Demonstration gardens teach ways to create pollinator habitats
By Joanna Poncavage |Of The Morning Call- July 25, 2008
A common honey bee collects pollen from an Echinacea flower in the Penn State University pollinator garden at the Western Pocono Community Library in Brodheadsville.
(Kevin Mingora, Allentown Morning Call / July 17, 2008)
Birds
do it. Bees do it. Even butterflies and wasps do it. They pollinate
plants so their flowers can grow into the fruits, vegetables and nuts
we eat. With honeybees threatened by a mysterious illness called colony
collapse disorder, keeping pollinators healthy is more important than
ever.
Pennsylvania State University
leads the investigation into the disappearance of bees -- suspects
include loss of habitat, pesticides, viruses or parasites -- and will
use part of a $150,000 study grant from Haagen-Dazs to create 40
pollinator demonstration gardens across the state. Tended by master
gardeners, the garden plots will be used to help teach backyard
gardeners how to provide food and shelter for beneficial pollinators.
''If you are going to plant a garden, there's no reason not to make it
pollinator-friendly,'' says Robert Berghage, an associate professor of
horticulture at Penn State and a member of the Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
Bee Board. The ice cream company cares about bees because many of its
flavors depend on them, from vanilla Swiss almond to strawberry.
When bees, insects and other creatures visit flowers to sip nectar,
they move flower pollen grains from stamen to stigma, where it
fertilizes the plant parts that develop into seeds, fruits and
vegetables. The most common pollinators are bees, bats, moths,
butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles and flies.