic Landcare Professional, a Steering Committee member of The Native Plant Center, and a member of The Ecological Landscape Alliance and the Association for Garden Communicators (GWA). Kim received the Silver Award of Achievement from the Garden Writers Association in 2014, 2015, and 2017.
Table of Contents
Introduction 6
1 Essentials of Pollinators and Pollination 8
2 Providing Pollinators with a Place to Live 24
3 Providing Pollinators with Food to Eat 42
4 Parade of Pollinators: Meet the Pollinators 90
5 Creating and Growing a Pollinator Victory Garden 120
Appendix 146
Ten Tips for a Thriving Pollinator Victory Garden 146
Pollinator Victory Garden Checklist 148
Plant Lists 150
Early-Blooming Native Trees and Shrubs for Bees 150
Native Flowering Plants for Native Pollinators 152
Native Flowering Plants for Honey Bees 153
Native Flowering Plants for Hummingbirds 154
Recommended Books 155
Index 158
About the Author 160
