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Yes, Bees Need Nectar Plants, AND...
People often think bees just eat nectar and may be surprised to learn that bees need pollen in their diet as well. While nectar provides high energy food like carbohydrates, pollen provides the protein and fat and other nutrients that pollinators need. Providing pollen rich plants in your garden is paramount for healthy pollinators. Find out which plants provide critical early season pollen.
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Native Plants for Butterfly Gardening
In this 2016 blog post by Bruce Newhouse, he explains why native plants and native butterflies are "meant for each other." This excellent article includes lists of host plants, nectar plants, butterfly-plant pairings and more choice gems!
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Pollinator Activities for Kids!
If you have kids at home, you might be looking for activities that are fun, educational, and get your kids moving around. The National Association of Conservation Districts has released an excellent new Pollinator Field Day Curriculum Guide, available to download for free at this link.
Your kids can create bee costumes from cardboard boxes (p. 36) to wear while they play pollination games, dissect flowers (p. 40), and create thaumatropes (optical illusion toys) (p. 50). With additional content like coloring pages and worksheets, your kids will be busy for days!
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In the Mighty Mason Bee, Bee Buddy mastermind and BSWCD Board Member Jerry Paul leads us on a journey to better understand the importance of pollinators, the special role played by mason bees, and what we can do to support them.
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