- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
Pollinators receive food in the form of nectar (source of sugar) or pollen (source of protein, fat, and other nutrients). In the process of moving from flower to flower to feed, pollinators disperse pollen grains among plants of the same species, enabling the plants to reproduce. Flowers have evolved over long periods of time into many colors, shapes and scents to attract their pollinators, thus creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
The Pollinators
While bees are the primary pollinators, other insects including butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, some birds such as hummingbirds, and bats also play important roles.
Honeybees & Native Bees
Honeybees (genus Apis) are the bees we are most familiar with. However, honeybees are just one species of a very diverse group with over 20,000 species worldwide, 4,000 species in the USA and 1,600 in California. Native bees come in a variety of shapes, colors, sizes and lifestyles that make them very efficient pollinators. Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, which are social bees living in colonies, native bees are solitary with 70 percent nesting in the ground with the rest nesting in wood and plant stems.
Butterflies
Butterflies are daytime flying insects who often have gorgeous colorful wings. Their larvae sometimes require a specific plant to feed on, though most adults will get their nectar from many plants.
Moths
Moths are mostly evening and nighttime fliers, though some are out in the late afternoon or early morning. They are attracted to sweet-smelling flowers. Less colorful than butterflies, they are easily differentiated from butterflies by their “feathery” antennae.
Flies
Flies are not generally thought of as pollinators, however many are, particularly hover flies (family Syrphidae) and bee flies (family Bombyliidae), both of which are generalist pollinators. Generalist pollinators visit a wide range of plants, making them important inhabitants of gardens and fields.
Beetles
Beetles are a large group, with up to 28,000 species in the USA. Most beetles are not pollinators, but some do visit flowers for nectar or pollen and help fertilize some flowering plants, particularly magnolias.
Wasps
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are the most prominent pollinating birds in the Americas. With their long beaks, they can reach deep into flowers while sipping nectar. In addition to nectar, they also forage on insects and spiders.
Bats
Bats are nocturnal pollinators that play an important role in pollinating cacti and agave, as well as many tropical and subtropical plants including bananas, avocados, century plants and cashews. Species such as Mexican long-nose bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) have evolved heads and long tongues to access light-colored flowers which open at night, often producing abundant nectar and pollen.
How You Can Help Pollinators
Pollinators need a diversity of flowers with lots of nectar and pollen. They require easy access to flowers blooming throughout the seasons, particularly during late winter, early spring, and late autumn seasons when fewer flowers bloom. Different flower species provide differing amounts of nectar. Native plants generally provide more nutritious nectar for pollinators, so they attract more pollinators. Download the Xerces Society Recommended Plants for the Central Valley Region for a list of plants.
To help protect pollinators, if you choose to use a pesticide, select one that are less toxic, such as an insecticidal soap or oil. Avoid broad-spectrum sprays that kill numerous insects. Spray on non-windy days in the early morning or late evening when pollinators are not present. Use UC Integrated Pest Management for information on pests and pest management (https://ipm.ucanr.edu/).
Citations
- The Pollinator Partnership https://www.pollinator.org/
- Xerces Society book: Attracting Native Pollinators: https://xerces.org/publications/books/attracting-native-pollinators
- California Native Plant Society (CNPS) native planting guides: https://www.cnps.org/gardening/choosing-your-plants/native-planting-guides
Free Resources from University of California and your local UC Master Gardeners
- CA Friendly Friendly Garden Recipes https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8518
- How to Attract and Maintain Pollinators in your Garden https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8498
- UC Stanislaus County Master Gardener: Butterflies in Your Garden with list of plants that attract butterflies: https://ucanr.edu/sites/CEStanislausCo/files/345791.pdf
- Gardening for Pollinators and Diversity from UC Davis Arboretum: https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/pollinator-gardening
- Bees in the Neighborhood: best practices for urban gardeners. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8596
Books and ID Cards for Purchase
Common Plants to Attract California Native Bees https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=3557
Want both cards? Bundle and save $10 at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=3557BUN
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Garden in Stanislaus County since 2020.
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- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
Bees are pollinators. Pollinators are crucial to the success of flowering plants by transporting pollen, thus allowing fertilization to occur. We would not have fruits and vegetables on our kitchen tables without them. They are vital to California's agriculture industry.
California's wide diversity of habitats supports a corresponding diversity of pollinators. Bees are the main pollinators with butterflies, other insects, and some birds such as hummingbirds also playing important roles. California has an estimated 1,200 – 1,500 native bees and over 200 species of butterflies.
What do Pollinators Require?
Due to climate change, the reduction of native habitats, and environmental chemicals, many pollinators are struggling. Providing plants in our gardens that attract pollinators can produce lovely, colorful landscapes while also benefiting pollinators.
