Tithonia, above, is one of my favorite flowers. It's so happy, so visible from across the yard and now, its most valuable attribute -- it's an incredible triple-pollinator attractor -- bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  Pretty neat, eh?
 
Monday, June 20, kicks off National Pollinator Week. Talk about a word that has tsunami'd its way into our vocabulary -- starting with the honeybee's decline from Colony Collapse Disorder. Now every school child probably knows more about pollinators than most adults do. They're part of every curriculum.
 
Pollinators are animals that assist plants with reproduction -- bats, butterflies, moths, flies, birds, beetles, ants and bees. The Simple Truth is: We Can't Live Without Them. Over 80% of Earth's flowering plants require pollinators to survive.

Think about it.  Without pollinators, neither we, nor any of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems, would survive.  
 
Study after study now reflects global declines in so many important pollinators for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is negative human intervention into their habitats. On the other hand, marked decreases in decline rates have been noted, as in the case of monarch butterflies. 

How much do our habitat gardens help?  While there are no definitive stats out yet, they certainly can't hurt.
 
Remember, I asked them to list those flowers that immediately come to mind as being the ones on which they usually see the MOST pollinators. I'm listing them all, even duplicates, so you'll know where to  see/buy them in your specific area. I listed everyone who responded to my request.
 

HOUSTON ARBORETUM & NATURE CENTER - houstonarboretum.org

• Butterflies -- Native lantana (Lantana urticoides); mistflowers (Conoclinium sp.); beebalms (Monarda sp.); buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis); gayfeathers (Liatris sp.); basketflower (Centaurea americana)
• Hummingbirds -- Turks cap (Malvaviscus arboreus); trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans); scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea); cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis); coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempevirens)

COCKRELL BUTTERFLY CENTER  hmns.org/cockerell-butterfly-center/

• Honey bees -- African Blue basil; pink cuphea; Mexican heather (little purple one); bulbine; partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculate)
• Hummingbirds -- 'Red Rocket' red rusellia; Salvia leucantha and other red tubulars.
• Butterflies -- Tithonia; purple coneflower; various eupatoriums; Asclepias curassavica. Swallowtails really like Mexican orchid tree (Bauhinia mexicana) and buttonbush.

TREESEARCH FARMS treesearchfarms.biz

• Bees -- African blue basil
• Butterflies -- 'Sweet Memory' & white duranta; blue mist flower; buddleias, coneflower; lantanas
• Hummingbirds -- Bottlebrush; hamelia; rusellia; cuphea ('David Verity'; pink & bat face)
• Butterflies & hummingbirds -- Porterweed (purple,blue & coral); Mexican bauhinia; old fashioned Penta lanceolata. 

NOTE: Treesearch Farms is a wholesale grower. If you can't find any of these, call Treesearch and ask for a retailer near you. (Owner Heidi Sheesley has been a prime mover in both introducing and providing many super-hardy pollinator-attracting plants to our local nurseries and group plant sales).

A COMMUNITY GARDEN IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY (from Carolyn Kosclskey), Montgomery County Master Gardener http://www.mcmga.com/

• Bees -- Basil ('African blue' & 'Purple Ruffles'); cucumbers; zinnias
• Hummingbirds -- zinnias

THE BLUEBONNET HOUSE [email protected]

• Butterflies -- Butterfly weed; passionvine; coneflowers
• Butterflies & hummingbirds -- Porterweed; thryallis; firecracker plant (Rusellia firecracker or coral fountain plant Russelia x 'St. Elmo's Fire.' Dale thinks St. Elmo's is the hardier of these two)

ENCHANTED NURSERIES myenchanted.com

• Butterflies -- Lantana; pentas; Gregg's mist flower
• Hummingbirds -- Texas olive; cuphea; Turk's cap; coral honeysuckle
• Butterflies & hummingbirds -- Duranta

THE ARBOR GATE www.arborgate.com 

• Summer -- 'African Blue' basil; 'Blue Lady' rosemary and almond verbena
• Winter -- Camellia sasanqua and open-faced roses like 'Lemon Fizz' and 'Summer Wind"

1. Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflowers) - beloved by all bugs & butterflies; can bloom almost all year
2. Solidago canadensis (goldenrod) - fabulous in autumn; covered by bees and all sorts of critters
3. Conoclinium coelestinum (mist flower) - fabulous in autumn
4. Salvias (sages) - great tubular flowers for nectar and pollen
5. Senna alata (candlestick plant) - host plant of cloudless sulfur, orange-barred sulfur, and large orange sulfur butterflies

So, what kind of activities do you have planned for Pollinator Week?  One great family project for children (of all ages!) might be to start a notebook of varieties of plants and which pollinators you see attracted to each. Pictures, from photos or internet downloads, are a great start to researching pollinators observed.

(*Note: I do random email surveys from time to time and publish the results. Not all nurseries always respond, nor do I expect them to.  However if you have a nursery and/or gardening enterprise and I did not query you, then probably I don't have your email address.  If you'd like to be included, send your email to me at [email protected].)

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