Trails for us, trails for them

#Middlebury

A Monarch butterfly sips nectar from a flower in Bronson Meadow, a MLT property.

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

For me, and I expect for many of you, April means thinking about spring planting and summer gardens. I used to ask myself, “What flowers do I like? What is pest resistant?”

Now I see things differently. I have come to realize that while I like flowers, some species need them. And completely “pest free” means that nothing can eat it safely … it’s a food desert for other living things with whom we share this beautiful planet.

You can avoid that food desert by planting food trails for bees, butterflies and even birds – and still have a garden you love. The thing they all will have in common will be being native to this area.

It’s also important plants are not contaminated with insecticides, especially a group known as neonicotinoids. Ask any nursery or large store (such as Home Depot) if the plant you are looking at was treated with them, and if so, don’t buy it. It is a systemic insecticide that will kill bees, butterflies and caterpillars that will become butterflies.

Different bees like different flowers. You’ll be feeding big, gentle bumble bees, smaller honey bees, and some even tinier native bees you might never have noticed before. Take a closer look this summer and you should find them buzzing around your plants. Some plants that are useful to bees may be unexpected, such as Salix discolor – the pussy willow. Others include small and large trees such as Amelanchier (Shadblow shrub), Cercis canadensis (Redbud) and Quercus bicolor (the large swamp oak).

Our beautiful butterflies include the Monarch. Most folks know of their amazingly long migrations and recognize their vibrant orange and black wings. You can provide the only thing their caterpillars eat, milkweed. Two varieties are Asclepias incarnta and A. tuberosa.

A Buckeye butterfly visits a flower in Bronson Meadow.
(Curtiss Clark photos)

Happily, both bees and butterflies love many of the same flowering plants. A far-from-exhaustive list includes the milkweed mentioned above, several types of asters, Baptisia australis (blue false indigo), Coreopsis (several kinds), Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), Eupatorium (various kinds of Joe Pye Weed, which is also very fragrant), wild geranium and cranesbill (the Latin name is also “geranium”), Heliopesis (ox-eye daisy), Lobelia (cardinal flower) , Monarda (bee balm), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), Solidago (goldenrod, which is actually not particularly allergenic).

Some shrubs and trees also support butterflies. These include Cornus “Cardinal” (Red-Osier Dogwood), Lindera (Spicebush), Betula nigra (River Birch), Cornus Canadensis (Bunchberry), Pinus strobus (white pine), and honeysuckle and wisteria vines.

If you absolutely must use chemicals, you can reduce the harm by following the package instructions carefully, applying them early in the morning when bees and other pollinators aren’t around, not using them at all while the plants are flowering, and not spraying them in other places where pollinators may land.

The Middlebury Land Trust properties have great stretches of native shrubs and plants that provide good habitat. But our bees and butterflies need all the help they can get. If we all grow more plants to feed the bees and butterflies, we can create a trail bees and butterflies can follow when they visit our community.

For tips on plants, see www.pollinator-pathway.org/copy-of-native-pollinator-plants. For more information about the land trust, visit www.middleburylandtrust.org. Contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com.