Pollinator Insect Conservation - Gardening for Pollinators

Gardening for Pollinator Insects

"These insects, so essential to our agriculture and indeed to our landscape as we know it, deserve something better from us than the senseless destruction of their habitat."

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Pollinator conservation is an easy and straightforward thing to do. It needs little or no specialized knowledge or equipment and can be done in to any situation. Whether you are a homeowner working in your own garden, a land manager for a city park, a farmer with field margins, or a steward for a nature preserve, there is something you can do to help pollinators.

Like all wildlife, pollinators need food and shelter, which you can provide by:

Growing a diversity of native plants whose blooming times overlap to provide flowers throughout the seasons.
Establishing nesting and egg-laying sites, with appropriate nesting materials.
Constructing sheltered, undisturbed places for hibernation and overwintering.
Maintaining a landscape free of poisonous pesticides.

On this web site, you will find how to:

Make nests for native bees.
Chose bee-friendly plants in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the country
Enhance gardens for butterflies

For detailed information on providing habitat for pollinators, read the Pollinator Conservation Handbook, produced by the Xerces Society and The Bee Works.