Providing Forage and Nesting Areas for Your Garden
EVERY GARDEN SHOULD STRIVE TO PROVIDE ABUNDANT, NATIVE, AND PESTICIDE-FREE FORAGE AND NESTING AREAS
WHAT IS A NESTING SITE? :
An area in your garden that will either create or enhance the natural features to support reproduction. Keep reading to find out how you can provide the perfect habitat for reproduction in both nesting and non-nesting species!
NESTING SPECIES
SPECIES #1: BEES
DID YOU KNOW?
Some of the smallest bees fly only a hundred feet between foraging and nesting sites? This is what makes bees and wasps such unique pollinators; their foraging behaviors are directly linked to their nesting behaviors. Unlike other pollinators that collect nectar and pollen to feed themselves, bees and wasps also forage to provide food for their brood cells (the eggs of their young). To support these pollinators, it is necessary to provide both nesting and foraging resources within the same habitat patch
ALL ABOUT THE NEST
WHERE DO BEES NEST?:
With the exception of cuckoo bees, all bees build nests where they lay their eggs
WHAT IS IN THE NEST?:
Bees are known to stock their nests with a nutritious mix of pollen, nectar, and saliva before laying the eggs and then sealing the nest so that the offspring remain safe
EXAMPLES
OF
NESTING
SITES
In your pollinator garden, keep an eye out for the types of environments pictured above and do your best to protect them, as they may already be existing nesting sites. Think about tree hollows, old logs, snags, piles of twigs and other garden “debris” as potential bee-friendly habitats.
For more information on habitats for native bees, please click here.
TYPES OF BEE NESTING STRATEGIES
Ground-Nesters
Hole-Nesters
Bees that nest underground, or in the rare case of some bumblebees, slightly above ground in mulch or debris piles
TYPES OF BEES: Digger bees, bumblebees, cuckoo bees, sweat bees, and miner bees
PREFERRED NESTING LOCATIONS:
1. Bare, sunny, sandy, or loamy soil patches
2. Areas with little likelihood of flooding
HOW TO ATTRACT: Please click through the tabs below
Leave bare soil in-between any patches of vegetation that you have placed in your garden.
Avoid using weed matting(a fabric used to control weeds), heavy mulching or dense layers of bark chips to cover areas of your garden.
Avoid heavy tilling, flood irrigation, soil fumigation, and high-intensity grazing in bare or patchy soil areas in agricultural or mixed-use settings.
Leave bare soil in-between any patches of vegetation that you have placed in your garden.
For most bees, the nesting practices described in the previous tabs will provide environments for both pupation and overwintering.
Female bumblebees will not hibernate in their original cells, rather the queen buries herself in soil or leaf litter.
Bees that nest in existing holes and those that create their own holes.
TYPES OF BEES: Mason/leafcutter bees and carpenter bees
PREFERRED NESTING LOCATIONS:
1. MASON & LEAFCUTTER BEES = They take advantage of holes made by other animals in dead wood(E.g holes made by woodpeckers, tunnels in stumps)
2. CARPENTER BEES = They excavate their own tunnels with their powerful mandibles. Preferred wood is soft, unfinished, and unpainted.
HOW TO ATTRACT: Please click through the tabs below
Recycle small pruned branches. Tie them together in a pile and place them in your garden.
Leave hollow fallen logs and old tree stumps, as long as they do not pose a danger to property or people.
Include plant species with pithy or hollow stems such as raspberry, blackberry, elderberry, and numerous species of forbs(a type of flowering plant).
Include leafy forage near nesting areas for leaf-cutter bees.
Create an area or patch where mud is available for mason bees. Mud can easily be provided by placing a soil in a clay plant saucer and keeping it moist. Mud puddles also make an excellent addition as a substrate for butterflies!
NON-NESTING SPECIES
Species #1: Butterflies
WHAT KIND OF PLANTS DO BUTTERFLIES NEED?:
Desired host plants differ by species. Start by researching known butterfly species in your area, learn their host plants, and incorporate these into your garden. Here are two examples:
– Monarch butterflies: This well known species only lays eggs on milkweed plants.
– The Grey Hairstreak butterfly: They are known to lay eggs on several different plant species including partridge pea, mallow, mint and oaks.
WHAT KIND OF HABITATS DO BUTTERFLIES NEED?:
Unlike bees, most butterflies have different habitat requirements in summer and winter. Please click through the tabs below to learn about the habitat requirements of butterflies through the different seasons.
For Monarch butterflies, it is essential that they acquire the energy necessary for migrations(this may mean migrating to the south or back from the south). During this time, Monarch’s will be searching for nectar containing flowers in order to fulfill their energy requirements.
Citation:
Habitat Needs. (n.d.). Retrieved Novermber 2, 2019 from United States Forest Service website:https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/habitat/index.shtml
Unlike bees, most butterflies have different habitat requirements in summer and winter. Species that pupate during winter do so in cocoons, underground, or in a hard chrysalis. Plant species is not important for overwintering habitat. Rather, it’s the physical structure of the environment that is important. Tall grasses, bushes, trees, old fence posts, and piles of leaves and sticks will provide good overwintering sites. Again, small amounts of general garden debris may not be desirable for a heavily manicured formal garden, but is just perfect for a pollinator garden.
A good rule of thumb is if you know that some of your species overwinter in specific areas, keep these areas undisturbed throughout the winter.
HOW TO ATTRACT BUTTERFLIES TO YOUR GARDEN:
In order to provide for butterflies of all life-stages, you must provide nectar plants for adults, host plants for the eggs and larvae, and appropriate areas for overwintering. Female butterflies select specific plants on which to lay their eggs. This ensures the merging caterpillars will have the correct food to eat.