Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise If you’re reading this from New Mexico, the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Grand Opening of Visitor Center and 10th Birthday is on Saturday, September 10th, about a month away. I hope you’ll join us! It’s summer in New Mexico and it’s hot and dry. Not as hot as Phoenix, thankfully! We received niceContinue reading “Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise”
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 7June22 Plants in the garden, and sharing plants from the neighbor’s garden Most urban and suburban lots are small relative to the natural tracts of native habitat, so there are limits to what we can plant, both in size and variety. And, it turns out, putting your yard into context with the nearest forage/host areaContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”
Bumblebees of the Southwest Yesterday, I posted about an opportunity for public participation in a bee and plant survey. Today, I want to share the 5 most common bumblebees in Arizona and New Mexico, according to iNaturalist. American Bumblebee: Despite being on the verge of the endangered species list, it is the most common to see in our area.Continue reading “Bumblebees of the Southwest”
What should I plant for the most pollinators? As much as possible! Okay, that’s not much of an answer. First, which kinds of pollinators do you want to attract? Hummingbirds – red tubular Penstemon and Acanthus flowers work great. Bees – sunflowers are your best bet. Butterflies and moths aren’t so picky, but you’ll want to provide host plants, like milkweed for Monarchs.Continue reading “What should I plant for the most pollinators?”
