Here’s a 2016 book in line with the national state and district themes:
Pollinator Friendly Gardening: Gardening for Bees, Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Author: Rhonda Fleming Hayes
The author is a Master Gardener who has lived in many regions of the U.S., is a columnist for the Minneapolis Tribune and has been published in numerous magazines and has won the Garden Writer’s Silver Award.
Writeup:
Want to do your part in helping your local pollinators flourish? Pollinator Friendly Gardening makes it easy.
Are you interested in growing a naturally healthy garden? How about making sure your local environment helps bees, butterflies, and birds survive and thrive? If you are a beekeeper, are you looking for the ideal plants to keep your colony happy?
Pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bees are under threat, and more and more gardeners want to do all they can to create a hospitable space for them. That’s where Pollinator Friendly Gardening comes in. It identifies the most visible and beloved pollinators: bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, as well as some more unlikely candidates such as ants, wasps, and beetles. It then explains the intriguing synergy between plants and pollinators. This vital information makes it a unique sourcebook to share the ways that anyone can make a yard a more friendly place for pollinators.
Plant selection, hardscape choices, habitat building (both natural and manmade), and growing practices that give pollinators their best chance in the garden are all covered in detail. Plant lists organized by category, helpful tips, and expert spotlights make it a fun and easy book to read too.
******
Reviews are mostly all 5 stars. Only gripe is small print (1 person).
Excerpt from one of the Amazon reviewers:
“After an important discussion about what pollination is and which species of insects and birds are pollinator superstars, the book offers readers a ton of ways to enhance a garden and create pollinator-friendly environments. There are lists of plants which include things like ornamentals, wildflowers, trees, and even herbs, vegetables, and fruits. It talks about “hardscapes” and how things like cracks in a concrete wall can be the perfect shelter. Nesting sites are suggested … you might be surprised to learn than simply allowing leaves to remain where they fall can serve as the perfect habitat for nesting bees.
This book is for everyone. Gardeners, of course, will find it very useful when designing their landscapes. Educators might find it very helpful in teaching kids how to respect and protect our environment. Even concerned folks who may not have a yard will find ways to join this movement … a chapter on advocating for pollinators suggests joining organizations which work to protect pollinators or gathering observational data such as counting species or tracking weather.
The ideas presented in “Pollinator Friendly Gardening” make it easy to get involved … without a lot of money or digging up a landscape in lieu of native plants.”
(Editor: Not in our Carroll libraries yet as of this post date. Available on Kindle and in bookstores.)
