By Makayla Hernandez and Amanda Massa
Imagine that you’re walking through a garden that is lined beautifully with rows upon rows of flowers. It’s spring, and the cherry blossoms and grandola magnolia trees are in full bloom. The grape hyacinths tickle the edges of daffodil-lined walks as the stone paths twist and turn. A bee buzzes by lazily as its little legs bob up and down with its paunchy form as its crop is full of nectar. The garden is alight with thousands of insects zooming around the brightly colored petals - creating the perfect atmosphere for a productive day. You look along the landscape of the garden and take note of the architectural elements used in its design. You notice that the garden has a bounty of space and lots of sun as its rays hit the pale gray stones along the walkway. As you walk, you discover a little moon bridge that presides over a small stream that runs through the safe-haven of the area and leads to a carved-stone walkway. You begin to wonder how such a place can foster so much life and beauty as you watch bumblebees buzz around, pollinating whatever plant they land on in the meantime.
There’s actually a science to creating gardens like these, as well as other pollinator gardens. Many people love the idea of pollinator gardens and have tried making their own while others are more skeptical, not sure if all of the specifics that go into a garden like this are actually worth it– or if it’s better than letting nature do its thing and take care of itself.
The structure of a garden is vital to not only consumer appreciation, but also to the very pollinators that allow it to produce beautiful blooms and a glamorous landscape. In the article “Planting Gardens to Support Insect Pollinators” by Ania Majewska and Sonia Altizer, we learn that the selection of native plants allows higher plant diversity and floral abundance while also allowing pollinator populations to flourish and prosper. Majewska and Altizer also discuss how the use of insecticides and herbicides affect and deteriorate native populations of both plants and pollinators. The pair analyzed multiple published studies to see which garden characteristics were best associated with attracting large numbers of pollinators.
The two also used search strings related to pollinators, types of pollinators, and gardens to narrow the search to pertinent studies. They contained their data studies found in these searches between the years 2004-2017. In the article, Ania Majewska and Sonia Altizer compiled sufficient data to test the following:
4 factors related to plant selection:
native versus non-native plantings
flower abundance
plant species diversity
woody vegetation
3 garden management factors:
use of chemical biocides
habitat diversity
proportion of mulch cover
2 other garden traits commonly measured in studies of pollinator gardens:
garden size
sun exposure
6 landscape-level factors:
urbanization metrics
green space
distances to agricultural fields, and distances to water bodies, coast, and forest
They found that bees/wasps and butterflies/moths were the most prominent visitors out of 178 pollinator interactions. Within garden features had overall stronger effect sizes than landscaped-level attributes, and the MEM analysis of garden management showed that pollinators were not influenced significantly by chemical use, habitat diversity, or mulch cover. They found that garden size and sun exposure positively influenced pollinators as pollinator gardens grow in popularity and are becoming important conservation tools for diversity. Plant diversity, including woody vegetation, and garden size were consistently associated with positive effects and are highly recommended as greater plant diversity species and floral traits could attract more pollinating species and extend recourse phenology for pollinator support while garden management and design did not have an effect.
This study found that greater diversity in both plant species and floral traits could increase the diversity of the pollinator species that pay the gardens a visit. The study also increased the amount of valuable knowledge we have about pollinator gardens that seem to be growing in popularity, which would be great in helping the success rates of future gardens and in helping inspire future studies on this topic. So, next time you find yourself in a butterfly garden, or any open space where you notice some friendly pollinators, you’ll have a bit more of an insight on what goes into these gardens and why you find certain species hovering around specific plants and flowers.
Further Reading:
[1] Photo by Carol Pasternak. License: CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED
[2] Photo by Triker-Sticks. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED
