![]() I’ve learned the value of seating in the garden. We have to stand on the driveway in the sweltering heat, or on the sidewalk a few feet from traffic. While our front pollinator garden attracts lots of bees, butterflies, and birds, it has one big problem - there’s no place to sit and watch the activity. I also spotted another doomed butterfly that had most of its wings missing it was still able to drink nectar from flowers, but there was obviously no way it could migrate. In 2017, after a microburst hit our neighbourhood during a September thunderstorm, I found a dead Painted Lady in our pollinator garden. Wind can make it difficult for them to fly, and can even damage their wings. I’m trying to add more early spring flowers to help give queen bumblebees a good start. Vibrating to stay warm takes a lot of energy though, so bumblebees must drink lots of nectar to fuel up for the task. It also allows bumblebee queens to get an early start to their new nests in spring. This allows them to forage earlier and later in the day than other kinds of bees. When it’s cool, they sleep in until they warm up.īumblebees can also warm themselves by vibrating, which is similar to shivering. ![]() They spend their lives hanging out in flower patches, and sleeping on or under flowers at night. Male bumblebees don’t live in colonies with female workers and queens. Instead, they were simply too cool to be active yet. It used to make me sad because I thought they were dead. ![]() I sometimes find bumblebees sitting still on flowers. A bumblebee warming up on the side of our shed (October 10, 2019) Interestingly, we often find them on knots in the wood, presumably because the darker areas absorb more sun and warmth. On cool mornings, bumblebees sit on our shed to warm up. A tattered Giant Swallowtail basking in the sun on a lilac leaf (September 25, 2019). We see bees and butterflies basking in our yard - resting on leaves, walls, or rocks in the sun to warm up. ![]() If your garden is on the shady side, pollinators will warm up in the sun and then visit flowers in the shade. Our backyard mini-meadow in the late morning sun (August 23, 2019). You actually won’t find many bees or butterflies early in the morning, but their numbers increase gradually along with the temperature. A sunny garden allows pollinators to maximize their foraging time because they can eat and be warm at the same time. The sun helps them warm up even when temperatures are still on the cool side. When insects cool down, they become less active and can no longer eat, mate, and provision their nests. Don’t give up if you have a shady yard though you can still have a successful pollinator garden in a shadier spot. Pollinating insects must be warm to be active, so your garden should be as sunny as possible. Where in your yard should you put your new garden? Well, here are a few things to consider. If you feel like there’s too much information to sort through, or that the task seems daunting, remember ‘plant it and they will come’. You can help pollinators, and enrich your life along the way. Are you interested in creating your own pollinator garden, but you don’t know where to start? I want to bridge that gap between interest and action, eliminate barriers, and give you the confidence to start your own garden.
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