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Wild pollinators deserve a lot more credit when it comes to pollinating our food. They’re more prepared, they’re more effective, and their services produce better food. What more could you want?

When it comes to pollination, we instinctively give all the credit to honeybees. But those little buggers (no pun intended) don’t deserve it.

Sure, honeybees are great. We’re not into Colony Collapse Disorder, and we definitely think that the plight of the honeybee is illustrative of bigger problems in the world.

When it comes to their role in pollination, though, it’s been a bit overblown. We need to give wild pollinators their due for the sake of our environment and urban ecology, and that starts with understanding who they are and why they’re so important. 

The monarch butterfly is a threatened species that serves as a litmus test for the environment. Is it possible that they could make a recovery? And if so, what does that say about our environmental efforts? Join us for the second installment of two-part series.

Download the free PDF to share with your friends and colleagues here!

The monarch is a quintessential butterfly. From grade school classroom projects to bestselling books such as Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior, this North American species has made a significant impression on those of us who live there.

Yet not significant enough. With population numbers down 80-90 percent in the past two decades, monarchs are in major peril. We’re not helpless, though. In fact, there’s a whole lot we can do for these orange-and-black beauties, according to Plant Ecologist Elizzabeth Kaufman of Pollinator Partnership, with whom we were lucky enough to score an interview.

If you missed the first part of the series, we highly recommend you go check it out now and get the brief low-down about why monarchs are struggling and what the means for humans and the environment. If you’re all caught up, read on and learn how to save this important pollinator today!

The monarch butterfly is a threatened species that serves as a litmus test for the environment. Is it possible that they could make a recovery? And if so, what does that say about our environmental efforts? Our two-part series explores just that.

Download the free PDF to share with your friends and colleagues here!

The iconic monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), with its black-and-white-edged wings and bright orange, stained-glass window centers, is synonymous with America. Traveling from Southern Canada all the way down into Mexico on the annual migratory route, these bright and cheerful pollinators truly are airborne royalty.

Sadly, monarch butterflies are also in terrible danger.

Some 4,000-5,000 species of bees are native to the United States (with around 500 of those residing in Illinois) and their habitat is disappearing quickly. Needless to say, we’re not cool with that.

When you think of bees, it’s a safe bet you see honeybees swarming over the outside of a hive. Videos from elementary school showing them performing their intricate dances to indicate sources of pollen, direction and distance. Perhaps a bumblebee or two.

But these simplistic images of pollinators held by most Americans – and others around the world – are problematic. Not only are they limited in the extreme, but they lend the impression that all bees are social creatures.

The reality is far more complicated. While honeybees and bumblebees are certainly social, most bees are actually solitary. That means aside from mating, they live, eat and sleep alone.

(And not in a sad way. They’re making a choice, okay??)

Even more problematic: Because we fail to recognize the importance of native solitary bees, we don’t do much to accommodate their habitats (many of which are in steady decline). And if we want to keep enjoying, you know, food … then that needs to change. It’s time to learn how to create nesting habitat for native pollinators.

Cultivars are everywhere in nurseries and garden centers, but should you use them in a garden geared toward pollinators? Spoiler alert: no, and here’s why.

So you want to plant a pollinator garden. You like the idea of the birds and the bees hangin’ out right beyond your living room window or just past the kitchen stoop. Heck, the butterflies and beetles are welcome to join the show as well! Let’s get alllllll pollinated up in here.

Only one problem:

You’re not using the right plants.

Whoopsie.

This is a common mistake that new gardeners make. It even happens to experienced green thumbs, who are used to making seasonal (or monthly, or weekly, or daily … ahem, never mind) trips to the garden center. The problem can be summed up in a single word: cultivars. And when it comes to a healthy pollinator environment, cultivars just don’t play nice.

Pollinators are and always have been incredibly important to humanity, but we don’t treat them way. It’s time to wake up and give pollinators the respect and protection they deserve.

