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When does pollination happen?
Successful pollination requires year-around efforts. Plants have evolved with different flowering times that decrease competition among pollinators. Continuous blooms throughout the growing season provides pollinators with a constant food supply.
Spring: Pollinators need early blooming plants to provide food after hibernation or northern migrations. Bulbs, spring ephemerals and spring blooming fruit trees are visited during this time.
Summer: Our gardens achieve their peak bloom when many pollinators reach peak populations. The long days of summer allow pollinators the maximum time to forage for nectar.
Fall: Late blooming plants provide many pollinators with needed fuel before hibernation or for the southern migrations of pollinators like monarchs and hummingbirds.
Winter: Even when there appears to be no activity, pollinators are in the garden. Leave decaying plants alone--they may be sheltering pollinating insects as they overwinter.
Do you know some butterflies travel thousands of miles?
At the beginning of each spring, monarch butterflies migrate north from Mexico, following the growth of milkweed. They travel up to 30 miles a day, returning to Mexico in the fall. |