Celebrate Arbor Day, April 26

Trees support our well-being and our planet’s health. They provide shade, which cools our outdoor and indoor living areas. Trees have been proven to calm us and reduce stress levels.

Trees support wildlife and our ecosystem. An oak tree attracts and supports pollinators and beneficial insects. Trees provide birds and animals with food and nesting areas. Planting one tree can make a difference.

Attend an Arbor Day event to celebrate and learn more about trees.

Arbor Day LNK 2024 is Sunday, April 28th from 12:30 to 3:30 pm at Antelope Park.

Learn more here: https://www.arborday.org/celebrate/lnk/

Mary Jane Frogge

Teaching Youth About Pollinators

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. 

MJ Frogge

Plans for the New Year

Happy 2022!

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:

https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/douglas-sarpy/nebraska-pollinator-habitat-certification/

Have a great new year!

MJ Frogge

Pollinator Talks & Tours – August 3 in Lincoln, Nebraska

The Pollinator Talks & Tours on August 3 is a terrific opportunity to learn more about pollinators, plants and take a tour of pollinator habitats. The tours will be led by staff from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Entomology, Backyard Farmer, Nebraska By Heart, Nebraska Forest Service and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.

All events (with the exception of the 2 p.m. tour) begin from the Backyard Farmer (BYF) gardens east of UNL Keim Hall, 1825 N. 38^th St in Lincoln, Nebraska.

At the BYF garden, FREE herbal tea will be available and for kids—pollinator activities, face-painting and make-your-own antennae.

Schedule of Events:

• 9 a.m. Tour of “Nebraska by Heart” installations on UNL east campus
• 10 and 11 a.m. Tours of the BYF garden and Maxwell, with a focus on plants for pollinators
• 12 p.m. Brown-bag on monarchs by Shauna Groenewold, Citizen Scientist & Monarch Enthusiast
• 2 p.m. Tour of Union Plaza pollinator plants starting from 2228 N. 21 St.

This event is sponsored by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, arboretum@unl.edu, 402-472-2971.

Event Links:

• UNL calendar
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/396550480746374??ti=ia
• Parking: Pink areas on this map http://maps.unl.edu/east/  show visitor meters near the BYF garden, located between Fair, Center and N. 39^th Streets. NOTE: some pink areas are reserved for dental patients and Dairy Store only.

Looking for more family fun on August 3?

Enjoy the Pollinator Tours and Talks and then head over to the first official day of the Lancaster County Super Fair in Lincoln! Details at http://superfair.org

Here’s to Sharing the Buzz!

Soni

Nebraska Extension provides research-based information to help you make informed decisions any time, any place, anywhere – http://lancaster.unl.edu

Where have the butterflies gone?

Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar in parsley. Photo by Jody Green, Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County.

As I drove home yesterday, a monarch butterfly flew very near my truck! I was relieved to have missed it (or it missed me!) Unlike other years, I just haven’t encountered a lot of butterflies in my pollinator garden at home or on the road.

Are you seeing butterflies and moths? Are you also wondering where the butterflies have gone? I’ve gotten several calls from people who grow host plants in their landscapes specifically for butterflies. Some call me every year to report what they are seeing. But, like my own garden, people are reporting very few butterflies or caterpillars.

Getting to Know Leafcutter Bees

Thanks to our colleague Dr. Jonathan L. Larson for providing this information. Dr. Larson is an Extension Educator in Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties

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QUICK FACTS

• Leafcutter bees are important pollinators that are members of the family Megachilidae. They tend to be stout-bodied, dark in color, and have pollen collecting hairs on their “belly”
• They visit many crops including alfalfa, blueberries, cherries, almonds, onions, carrots and dozens of different wildflowers
• Leafcutter bees pose little sting hazard in comparison to the honey bee or even Beedrill and even though they can cosmetically damage some plants it is best not to use insecticides against them

All Bees – All the Time!

It’s hard to believe that on June 3, I posted photos of the brand new nesting blocks going into our native bee nesting structure in the Cherry Creek Habitat. We’ve been watching the leafcutter bees and they are quickly filling up all the blocks. Mary Jane had some some tubes in her office so she brought those out and we added them to the structure and to the insect hotel. The little bees are sure fun to watch as they carry their leaves into the holes.

Two leafcutter bees

Leafcutter Bee

Leafcutter bee with a leaf

Blocks on June 3, 2016

Blocks almost filled June 24, 2016

Bumblebee on a common milkweed in the habitat

To learn how to create your own pollinator-friendly habitat, visit http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/bees.shtml.

Here’s to Sharing the Buzz!

Soni

Nebraska Extension provides research-based information to help you make informed decisions any time, any place, anywhere – http://lancaster.unl.edu

Summer Blooming Plants for Pollinators

Coreopsis

Monarda

Liatris

Purple poppymallow

Culver’s root

Linden

Buttonbush

Butterfly milkweed

Penstemon grandiflorus blooming in the habitat.