Visit La Loma Native Plant Garden's Festival
You can see native plants that attract pollinators by visiting La Loma's Native plant garden on 1805 Encina Avenue in Modesto anytime. Or attend the Pollinator Festival, a free event held by the North San Joaquin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society on Saturday, April 13th 2024 from 10am – 2pm. Stop by the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener booth to see our insect collection and get a free packet of flower seeds.
The event will have a pollinator parade at 10:15, as well as face painting, music, food, and more! You can also hear from an entomologist on the importance of pollinators.
Learn More In-Depth Information About Pollinators at Library Talks
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Garden in Stanislaus County since 2020.
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- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
Pollinators that hang around our gardens include bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, and flies. While all these pollinators are important, bees make up about 50% of pollinators.
Native Bees Prominent Role
When you see bees in your garden, you likely see many European honeybees (Apis mellifera), who are crucially important to the Central Valley's agriculture since Honeybees pollinate 90% of the almond crop. But Honeybees are not the only bees in search of nectar in farmers' fields and our gardens. There over 4,000 species of native bees in the United States, with about 1,600 in California.
Native bees play an important role in pollinating our plants since they are 200 times more efficient at pollination than Honeybees. Studies in the Central Valley have shown three dozen or so native bee species provide sufficient pollination services for a single farm. For example, pollinating an acre of apples requires 60,000-120,000 Honeybees; the same area can be pollinated by 250-750 Mason bees (Megachile).
Social Characteristics and Nesting Habits
Most bees are solitary in nature, generally producing honey only for their own consumption and/or for their young. Nesting habits vary from social hives/colonies to solitary nesting in the ground or woody material.
- Social vs. Solitary bees:
o Solitary bees make up 99% of all bees in North America, with social bees making up less than 1%. Only Honeybees and Bumblebees are social, living in colonies, with all other bees being solitary. Most Honeybees are domesticated, living in hives. Bumblebees live in the wild, in colonies which are generally underground. Honeybee hives will have a population of 10,000-50,000 bees, while Bumblebees will have only 50-400 in their colonies.
- Ground nesting bees make up 70% of bees:
o Mining bees and Digger bees (Adrena): As their names indicate, these bees have a ground-nesting lifestyle. From the outside, the tunnels look like holes with a ring of loose soil around them and can be mistaken for small ant hills or earthworm mounds. Mining bees are active only in the spring for 4-8 weeks during which the females dig tunnels to lay their eggs and raise their young. Both bees are extremely docile, rarely stinging.
- Stem and wood nesting bees make up 30% of bees:
o Leafcutter bees (Megachilidae) use a “wrapper” of leaves, resin, and sand to build their nests in natural or artificial cavities. If you see some leaves in your garden with their distinctive circular “cut out,” you will know you have some in your area. They are about the same size as honeybees, but their bodies are black and furry while Honeybees are dark brown to black and yellow striped.
o Mason beesconstruct their nests from mud, preferring hollow stems or holes made by wood-boring insects. Some people hang bee “houses” with hollow tubes to attract these bees to nest in their yard.
Generalist vs. Specialist Bees
Some bees are generalists, getting their nectar from a wide variety of flowers. These include the Bumblebee and the Mason bee.
Other bees are specialists, feeding only from very specific flowers, such as the Squash bee (two genera: Peponapis and Xenoglossa) or the Sunflower bee (Megachile) with their common names indicating which type of flowers they favor.
Other Native Bees
Other bees you may see in your garden:
- Carpenter bees (Apidae): Females are shiny black and can sting, but only if provoked. Males are golden and can't sting. Their name derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or bamboo. Occasionally they may nest in unpainted wood siding of buildings.
- Sweat bees (Halictidae): Sweat bees' common name is due to their tendency to land on and lick the sweat from people's skin! One of the coolest looking bees in this group is the green sweat bee, which has a shiny, iridescent exoskeleton. Most of these bees nest in the ground, though some nest in wood. Some species are cleptoparasites, meaning they will lay their eggs on food in another species' nest and after hatching, the larva kills the host's larva!
- Long-horned bees (Melissodes): With medium to large bodies, this non-aggressive group gets their names from the long antennae of the males, which females lack. Females have a solitary nest in the ground whereas males sleep outside, often spending the night in groups on the surface of a flower.
Bees are in Trouble
Some ways you can help:
- Plant a garden full of flowering plants to attract bees and other pollinators. Make sure you have something blooming during each of the spring, summer, and fall seasons. Whenever possible, plant native plants since native bees and plants evolved together.
- If you use a pesticide, choose one that is less toxic such as a horticultural soap or oil and spray in early morning or evening when pollinators are unlikely to be present. (https://ipm.ucanr.edu/GENERAL/pesticides_urban.html)
- Provide spaces for nesting bees, with bee houses and bare patches of soil, along with a source of water.
