Pollinator Week celebrates and supports these crucial workers
Purple coneflowers produce both pollen and nectar, making them a favorite with bees, such as this furrow bee, part of the species of sweat bees. Kathy Morrison
What's your favorite pollinator?
If you said "bee," here's the perfect time to get specific. It's International Pollinator Week, through Sunday, celebrating and supporting pollinator health.
Honeybees are pollinators, of course, but they're not native to the Uniated States. California has more than 1,600 identified bee species -- all but a handful are native. Then of course there are flies, wasps, butterflies, bats, beetles, moths and birds that do the important work of pollinating plants and crops.
I'm fond of the little green sweat bees, but don't see them as often as I do the big lumbering carpenter bees that frequent my 'Hot Lips' salvia plant.
Whatever your favorite, pollinators are important to us. They provide one of every three bites of food we eat, according to the Pollinator Partnership, but they are threatened by urban growth, climate change and loss of habitat.
Here is the Partnership's guide for helping pollinators:
-- Plant a range of flowering plants, especially natives. (Pollinators need food through the seasons, so successful pollinator gardens always have something blooming.)
-- Reduce or eliminate your contribution to the use of pesticides. (Psst: Eliminate it! Pesticides too easily hurt the good bugs, too.)
-- Reach out to others -- inform and inspire! (Get the neighbors to plant for pollinators, too.)
-- Support local bees and beekeepers.
-- Conserve all of our resources. Use less and reduce your impact. (That organic waste bucket is being used, right?)
-- Support the work of groups promoting science-based practical efforts for pollinators.
For more information and inspiration, explore the resources at the UC Davis Bee Haven website, the Insect Connect website (part of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources) or the Pollinator Partnership at pollinator.org
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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