Fall Tips to Help Overwintering Pollinators

Did you know that you can help save the planet and its pollinators by gardening? It may sound dramatic, but it’s true.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 35% of the world’s food crops and 75% of the world’s flowering plants need pollinators for survival and reproduction. So, it’s critical that we do what we can to help our pollinator buddies survive the winter.

Here’s a guide to pollinators and how you can help save and support pollinators.

What is a pollinator?

A pollinator transports pollen from the stamen (male part) of one flower to a stigma (female part) of a different flower. Plants can be self-pollinating, but self-pollinators account for only 10-15% of all flowering plants.

Who qualifies as a pollinator?

A pollinator can be either animate or inanimate. For example, the wind can pollinate plants such as corn. However, many pollinators are animals such as insects, slugs, birds, and reptiles. If you accidentally carried pollen from your clothes to other plants or intentionally pollinated plants, then you also are a pollinator.

Shockingly, 40% of insect pollinators are now threatened with extinction. This is why we must help our pollinator friends, and one way is by helping them to survive the winter.

How to Help Pollinators Survive the Winter

Some pollinators, such as monarch butterflies and hummingbirds, migrate to warmer climates during the winter. However, other pollinators, such as native bees and beetles, brave winter’s cold. Here is how you can help pollinators with your garden.

Create a Pollinator Safe House

Instead of cleaning up your garden and putting your “garden to bed,” just leave it. Or, if you really want to, place branches on top of your leaves to stop them from blowing away. Your dead annuals can also stop leaves from blowing away. The leaves, stems, and garden debris make safe houses for pollinators over the winter. 

Luna moths’ cocoons even look like dried leaves, so they need leaves to blend in with and stay safe from predators.

Beetles and hoverflies are pollinators who need leaves as well. They love to nestle into leaves for protection against winter’s cold weather.  Before you say, “Ew,” would you feel differently if you knew that hoverflies and beetles eat aphids? Saving these insects is a great and organic method of aphid control.

So, you can do more for pollinators and the planet by cleaning your garden less. Leave the leaves!

Leave Some Soil Uncovered

While leaves are great, you should also leave some bare soil for ground-nesting pollinators to overwinter. Many bee species, such as bumblebees, need sunny, bare ground to stay warm in their underground nests.

Build a Woodpile

Woodpiles are perfect for wool carter bees, red mason bees, and leaf cutter bees to build nests in and stay dry during the winter. They can also build their nests in old wood, so keep logs and stumps if you have them.

Plant Flowers for Each Season

Some pollinators, such as the mourning cloak, comma, and question mark butterflies, hibernate during the winter. However, other pollinators feed during mild temperatures in winter. So, one of the best ways to help pollinators is to ensure that they have food to eat for each season. Here are some ways to give pollinators year-round food sources.

• Plant Early-Blooming Flowers: Early-blooming flowers include forsythia, tulips, daffodils, and lilac.

• Plant Late-Blooming Flowers: Late-blooming fall flowers include rudbeckia, asters, mums, pansies, celosia, and pansies.

• Plant Winter-Blooming Plants: Winter-blooming plants include snowdrop, crocus, and primrose.

Reduce Your Pesticide Use

Some of the worst pesticides for pollinators are neonicotinoids and sulfoxaflor. These chemicals can harm pollinators, amphibians, birds, fish, and mammals according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

For information on safe pesticides for pollinators, call or visit Timbuk Farms Garden Center. We’d be happy to help you.

LET US HELP

At Timbuk Farms, we love our pollinators, and we’d love to help you find the best pollinator options for your fall garden. We have decades of knowledge, and we can make sure that you find the perfect plants. Our garden center sells a variety of plants, so feel free to visit us!

We’re a family-owned business, and we grow everything locally. We know Ohio gardening. So, let us help you turn your Ohio garden into a beautiful and colorful fall display that is pollinator friendly.