Think about planting for pollinators
We can look at the colorful flowers that most perennials possess and hopefully realize that as attractive as we find these, the goal of the flowering plant is not simply to attract us but rather a pollinator. Most insects perceive ultraviolet light, and looking at flowers under ultraviolet reveals a whole other picture that we never see. Check out naturfotograf.com/UV_flowers_list.html if you’re interested.
Help pollinators, one city flowerpot at a time
It does not end there however. Once a plant is pollinated, what then? It’s time to be eaten, of course! These primary consumers of plant material such as deer or domesticated cattle are the next tier in a system that ultimately includes us as well. So in reality, there’s a bit more to it than saving the honeybee from colony collapse disorder or being ambivalent to the wholesale loss of the monarch butterfly. But these all may come back to wreak havoc on our species as well.
My advice is to start doing your share to provide resources for pollinators. Bees can benefit from plantings of lupines, sunflowers, blanket flower, Russian sage, borage and oregano to mention just a few.
For butterflies, we need to see more buckwheat planted. Purple coneflower is great for butterflies and bees. Hyssop is great for butterflies and bees as well. If you want to help the monarch butterfly, plant our native milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). I’ll be planting out 100 Asclepias for butterflies within the next few weeks on the Oregon State University campus. Should be fun.
Al Shay is a consulting horticulturist and instructor at OSU. Contact baxtersnoo@ yahoo.com.