Planting to Attract Pollinators
- According to the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 75-80% of all flowering plants and staple crop plants depend on animal pollinators to produce seeds and fruit. We tend to think the pollinators are hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, but often times, pollinators such as ants, beetles, moths and bats do their jobs unseen by the human eye. Using an Ergonomic Garden Tool like the CobraHead, there are several easy steps that you can take to attract a wide range of important pollinators.
How to Create Pollinator Friendly Gardens
- Use a wide variety of plants that flower at various times
- Select plants that flower from spring to fall, and remember that night blooming plants will attract moths and bats. Plant in groupings, rather than individual plants, using Ergonomic Gardening Tools, which will make the job easier.
- Avoid modern hybrid flowers
- Hybrid flowers, especially those with double blooms, often lack the pollen, nectar and fragrance that pollinators need.
- Eliminate pesticides whenever possible.
- Pesticides will eliminate the pollinators that you are trying to encourage, as well as pests that you don’t want. Cultivating often and keeping weeds under control with an Ergonomic Gardening Tool can help keep unwanted pests at bay.
- Include plants for the larvae
- If you want butterflies, use plants that attract the caterpillars, and plant them in a place where the patterns of munching larvae won’t be an eyesore.
- Create non-plant items that can attract pollinators
- You can have some fun creating items for your gardens that will attract pollinators. Things like bee condos, bat houses, damp salt licks, and hummingbird feeders can be decorative as well as useful. Don’t forget that butterflies love rotting fruit, so toss those scraps into your garden, where the butterflies will enjoy the treat. Once decomposition begins, you can work them into the soil using your Ergonomic Gardening Tool like a CobraHead, giving a nice nutrient boost for the plants!
- Education is key
- If you want to encourage pollinators in your gardens and landscape, it is best to learn more about pollination. There are scores of books and online resources that will help you define what pollinators live in your area, and choose the correct plants for your climate that will attract them.
CobraHead – The Ultimate Ergonomic Garden Tool
When you are gardening to attract pollinators, the CobraHead will be useful for every gardening task: weeding, cultivating, scalping, edging, digging, furrowing, planting, transplanting, de-thatching, harvesting and more. The CobraHead long handle Ergonomic Garden Tool is available in 3 handle lengths to be comfortable for people of any height, as well as interchangeable between left and right handed use. The short handled CobraHead is designed to be an extension of your hand, giving you unbeatable flexibility getting into tight areas. Once you have experienced the ease of using the CobraHead Ergonomic Gardening Tool, you will never go back to any other tool again! Don’t waste another day using less effective tools – shop with us today!