By providing a bee-friendly garden, you can help the vital native bee pollinators thrive.
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UCCE Master Gardener with Stanislaus County since 2020
/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>While fairies are mythical, hummingbirds are real-life winged fairies of our gardens. We tend to think of just bees and butterflies as pollinators, but the tiny, jewel-like birds also play a crucial pollinator role. Hummingbirds co-evolved with native nectar plants, each benefiting the other. A keystone species (a species which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on, so if it disappeared the ecosystem would be severely altered), hummingbirds pollinate at least 20% of specialized indigenous plant species.
Hummingbird Facts
Hummingbirds have a very high metabolism and must eat all day. They consume about half their body weight each day while feeding. Nectar from 1,000-2,000 flowers provides 20% of a hummingbird's daily diet, which they drink with a fringed forked tongue in their long beak. Insects provide the bulk of their diet, which includes beetles, aphids, gnats, mosquitoes and wasps.
The smallest hummingbird, the Bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), is a native of Cuba. With a body about an inch long, it weighs the equivalent of 1/4th teaspoon of sugar! The “large” Giant hummingbird (Patagonia gigas) of western South America is about eight inches long (20 cm), weighing less than half of most sparrows.
California Hummingbirds
California has about nine species of hummingbirds with four commonly seen species in the Stanislaus County area listed here in order of most abundant to the least:
- Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna): This permanent year-round resident is a common sight in many of our gardens. The colorful red-headed male is the largest and most prominent of our local hummingbirds. The fastest of all hummingbirds, it can fly up to 60 miles per hour. Males perform a death-defying courtship dive, plummeting to the ground at speeds and accelerations that put jet pilots to shame. Females build the nests and care for the young alone, having three broods a year.
- Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus): With its beautiful orange-red gorget (a hummingbird's brilliant throat feathers), these migrating birds are a beautiful sight in local gardens in the spring and fall. Unlike the green body feathers of other common species in our area, the male has copper-colored feathers. Nesting further north than any other hummingbird, they fly up to 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during their migratory journeys to Canada.
- Black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri): Another migratory species, it spends winters in Central America while nesting here in the summers. The male has a black face with a purple gorget at the base of the chin. The female builds a well-camouflaged nest in a shrub or tree.
- Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae): The smallest and least common of our local hummingbirds, it breeds and nests here in summers, spending winters in Baja California/western Mexico area. The male has a colorful purple gorget and neck.
A Hummingbird Friendly Garden
To make the sugar syrup combine one-part white cane sugar to four parts boiling water and let cool. Do not use honey, molasses, brown sugar, agave, artificial sugar, etc. as these can be harmful to hummingbirds. Food coloring is unnecessary since the red color of the feeder will attract the birds. If possible, place the feeders out of direct sunlight. Refill and clean feeders every 3-4 days (more frequently in hot weather) with a bottle brush, hot water, and a little white vinegar (which retards mold). Extra sugar syrup can be stored in refrigerator for a week or so.
In addition to sucrose, nectar provides additional sugars (glucose and fructose), along with compounds such as carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins and oils which sugar feeders cannot provide. So, flowering plants that produce nectar should also be present in your garden to give hummingbirds a diverse, nutritious diet. Hummingbirds favor flowers that are tubular, in red, orange or bright pink colors. Some good choices include penstemons, fuchsias, red salvias, and bee balms.
A hummingbird friendly garden should also include trees and bushes for perching, hiding and nesting, water for drinking and bathing, and safety from domestic cats.
An excellent plant list resource provided by UC Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) and Master Gardener is Plants that Attract Hummingbirds – Zones 8 and 9: https://ucanr.edu/sites/UC_Master_Gardeners/files/287098.pdf
Hummingbird Challenges
Both the local Rufous hummingbirds and Black-chinned hummingbirds are among those considered to be at risk (https://www.audubon.org/news/how-climate-change-threatens-hummingbirds).
By providing backyard sanctuaries with feeders and native plants we can help support these valuable feathered fairies of our gardens, so they can continue to delight us and pollinate our plants.
Additional Resources
https://wildbirdworld.com/hummingbirds-of-california/
https://www.cnps.org/gardening/hummingbird-gardening-5098
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UCCE Master Gardener with Stanislaus County since 2020.
/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>On April 1, 2023, the La Loma Native Garden held its 3rd annual Pollinator Festival. Participants stopped by the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener booth to spin our “Pollinator Wheel” and learn about native insects and best landscaping practices to protect them.
If you are interested in learning more about native insects and pollinator plants, you can watch our classes on these topics on our YouTube Channel at http://ucanr.edu/youtube/ucmgstanislaus
All photos by Rachel Bahn, Master Gardener from the 2022 Class.