Do Pollinators Use Non-Native Plants
Generalizations in Popular Gardening Press Don't Help Us Achieve Biodiverstiy
Yesterday, a smart, classy, gardening lady passed an article on to me. She and I talk about butterflies and environmental issues, so she thought I’d like this BBC story. But I found it filled with generalizations and sort of annoying. For example, an expert states, "Pollinators do not recognize something to eat on these non-native trees"
Sounds good. It’s true sometimes. It’s probably true. Right? Stop reading. Think about what you see in your garden.
You’ll realize this IS NOT true all the time. Two exceptions come to mind quickly.
First, we all know pollinators are attracted to flowers no matter where the pollinator or the flower originated. Granted this story is about plants without nectar mostly, so it’s true then. But also yes, my peach trees are covered with all sorts of bee and fly pollinators. Under them, purple European chickweed buzzes too. Our bulb lawn, with Eurasian muscari and crocus, pulls in all sorts of American bee flies. (see pic)
Summer corn fields, soybean fields, and wheat fields rely on native and non-native insects too. If pollinators, including honey bees which are not native, didn’t recognize nectar we simply couldn't eat.
If native moths didn’t flock to my African and African crossed with American crinum fields, we wouldn’t have seeds nor would, as happened last summer, biologists come from Cornell University to study this interaction.
Second, nectar and pollination often have nothing to do with each other. It’s not a one-for-one relationship. Sometimes, a pollinator goes to a flower, wiggles around it, gets covered with pollen, and then pollinates the next flowers having failed to get a single drop of nectar. Wind, rain, people, all sorts of animals pollinate plants— if they can be pollinated.
My friends and garden clients know that I applaud most of what’s discussed in this article. We need more biodiversity. We do not need more overly hybridized flowers that are sold for their tarted-up flowers only. We always need more plants that have multiple sorts of beauty; flowers, stems, leaves, and seedheads. I call this stacking function. There’s a whole chapter in my book Deep Rooted Wisdom about it.
How well plants fit in and support our ecosystem is part of their beauty that has nothing to do with where they originated. How do gardeners learn about that sort of thing? The answer is complex. Sometimes in the future, I’ll look into that more thoroughly, but a simple solution is to shop at a nursery, with professionals. Big box stores tend to sell overly fancy petunias while providing zero helpful information.
I’d rather have simple old petunias. They seed in. They come back. Butterflies like them. 12-petal petunias seem tarted up to me. But that’s just personal taste.
Articles and social media posts that start with and build on unexamined truths divide and confuse the people who would like to understand and address pollinator issues. The way this article is written presents partial truths as universal facts. That really, well, bugs me. The first sentences of this one includes a generalization, “horticultural plants…. may be attractive to the human eye. But they are not necessarily useful for bees and other pollinators.” The emphasis must be on ‘‘not necessarily”. This means that sometimes horticultural plants are attractive and incredibly useful to bees and other pollinators. Our goal as gardeners is to encourage diversity and identify true threats from unbridled industrial construction to mosquito yard spray and yes, even overly frilly petunias. But it’s not to divide nor mislead nor ostracize. Rambling writings filled with generalizations and factoids that sound like universal truths seem to me, designed more to get clicks and advertising revenue than to truly educate and help garden consumers make choices that influence biodiversity.
Jenks, I agree that it important to punch holes in not-entirely-accurate rhetoric, of which I am typically critical, as well. I also saw that the points you were making (re your observations of native/non-native interactions) were salient. I believe like you that being cognizant of our own current ignorance is probably the best bridge between people wishing to communicate about these complex subjects. I am grateful to find others in communities such as this who are tuned in to nature. 🌱
Well said, I feel like there are too many generalizations in regards to what’s ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ for pollinators. There are so many different species that act as pollinators, each with unique habitat and food needs. And studies show that many are more adaptable than we give them credit for. The best thing that we can do is provide year-round diversity and practice thoughtful maintenance. As I recently read somewhere, ‘rewilding is a spectrum’.