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| Honeybee enjoys the flower of a spearmint plant in the Friendship Growing Garden |
What’s
Blooming: Friendship Growing Garden
by Jessica Clarke, Horticulturist, Gardens on Spring Creek
If
you have wandered through the Children’s Garden and made your way into the
Friendship Growing Garden, you may have noticed that there are still flowers in
our food beds. Most of the blooms are growing on perennial herbs such as Mentha
spicata (spearmint), Mentha x piperita (chocolate mint), and
annuals, like Tropaeolum (nasturtium) and varieties of marigolds such as Tagetes erecta (Mexican
marigold). The purpose for leaving the flowers on the plants is to
provide highly necessary food sources to sustain our pollinators into winter.
Many
pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and others, need nectar and pollen as a
food reserve for the winter months. For
example, the original queens of a bumblebee hive will die off, and new queens
will emerge late summer / fall. In order for the new queens to survive until
spring, they will need food reserves for the winter as they borrow in the
ground or prepare to hibernate in piles of leaves. The rest of the bumblebees
will die off as it gets colder. Honeybees on the other hand, are busy preparing
the hive for the long winter months ahead and will need to store as much nectar
as possible in order to feed the hive. Many beekeepers will actually start
feeding their colonies in the fall to maximize their chances of survival
through the winter.
While
honeybees are prepping for winter, a specific butterfly is getting ready to
migrate. Monarch butterflies cannot overwinter in a cold climate and must migrate.
They travel as far as the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico (if on the Eastern
portion of the Rocky Mountains) or San Diego (if on the Western half of the United
States). To successfully complete their
long journey, they need to gain the full benefit of as many food reserves as possible.
Some butterflies will travel as far as one hundred miles per day. Providing sustenance
for their extensive journey in the fall plays a crucial role in this species’
survival.
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| A marine blue butterfly nectaring on a goldenrod plant |
What
can you do to help? Planting herbs and annuals that flower throughout the
summer and late fall can help pollinators build a reserve, whether it is for
their hive, hibernation or migration. In
addition to herb garden favorites, adding native or naturalized plants like Solidago
‘Witchita Mountains’ (goldenrod) and Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic
aster) that bloom in the fall, are beneficial to pollinators late in the
season.
There
are many beautiful autumn blooming plants to choose from, and they have the
double benefit of both supporting pollinators while expanding your gardening
season.