Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: New programs to plant local native plants for pollinator habitat may be models for other states.

February 25, 2020

 

State governments, botanic gardens and other institutions are working hard to meet the expanding need for locally adapted native plants to create pollinator habitat and fight pollinator declines such as the more than 90% reduction in Monarch butterflies and more than 80% decline in Rusty Patched bumblebees.

 

In Georgia, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has partnered with the State Botanical Garden, the Georgia Green Industry Association and the Georgia Department of Agriculture to launch the state’s first Pollinator Plants of the Year Program.

 

The collaboration will connect Georgia’s greenhouse industry with experts in native plant cultivation and pollinator health to produce ready-to-plant natives and to encourage gardeners to turn part of their home landscape into pollinator habitat. This year the groups will be reaching out to greenhouse growers to encourage them to produce specially selected landscape plants. Next year the focus will be on teaching gardeners how to incorporate and maintain the pollinator-friendly plants.

 

In Minnesota, a new spending program approved by lawmakers in 2019 called Lawns to Legumes sets aside $900,000 annually to pay homeowners who replace traditional lawns with bee-friendly wildflowers, clover and native grasses up to $500, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. This is part of a larger effort to help the state's declining native bee population.

 

 

It is critical to use locally adapted native plants in such pollinator habitat projects. In the February Center for Plant Conservation newsletter, Lesley Randall reported on a project to support declining Monarch butterfly populations in Southern California.

 

The Monarch provides a grim example of the problems that can develop if enthusiastic pollinator fans are not careful to select local native plants. When the public learned of startling declines in Monarch butterflies, many rushed to plant Milkweed as food for Monarch caterpillars. As the CPC newsletter noted “[u]nfortunately, the local nurseries only had tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) to offer. .... The tropical milkweed doesn’t die back, offering a breeding ground year-round for monarchs (who then may not migrate) as well as for parasites of the butterfly. The tropical milkweed plantings were actually leading to parasitic infections in adult butterflies and potentially leading to further decline.”

 

Randall pointed out “creating a thriving local habitat requires … plants that are truly native and would occur naturally in [the project] area.” ...For example, many native bees gather pollen from one plant species, and no other pollen will meet their nutritional needs. Even for generalist pollinators, one cannot be certain that plants not native to the local area are meeting their nutritional needs. The same is true for herbivores, such as caterpillars.”

 

It is also important to plant more than one native species to offer a variety of appropriate food sources for pollinators and to support the larger food web. Randall recommended including Monkeyflower and Ceanothus in projects to support the Monarch in San Diego County, for example.