Stop and See the Wildlife

Pam Haze
Adams County Master Gardener

(9/21) Have you ever stopped to watch the critters at work in your garden? Or someone else’s garden? I recently visited a friend who took me on a tour of her garden. It was the middle of the afternoon and her garden was alive with all manner of wildlife. We wandered among a collection of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals that are a smorgasbord for birds, butterflies, bees, and other insects.

My friend designed the garden to be inviting to native pollinators, because they are a critically important component of our natural environment. The garden is certified by Penn State as "Pollinator Friendly," which means that the garden provides food and habitat for native pollinators. The garden blooms with flowers throughout the year, providing a source of season-long food and a diversity of flower types, an important consideration, since so many of the pollinators have specific preferences and adaptations that make them uniquely suited to feed on certain plants.

Pollinators including birds, butterflies, and bees move pollen from the male plant part to the female plant part and begin the process of fertilization leading to the production of fruit and seed. Wildlife pollinators can move the pollen from plant to plant over long distances and in so doing distribute pollen to a large plant population thereby contributing to greater diversity, and health in the plant community. Inviting birds and insects into the garden is also a good strategy, because insect eating birds and beneficial insects are predators that prey on insects that can be destructive to your garden. The lady bug that consumes aphids is a great example.

As my friend and I toured the garden, ruby-throated hummingbirds swooped overhead, taking turns at a feeder hanging from the eaves of a garden shed. These are the only type of hummingbird you are likely to see in our area. The brightly colored males have ruby throats and green metallic bodies, while the females are gray-green and do not have the red throat patch. Watch closely, because they are small in size – only 3-4 inches long. They feed on plants with tubular flowers including the cardinal flower and bee-balm. They also eat mosquitos and gnats. The humming you hear is the beating of their wings as they dart about, moving up and down and side to side. They can fly upside down and backwards.

We stopped to admire two nearly eight-foot tall Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) plants covered in butterflies. Monarch butterflies and swallowtail butterflies moved from flower to flower drinking nectar from the bright orange and yellow flowers. Tithonia is an annual plant that will grow vigorously and tolerate poor soil and summer heat. Although it is not a native – it is from Mexico and South America – it is a wonderful host for native pollinators.

A female monarch butterfly was laying her eggs on the undersides of leaves on a nearby milkweed plant. Each egg will hatch in about four days into a small caterpillar that will feed on the milkweed leaves. In about two weeks the caterpillar will be full grown, at which point it will enclose itself in a cocoon, called a chrysalis. You may see these bright, jade green cocoons suspended from shrubbery, garden furniture, and other structures and objects. Please leave them undisturbed. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis and emerges as a butterfly in about ten days.

Many species of milkweed are lovely in the garden and perform an important role as the host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars. Native species including common milkweed and swamp milkweed need full sun and moist soil. Whorled milkweed will tolerate dryer soil and some shade.

Throughout the garden we heard the soft drone of bumble bees. The buzzing got louder as we approached a patch of hyssop (Agastache) surrounded by zinnias. An aromatic herb of the mint family, hyssop will attract bees and butterflies and is self-seeding. Zinnias also attract bees and butterflies. These annual plants are easy to grow, thrive in full sun, and will be a stand-out in the late summer garden.

The bees moved among the flowers, drinking nectar and collecting pollen on their fuzzy coats. Unlike the introduced European honey bee that lives in man-made hives and is used extensively for commercial agriculture, bumble bees are native. Bumble bees have traits that make them effective pollinators of wild and cultivated plants. Humans rely on these insects that are important pollinators ensuring the continued harvest of food crops including apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, and blueberries. In the bee world, bumble bees (and some other native bees) are unique in their ability to buzz pollinate, vibrating their flight muscles to shake pollen lose from flowers. There are bumble bees with short tongues and long tongues, those with short tongues harvest nectar from open flowers like sunflowers, while those with long tongues can feed from flowers with deep tubes like honeysuckle and columbine.

These are just a few of the many plant and animal combinations in my friend’s garden. The habitat she has created helps the survival of these pollinators that are impacted by habitat loss, disease, and contact with pesticides. The garden is well designed with attractive plants that support a diversity of wildlife that in turn help to maintain healthy plants and a healthy ecosystem. Her garden is a model for those of us that want to help native pollinators flourish.

Read other articles by Pam Haze