Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by Earthday.org
Here are three things you can do to celebrate Earth Day:
Attend an Earth Day event. Lincoln Earth Day 2024 is Saturday, April 20th from 10 am to 2 pm at Nebraska Innovation Campus. Learn more here: https://lincolnearthday.org/schedule/
Find a green space to enjoy. Savor the benefits of spending time outdoors! Earth Day is during National Parks Week. Saturday, April 20, 2024 – Sunday, April 28. Explore the parks around you or plan a trip to one of our amazing national parks.
Set up a compost pile. Compost is used as an organic amendment to improve the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soils. For example, adding compost to garden soil will increase the moisture holding ability and improve the drainage and aeration of clay soils. Over time, compost will create desirable soil structure making the soil easier to work. If you would like to learn more about composting, consider attending a Nebraska Extension Master Gardener composting demonstration. Dates and times are listed here: https://events.unl.edu/lancaster/search/?q=compost
This was a dry year in southeast Nebraska. Watering plants and keeping the water features full was a priority this year in the Cherry Creek Habitat.
Looking at the data, we are on target to have more moisture that 2022. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Weather and Climate keeps monthly and annual precipitation totals (in inches) since 1887.
The Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat is 10 years old! In the fall of 2012, Soni Cochran and I attended “Becoming an Outdoors Woman” program in Halsey, Nebraska sponsored by Nebraska Game and Parks. One of the sessions focused on the challenges of increasing our native pollinator population. We left the session with a handmade native bee nest box and motivation to spread the message about the importance of encouraging native pollinators in our community.
In the spring of 2013, we asked our then unit leader if we could transform the underutilized space behind the Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County office into a native pollinator and wildlife habitat. The journey began and it is amazing to see how much we have accomplished and learned during this time.
A few of our accomplishments include: two educational signs, solitary bee house, two insect hotels, five water stations, over 40 native plants with name labels, over 100 stems of common milkweed for monarchs & other beneficial insects and became a Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification Program site member.
Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat Summer 2015
The habitat is a great place to teach youth, adults, Master Gardeners and even our own staff about the importance of pollinators. Every time I visit the habitat I see or learn something new.
In 2014, Soni planted one sawtooth sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus) in the center of the Cherry Creek Habitat. This sunflower grows in tight colonies and reaches 3-5 feet tall. Unfortunately, it began to spread and I was afraid it would take over the whole habitat. Thankfully it has not, but it did overtake all the Liatris we had planted. I am impressed with hoary vervain (Verbena stricta) and wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). Both have done well and not been over taken by the sawtooth sunflower. All three plants are long bloomers and visited heavily by native bees.
Sawtooth sunflowerHoary vervainMonarda
In 2014 we also added native grasses. Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) has done very well. This prairie tallgrass forms upright clumps with blue-green foliage. The beautiful seed heads tower over me, 6 – 7 feet tall. It has spread more than I like, but mainly in an area where there was poor quality fill soil. In the late fall and winter, the deer rest in this area when it snows.
Indiangrass
We struggle to provide spring blooming plants for our early pollinators. Spring flowering bulbs do not do well in our poor quality clay soil and wildlife like to feed on them. Thankfully, we have spring flowering trees that provide early blooms: Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), wild plum (Prunus americana) and peachleaf willow (Salix amygdaloides).
Wild plum
Several volunteer trees and shrubs try to get established in our habitat. It is important to remove them when they are young seedlings and not allow them to get established in our native flower area. Gray dogwood (Cornus racemose), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), red mulberry (Morus rubra), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), and eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoids) have been removed from the habitat.
Soni and I attended a workshop by Dr. Ted Burk with the Department of Biology at Creighton University. He and his students have done butterfly and plant species research for eight years at Allwine and Bauermeister Prairies. They developed a list of plants found in Nebraska that attract butterflies. At the top of the list was tall thistle. We immediately decided we needed to add this plant to the Cherry Creek habitat. We had learned tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum) is a native plant and biennial. Not a noxious weed menace like musk thistle (Carduus nutans). We knew we would be criticized for this selection. Soni and I understood, we were both former farm kids and spent our summers rogueing out thistles and other weeds. We transplanted one plant and waited for it to bloom. When that day arrived we were in awe of the insects that were visiting the flowers. Swallowtails, bumblebees and native bees we had never seen before. It did not take long for others to notice the blooming thistle and they were not happy. One fellow staff member, who was a former farm kid too, showed up at my office door with a spade and said they were on their way to dig it out. I was ready and calmly explained the difference between tall and musk thistle. I explained tall thistle was a native thistle and was not on the noxious weed list. I showed them how to tell the difference and explained we had all been mislead growing up that ALL thistles were bad. Thankfully they backed down and today many tall thistles are growing in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat.