If you’re one of the many who think of butterflies as something cute that lands on Bambi’s nose, and birds as creatures to decorate your feeder, well … you’re not alone.

And to be fair, they are those things. But they’re also critical to the overall health of our environment, as well as a crucial link in the human food chain.

Why? Because they’re pollinators.

Despite all the fuss on the news and in scientific journals over the last several decades, though, too many laypeople are still left scratching their heads and wondering, “What is a pollinator?”

Those who do have an inkling usually associate the word with bees, having no idea that the category is so much larger than that. But don’t feel bad; you’re not alone.

That said, it’s time we do something about this misunderstanding. Because while we think bees rock, they are show-stealers. If we’re to heal the environment and bridge the gap between city and nature, answering the question “What is a pollinator?” should be at the top of the list.

Beneficial insects are relatively new on the cultural radar, but they’ve been doing their job faithfully for thousands of years. It’s time we take them seriously and give them some help in return.

The insect has a troubled image. From the locust of Biblical proportions to aphids, the gardener’s bane, our buggy friends … well, bug us.

In an agricultural setting, insect pests shoot right past annoying and become downright dangerous, jeopardizing entire crops. Because of this – oh, and because they look weird and have a tendency to swarm and can kill you and stuff – we’ve lumped the good in with the bad.

Unfortunately, we need a lot of those insects we would dismiss outright. From pollination to soil improvement to pest control, beneficial insects matter. So it’s important to figure out how they work.

To be fair, asking “how beneficial insects work” is kind of like asking “how Mars keeps afloat.” The answer involves so many different factors that it’s kind of difficult to sum them up in one blog post. (And yes, we know Mars does not actually float, so save your physics snobbery for someone else.)

Nevertheless, we thought we’d step in and offer some clarity on how beneficial insects work today.

While honeybees are in trouble, so are the rest of the pollinator set. That means bugs, beetles, flies, moths and even bats … and they need our help too.

Next time you walk past the bat house at the zoo, take a close look at those furry little snouts and wicked little claws.

Guess what? Those are intimately involved in the pollination of several species of plant, including cacao and agave.

So if you like your chocolate and tequila, thank the bats. Oh, and the other pollinators, of course … which includes thousands of species beyond the honeybee.

While these yellow-and-black-striped favorites are certainly critical to our planet and food system, the laser focus on this singular species often obscures the fact that there are plenty of others that need our help as well.

Today let’s take a quick look at the issue with honeybees, who else represents the pollinator crowd, and what we can do to help both.

These jewel-bright birds do more than dress up your bird feeder in the winter months. They also perform valuable pollinating services, so we would do well to help them out.

Toss off the word “pollinators,” and almost anyone will conjure up the image of a bee.

Usually a honeybee.

Probably fuzzy with yellow pollen and sitting on, like, a sunflower or something.

That’s not to say bees aren’t important pollinators. We merely mean to point out that this is a limited conception that fails to do justice to pollinators as a group.

Exhibit A: hummingbirds.

These flying gems gather pollen on their heads as they flit from flower to flower, helping fertilize them and propagating new generations of the plants on which we depend. Birds as a whole represent 2,000 species of pollinators, with hummingbirds making up a sizable percentage of those.

While putting nectar out for hummingbirds is a wonderful winter tradition, and can do much to keep them strong and well, we must do more. It’s time to give these tiny birdies habitat, shelter and real flowers on which to feed.

And that means using horizontal space more effectively in our cities.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the last decade – and a very remote rock at that – you’ve heard the word pollinator.

Most likely you even know that the term extends far beyond bees, encompassing birds, bats, moths, beetles and tons of other insects. Nevertheless, bees make up a huge portion of the pollinating pie, and since they fly, they are frequent visitors of green roofs and roof top gardens.

Where, can we just say, they do a lot of kickass work. But what type of work, exactly? And how do those green roofs help them back?

That’s what we’re here to talk about today. Get ready for the greatest romance of all time: pollinators and the green roofs that love them.