It Takes Time

Natural living, one step at a time

Navigation
  • Home
  • Natural Living
    • House
    • Beauty
    • Foodie
    • By Kids for Kids
  • DIY
  • Recipes
  • Natural Health
    • Dental
    • Gut Health
    • Detox
    • Type 1 Diabetes
  • Unseen Reality
    • Microbes & Mold
    • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • About Andrea

How to Attract Pollinators to Your Yard




Yum

July 20, 2016 by Andrea Fabry 4 Comments

Pollination is essential to life. Most of the world’s flowering plants require a pollinator. Yet our pollinator populations are in jeopardy. Thankfully, there is much you can do to help restore these life-giving benefactors by attracting them to your yard!

How to Attract Hummingbirds and other Pollinators

Pollinators are critical for our food supply. Find out how you can help preserve and attract these precious allies!

Why are our pollinating populations declining? One major factor appears to be the use of pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids. (Learn more the impact of these chemicals in the previous post Five Ways You Can Bring Back the Bees.)

Another factor may be the rise in man-made electromagnetic fields, as discussed in Ulrich Warnke’s paper Bees, Birds and Mankind: Destroying Nature by ‘Electrosmog’. According to Warnke,

Animals that depend on the natural electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic fields for their orientation and navigation through earth’s atmosphere are confused by the much stronger and constantly changing artificial fields created by technology and fail to navigate back to their home environments.

Warnke suggests that the present exposures have grave biological implications beyond the bee and bird populations.

The good news is there are numerous ways you can help our pollinators right in your own backyard!

How to attract pollinators to your yard

1. Go Chemical-Free

Resist the urge to use chemicals when addressing weeds, bugs, and other nuisances. Thankfully there are numerous natural solutions such as horticultural vinegar for weeds and diatomaceous earth for pests. (See Diatomaceous Earth – What It Is and How to Use It.) Other natural remedies include insecticidal soaps and/or essential oils.

Pesticide Free Zone

Sign available through Beyond Pesticides (http://beyondpesticides.org).

2. Re-Think Your Lawn

There are attractive alternatives to perfect green grass that allow beneficial insects to thrive in a low-maintenance environment. Consider replacing part of your lawn with flowering plants, clover, or ground cover. Ornamental grasses are low-maintenance and grow well in most soils. Examples include bluestem and blue oat grass. Flowering herbs like oregano and rosemary work well as ground cover. (For more, see How to Maintain a Sustainable Lawn.)

Thankfully, it’s common to use natural landscaping in Arizona. We inherited this lovely island when we purchased our home.

Front yard native plants without lawn

3. Add a Bee Habitat

Mason bees are prolific pollinators. They are far more active than honeybees, visiting 20 times more blooms each day. What’s more, they are far less likely to sting. The male mason bees don’t even have a stinger!

Mason bees lay their eggs in small natural cavities such as woodpecker holes, insect holes, and hollow stems. They will happily nest in man-made cavities with wooden blocks. I recently added a mason bee house to our yard.

Bee Habitat #BeeBold

Amazon offers a wide range of bee habitats. Find them here.

It’s simple to make a bee bath by adding rocks or pebbles to a dish.The rocks act as a perch to keep the bees safe while they enjoy the water.

Bee Bath #BeeBold

4. Consider a Hummingbird Feeder

This is a fun way to enjoy these delightful birds. Their name comes from the fact that they flap their wings so fast (about 80 times per second) that they make a humming noise. Their diet consists of  flower nectar, tree sap, insects, and pollen. They are attracted to sugar water with or without color.

Hummingbirds at Feeder

Store-bought hummingbird nectar typically contains red dye #40, which is petroleum-derived, so it’s best to make your own or purchase dye-free nectar. (I added color to my sugar water using a natural plant dye from Color Garden.)

5. Grow a Salvia Plant

These plants are among the finest for attracting pollinators. There are a variety of species that thrive in a myriad of environments. Salvia plants include:

  • Poppy Mallow
  • Evening Primrose
  • Oriental Poppies
  • Daylilies

I planted this Maraschino Bush Salvia because it is drought-tolerant. It continues to attract beautiful butterflies that blend right in with the leaves, as seen below.

Salvia plant with butterfly

6. Try a Fairy Garden Full of Succulents

Succulents are easy to grow, are drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant, and adapt to a variety of climates. Many succulents offer blooms that are attractive to pollinators. And who knows, the fairies may come running too!

How to Attract Pollinators to Your Yard Fairy Garden

Wherever you live, chances are you can offer something to the pollinators in search of nourishment. Why not start today!

 

Filed Under: DIY, House, Natural Living Tagged With: bamboo, bees, climates, diatomaceous, dye-free, electromagnetic, environments, flower, garden, gardening, grow, habitat, honeybees, hummingbird, lawn, natural, nectar, neonicotinoids.(learn, ornamental, petroleum-derived, plant, plants, pollination, pollinators, salvia, succulents, sustainable, warnke, yard

« Screen-free Activities for Kids and Teens
What Parents Need to Know About Virtual Violence »

Comments

  1. Melanie says

    July 25, 2016 at 7:44 pm

    Fantastic article Andrea! This is why I love your blog!

    I have really gotten into native plants and attracting pollenators recently and love these tips! We have many bees come to our yarrow here in Ohio and are enjoying learning about ways to bring more to our garden. I used to be apprenhensive around bees and now I love seeing them near our garden. To me it is fulfilling to know we’re helping out using our space! I’m looking forward to using these tips to attract even more bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds! We’re at a condo now, but eventually I would love to add a bee house to our garden!

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      July 25, 2016 at 7:52 pm

      This is why I appreciate your feedback, Melanie.:) I so appreciate that you took the time to comment and share your experience.

      Reply
  2. Catherine says

    March 16, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    I would love to know your recipe for the hummingbird feeder.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      March 16, 2018 at 8:56 pm

      Actually, I recently found Happy Hummers at Walmart! 100% pure. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VVXQ7HW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B06VVXQ7HW&pd_rd_wg=tF4jv&pd_rd_r=NP4Y9CKWH77J7H98EQHF&pd_rd_w=pfudo

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

MEET ANDREA

I am a certified Building Biology Advocate, a former journalist, mother of nine, and avid CrossFitter who likes to think outside the box. After our family's health crisis in 2008, I learned to ask questions about what's in our food, our water, and our air. I hope to empower you as you seek to live safely in a complex world. Thankfully, small steps lead to big changes. Let's travel this road together, one step at a time.

Follow

Now Available on Amazon

10 Things I’ve Learned (The Hard Way)

1. The answer may be right in front of you.
2. Time is often the best medicine.
3. Speak kindly to yourself.
4. The air we breathe matters.
5. It's better to know than not know.
6. Relinquishment is a balm for the soul.
7. Symptoms will instruct if we listen.
8. Sometimes you're the expert.
9. Allow hindsight to move you forward.
10. The next step is enough.

The Connecting Place Latest Episode

Listen to "Behind the Scenes: Mold Questions" on Spreaker.

Popular Posts

How to Make Your Natural Soap Last Longer

Thermal Imaging to Detect Water Damage

Looking for safe products?

Natural Living

Are you learning to cook with real food? Clean without chemicals? Use safer products on your skin? Natural living is fun and rewarding. Come join the fun!

Copyright 2023 It Takes Time - Andrea Fabry