To celebrate pollinator week consider certifying your landscape in the Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification program. Summer flowering plants that bloom in June and July are an important section of the application.  Your pollinator habitat must have plant diversity and long blooming plants are necessary for every pollinator habitat. To see the application, visit this web site: http://entomology.unl.edu/pollinator-habitat-certification

MJ Frogge

June and July Blooming Plants

Allium cernuum – Nodding Onion

Amorpha canescens – Leadplant

Aruncus dioicus – Goat’s Beard

Asclepias sp. – Milkweed

Cepholanthus occidentalis – Buttonbush

Coreopsis lanceolata – Tickseed

Coreopsis tinctoria – Plains Coreopsis

Dalea purpurea – Purple Prairie Clover

Echinacea angustifolia – Narrowleaf Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea – Purple Coneflower

Gaillardia sp. – Blanketflower

Liatris sp. – Gayfeather

Monarda sp. – Bee Balm

Packera plattensis – Prairie Groundsel

Oenothera sp.  – Evening Primrose

Penstemon cobaea – Prairie Penstemon

Penstemon digitalis – Beardtongue

Penstemon grandiflorus – Large Beardtongue

Rosa arkansana – Prairie Rose

Rosa blanda – Smooth Rose

Rosa carolina – Carolina Rose

Ruellia humilis – Wild Petunia

Silphium perfoliatum

Tilia sp. – Linden

Tradescantia sp. – Spiderwort

Verbenena canadensis – Rose Vervain

Veronicastrum virginicum – Culver’s Root

Arenaria hookeri – Hooker’s Sandwort

Callirhoe involucrata – Purple Poppymallow

Calylophus serrulatus – Yellow Sundrops

Erigeron sp. – Fleabane

 

Build a Solitary Bee Nest Using Recycled Materials

Native bees are important pollinators. Some native bees, like leaf cutter bees and mason bees, nest in hollow plant stems.  You can help native solitary bees by providing a man-made bee nest. The kids that attended my Clover College workshop last week made these bee nests. They had a fun time and this would be easy for your family to make for Pollinator Week.

Supplies

1 ¾ inch plastic lid from juice container

Paper towel tube cut to 7 inches in length (we use the tube from automated paper towel dispensers) If you use a regular sized paper towel tube, the plastic juice container lid will need to be 1 ½ inches.

Paper drinking straws cut to 6 inches in length

Mason bee tubes (optional)

Duct tape

Zip ties or twine

Bee Nest supplies: paper towel tube, plastic lid, paper straws and duct tape.

Instructions

Push the juice container lid into the cut end of the paper towel tube.  It should fit snuggly. The nesting tube needs to have one end closed off or the bees will not be able to nest in the tube.

Place the paper straws and/or mason bee tubes in the paper towel tube and push them back so they are snug against the juice lid. Place enough paper straws inside until they are snug and will not fall out.

Paper straws inserted into paper towel tube and pushed snug to the back.

Cover the outside of the paper towel tube with duct tape.  This will help keep the bee nest water proof and last longer.

Place your bee nest outside in your landscape with the nest positioned horizontally.  The opening should face south or southeast. Put the nest approximately 2-4 feet above the ground. Use two zip ties or twine to attach the bee nest to a post or fence. You could also attach it to a building, tree or large shrub. Wherever you place the bee nest, make sure it is securely attached and level.

Place your bee nest outside in your landscape with the nest positioned horizontally. The opening should face south or southeast.

Female native solitary bees will nest in the bee tube during the spring and summer.  The immature bees will over winter in the tube and emerge as adults next spring. Leave the bee nest in place for approximately two years.  Replace the bee nest when all the bees have emerged.

MJ Frogge

It is Pollinator Week!

Happy National Pollinator Week!  There are many ways to celebrate pollinator week:

1. Plant Native Plants. Native plants provides native pollinators with food in the form of pollen and nectar. Select plants that have a long bloom time. Also grow a wide selection of plants so you have plants blooming April through October.
2. Let your yard get a little messy. Leave unhazardous snags for nesting places and stack tree limbs to create a brush pile, which is a great source of cover for pollinators. Build an insect hotel or bee house in your landscape.
3. Create or protect water sources. Bees need water to drink. Create a water feature with rocks for insects to land. Be sure to keep birdbaths clean and change the water three times per week when mosquitoes are breeding.
4. Limit or eliminate pesticide use. By using fewer or no chemicals in the landscape you will help keep pollinator populations healthy.
5. Identify non-native invasive plants. Work to remove them from your yard. Do not bring any new invasive plants into your habitat. Invasive plants do not provide as much quality food or habitat as native plants do and can threaten healthy ecosystems.

If you live in Lincoln, attend this event:

Pollinator Power Event

Tuesday, June 21st 2016 (5:30 – 7:30 PM)

At UNL East Campus, Lincoln NE

Entomology & Agronomy and Horticulture Departments’ Pollinator Garden

Directions: On UNL East Campus

Take Fair Street North of the College of Law Building.

Follow gravel road back towards 48th and Holdrege, park where directed.

Kids activities
Pollinator demonstration, garden tours
Learn about pollinator-friendly plants, honey bees, wild bees, Monarch butterflies and more…

MJ