We had a great turnout, both via Zoom and in person at our 45th AGM the other night. Huge thank yous to all the volunteers that contribute to the success of our society and provide all the great content throughout the year–workshops, open garden tours, and the summer social are just a few of the fabulous events that are provided to members.
We also enjoyed a very informative presentation from Salena Helmreich who spoke about the role of pollinators in our environment with an interesting focus on honeybees vs wild bees. According to Salena, we can help pollinators by going pesticide free, educating ourselves, participating in community science monitoring programs and planting native. In particular, native wildflowers are:
• Best nutrition and conditions for wildlife
• More drought tolerant
• Reduce pollutants such as fertilizers
• Helps reduce soil erosion
• Attracts beneficial insects
• More resilient habitat for climate change
Continuous bloom in your garden is also important as some pollinators have a short life cycle. Some examples of early spring plants:
• Spring Gold, Lomatium utricuatum
• Common Camas, Camassia quamash
• Seablush, Plectritis congesta
• Blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia grandiflora
• Field Chickweed, Cerastium arvense
• Few-flowered Shootingstar, Dodecatheon pulchellum
• Pacific Crabapple, Malus fusca
• Red Flowering Currant, Ribes sanguineum
• Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa
Examples of late flowering summer plants
• Farewell to Spring, Clarkia amonea
• Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea
• Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris spp. Ianceolata
• Hairy Gumweed, Grindelia integrifolia
• Canada goldenrod, Solidago lepida
• Douglas’ Aster, Symphyotrichum subspicatum
• Mountain Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale spp. grandiflorum
• Common Woolly Sunflower, Eriophyllum lanatum
• Fireweed, Chamaenerion angustifolium
The ‘Native Plant Garden’ chart attached (and also included in Salena’s presentation if it is unclear here) shows the bloom season and colour of more native plants beneficial to pollinators.
Thank you, Salena, for this wonderful presentation! To view it, please click the following link:
Presentation: 10 Salena Helmreich Bees Pollination October 2023.pdf - Google Drive