Black swallowtail butterfly on tall thistle.
It has been a rewarding and educational experience for me to help create and manage the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. I am happy to share what I learn.
In May, I replace a row of nesting blocks in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat solitary bee house. I checked the blocks the end of July to look for nesting activity. The leaf cutter bees have been very active! Leafcutter bees will snip discs of leaf material, about a quarter inch, from ash trees or roses. They take the leaf discs and fold them to construct small tube shaped nests inside pieces of wood or holes in trees. Inside of each cell an egg is placed with some pollen.
Happy Pollinator Week! This week our office is hosting 4-H Clover College. Twelve youth signed up for my session called Pollinator Party. We discussed what crops need pollinators. They looked at the list and circled foods they eat. I then asked them to highlighted a favorite food. I asked how they would feel if they could never have that food again. The shocked look on their faces was clear. They are starting to understand the importance of pollinators.
It was a beautiful day to be out in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. They notice the native flowers that were blooming. Many were fascinated by the solitary bee house and watching the leaf cutter bees fill the holes that were drilled in the wood blocks. They planted dill and zinnia seeds to benefit caterpillars and butterflies.
After exploring the habitat, each youth made a solitary bee tube house to take home and place in their landscape. It was a fun morning and by the end of the session, the kids had a better understanding of our native pollinators and how their habitat is important to protect.
January is a great time to make plans for the coming year. Buy a notebook for a journal and use it to keep all your pollinator gardening information. List the plants growing in your habitat. Include the name of seed companies, plant name, variety, planting date and flower date. During the growing season keep notes on how well the plants do and if there are any issues. All this information will be helpful when you are ready to add new plants. I also enjoy visiting other gardens to get ideas. The Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium have beautiful butterfly gardens.
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium butterfly gardens.
Lists! I need lists to help me with my plans for the new year. My favorite list is what plants am I going to add to the pollinator habitat. Annual flowers, perennials, herbs, fruit trees and vegetables are all great additions to a habitat. It is also important to consider bloom time. Early blooming plants are just as important as summer and fall bloomers. If you need help with plant selection, a good list to start with is the Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification Program. This plant list has plants that bloom from March to October and are well suited for Nebraska.
The Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification Program has a new website:
Happy Pollinator Week! Leafcutter bees are active in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. Leafcutter bees are important pollinators and are members of the family Megachilidae. I added new blocks and paper straws for leafcutter bees in the solitary bee house. You know you have leafcutter bees in your landscape when you see the discs of leaves that are snipped from nearby plants. The damage is very minimal and will not harm the plants. Leafcutter bees are not aggressive, so you can safely be close and watch them work.
Please join us starting next week for the GRO Big Red, 3-part, virtual learning series on Pollinators. Nebraska Extension horticulturists and entomologists will be presenting this educational series. Visit this link to sign up for the free programs: https://unl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-Dc-CqA2T1C3ccOiHZ_JZw
MJ Frogge
May 4 6:30-7:30pm: Creating a Pollinator Habitat Panelist: Kathleen Cue
May 11 6:30-7:30pm: Bees, Butterflies and Beyond Panelists: Jody Green and Kait Chapman
May 18 6:30-7:30pm: Pollinator Blooms for All Seasons Panelists: Mary Jane Frogge and Kelly Feehan
Spring is here and we are enjoying the roller coaster of temperatures. Warm & sunny one day, cloudy & cold the next. That is spring in Nebraska. Due to COVID-19 we have a new normal to our life. Nebraska Extension staff are working remotely and the office is closed. I am disappointed I can not be in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat, it is a special place. I like to watch the plants emerge and the start of bee activity. We can watch the Live Habitat Web Cam, so that does help me keep an eye on what is going on. You can watch too by clicking the link above.
I hope everyone is spending time in their home pollinator habitat. I have been. It is nice to spend lunch time outside seeing what is blooming and plotting my next project. Now is a good time to make a list of spring blooming plants you need to add to your habitat. Consider spring blooming bulbs like scilla, crocus, snowdrops, striped squill and glory-of-the-snow. Spring blooming trees include redbud, plums and cherries. Perennials that bloom in the spring are Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty and pasqueflower.
Near the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat wild plum and willow trees are blooming. These plants are important early blooming flowers for pollinators. Wild violets and dandelions are also blooming. Yesterday we taught youth about habitats at an outdoor education event at a nearby state park. It was great to show the students the early blooming flowers we saw, white trout lily and Dutchman’s breeches. Hope you can get outside this weekend and see what is blooming.
The Buzz at Cherry Creek 