This morning it was quite apparent that fall has arrived, at least here in the Pacific Northwest. Looking out the front window, yellow and red leaves outnumber green on the street trees. A few purple aster flowers are still blooming in my pollinator garden, but most plants have begun to senesce and brown.
Now that the warmer months have drawn to a close, my colleagues on the pesticide reduction team are reflecting on their favorite memories from the garden this season. These are snapshots of the type of life that you can foster in your yard by creating habitat and protecting the creatures that live there from pesticides.
Natural pest control for milkweed
By Staci Cibotti
If you, like me, grow milkweed in your garden to support monarch butterflies, you're probably familiar with the bright orange sap-suckers known as oleander aphids. It can be frustrating to see this non-native pest marring the plants you've carefully cultivated.
But before reaching for pesticides, take a closer look - you might discover a fascinating ecosystem with its own defenses. Each morning, as I tend to my garden and search for signs of monarch activity, I also keep an eye out for other beneficial insects.
Recently, I leaned in for a closer inspection of my narrowleaf milkweed and was rewarded with an interesting sight - tiny, delicate lacewing eggs suspended on slender stalks. These future predators would soon feast on the aphids infesting my milkweed and would likely disperse to other plants to help manage more pests in my garden. I also noticed some aphids had become bloated and darkened, clear evidence of parasitism by tiny wasps working to keep the aphid population in check.
This intricate balance of nature filled me with a renewed sense of responsibility to protect these natural allies. By avoiding pesticides, I can encourage beneficial insects of all kinds to thrive, fostering a healthy, balanced ecosystem right in my own backyard.
Blackberries and bumble bees are a reminder to avoid pesticides
By Sharon Selvaggio
Before I knew what a “mass-flowering plant” was, I was already growing marionberries and thornless blackberries in my garden. I enjoy them in pies, jams, and blackberry fool, but above all, for breakfast smoothies.
In late spring, bloom happens and my 20-foot row of berries becomes a magnet for hundreds of bumble bees. When bees head out to visit flowers, they tend to visit just one species of plant on each trip, a behavior called “flower constancy”. My masses of berry blooms give them access to thousands of flowers containing pollen and nectar, all in a small space.
When I prune back the branches, I leave some stems long. The pith disappears after some time, leaving a hollow space where stem-nesting bees can reproduce.
I love how the bees and my family both benefit from these extremely productive plants, and pesticides would throw all of this out of balance. As a result, I just say no to pesticides.
Discovering the mark of leaf cutter bees
By Aaron Anderson
One of my favorite native wildflowers is Clarkia amoena. My side yard is full of its beautiful pink-purple flowers. Aptly named farewell-to-spring, it blooms from late May into the summer, visited by a wide diversity of bee species. But if you look closely at the flowers, you might see circular discs clipped out of the petals — leaf cutter bees often use bits of Clarkia petals to line the inside of their nests!
Of course, bees — including leaf cutter bees, collect pollen to bring back to feed their developing young. Avoiding pesticide use in my garden not only protects the bees and other insects flying from flower to flower, but also their offspring, helping ensure that there will be more discs cut out of my Clarkia next year.
A welcome indication of healthy bees
By Emily May
Over the years, I've spotted many species of bumble bees in my yard, from the common eastern bumble bee to the two-spotted, brown-belted, and half-black bumble bees. I've even been lucky enough to spot two rarer, at-risk, species: the golden northern bumble bee and the yellow-banded bumble bee, both of which show up in my yard on an annual basis.
One day while out watching my garden, I saw a bumble bee I didn’t recognize on my mountain mint. Like most of the other bumble bees I've spotted in the yard, it had black and yellow hairs, but the underside of its abdomen was almost concave, instead of round.
With a closer look and the help of experts on iNaturalist, I was able to identify it as the lemon cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus citrinus). Cuckoo bumble bees do not build their own nests or gather pollen; instead, these social parasites take advantage of the work of other species to raise their young.
Rather than being upset by the presence of this bee, I was thrilled! Because these bees depend on other species for their survival, making them a great example of something called an indicator species. Cuckoo bumble bees are only found in areas where their host species are stable and abundant, so seeing them is a good sign that I am supporting a healthy population of other bumble bees. I hope to see it again!
Saving roses with pollinator-friendly plant care
By Aimee Code
Most of my landscaping is full of native shrubs and perennials but I do still have a few remnant plants from the previous owners, including a lovely rose. However, this spring I noticed black spots on the rose leaves. I knew I had to act quickly, but in a way that didn’t expose the pollinators in my garden to pesticides.
Thankfully, all it took was some thoughtful pruning! To contain the disease, I trimmed off all the discolored leaves, and repeated that process every couple of weeks. I made sure to keep these trimming out of my compost pile, to avoid spreading the disease.
My rose bush was healthy all season! Late in the summer, I noticed that leaf cutter bees were using the healthy rose leaves to line their nests. Had I used a fungicide or attempted some other chemical control, I could have exposed the bees to harm.
What have you noticed in your garden this year?
We hope you too can spend time outdoors, and pause to observe the amazing life that thrives all around us. If you have “nature notes” of your own to share with us, we’d love to hear them!
Learn how to bring more wildlife to your yard
- Leave the leaves so pollinators and other insects can survive the winter
- Build “microhabitats”: small features that animals need to thrive
- Provide food and shelter with native plants