Party for the PollinatorsQuick tips for creating your own pollinator garden
A third of the food and drink individuals consume depends on pollination. As a keystone group, the survival of many other plant and animal species depends on pollinators for their survival. Pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, birds, and bats.
However, pollinator numbers have declined steadily due to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation as well as insecticide, pesticide, disease, parasite, and invasive plant pressure.
To offset the loss of habitat, consider creating a pollinator garden, a stopping point for monarchs as each fall hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the United States and Canada to the mountains in central Mexico for the winter. They return in spring, specifically in May.
A pollinator garden is a garden that is planted predominately with plants that provide nectar or pollen for a range of pollinating insects.
To learn more about the importance of pollinators and pollinator landscapes visit: Pollinator Power- Bees, Butterflies, Birds Bats or National Pollinator Week spotlight: Pollinators Play key role in Illinois Agriculture.
In collaboration with Illinois Farm Bureau, Cook County Farm Bureau developed a video series of pollinator conservation in Cook County, with a range of involvement in agriculture. Please watch the Farm Bureau in action video and the latest member education video to see some of the many practices being implemented to conserve pollinators.
To learn more about resources for creating pollinator habitat.
Pollinator Garden Resources
Illinois Farm Bureau Pollinator Resources
University of Illinois Extension
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service