Post on 10-Feb-2017
Conservation WatchConservation Watch A publication of
The Garden Club of America
Volume XXIIIVolume XXIIIVolume XXIII
Issue IIIIssue IIIIssue III
FallFallFall
The The The
PollinatorPollinatorPollinator
ChallengeChallengeChallenge
In This Issue
Update on Bees and
pesticides
What you can do to
promote pollinators
Web sites to aid in
meeting the challenge
And more…..
Conservation Watch Fall, 2014
Index
Update on Plight of the Honey Bee ___________________________________________________2
By Jane Henley
_Honey Bees—Where is the Buzz? ____________________________________________________3
BY Susan Lammert
U. S. House and Senate Fail to Provide Funding for Bills for the Innovation Institute on Pollinators and Pollinator____
Health____________________________________________________________________________________________6
By Martha Phillips
Let the Buyer Bee-ware: How Lethal Neonicotinoids are Sneaking into Our Gardens _____________________7
By Carol Carter
Pollinators in Peril: The Challenge ________________________________________________ 9
By Jennifer Fain
GCA Scholars on the Forefront of Pollinator Research _________________________________________15
By Teed Poe
Fellowship Intern Report _______________________________________________________________16
By Elliot Gardner
Seed Share and Propagation—How to Attract Pollinators to your Garden! _______________________________ 17
By Barbara Tuffli
The Milkweed Project _____________________________________________________________________ 20
By Town and Country Garden Club (Zone XI)
The Pollinator’s Garden _______________________________________________________ 21
By Litchfield Garden Club, Zone II
The Great Healthy Yard Project: Our Yards, Our Children, Our Responsibility : A Book Review___________________ 23
By Fayetta Weaver
Now is the Time to Plan How You Will Meet the Pollinator Challenge _____________________________ _ 23
Marsha Merrell
The Garden Club of America Pollinator Resource List _____________________________________________24
Update on Plight of the Honey Bee By Jane Henley, NAL Resource Committee, Dolley Madison Garden Club, Zone VII
In the past year, saving bees has continued to capture the imagination of Americans. Beehives have even
sprung up on the rooftops of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New
York. Still, their plight remains somewhat of a mystery. Although the causes of colony collapse disorder
(CCD)—a phenomenon involving the disappearance of worker bees that was identified by this name in
2006— has not been solved, new beekeepers are coming out of the woodwork, hoping to identify its source.
Neonictinoids, a class of pesticides (neonics) prevalent in the agricultural world since 2006, are widely sus-
pected of being at least one of the culprits.
What follows is a chronological list of important bee-saving actions that have been taken so far:
June, 2013: 50,000 bumblebees were killed in a Target’s parking
lot in Wilsonville, Oregon after being sprayed by neonicotinoids,
July 19, 2013: Representatives Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and
John Conyers, D-Michigan, introduces H.R. 2692, the Save Ameri-
ca’s Pollinators Act of 2013,calling for the suspension of neonico-
tinoids until a full review of scientific evidence indicates they are
safe for pollinators. (https://www.govtrack/113/hr2692)
August 2013: EPA releases rules and new labels for pesticides
containing the neonicotinoids imidacioprid, dinotefuran, clothi-
asidin and thiamethoxam and includes a warning to prohibit use of
these products where bees are present.
(www2.epa.gov/pollinator-protection)
August, 2013: Pilot study co-authored by Friends of the Earth and
Pesticide Research Center finds that 7 of 13 samples of garden
plants purchased at top retailers in D.C., San Francisco Bay area,
and Minneapolis contain neonicotinoids through pretreatment be-
fore sale. (www.foe.org/beeaction)
February, 2014: The 2014 Farm Bill directs USDA to encourage
farmers to protect habitat as part of their conservation plan and grants
emergency funds for honeybee loss. USDA also funds research projects managed by the Pollinators Partner-
ship, most importantly the “Bee Informed Partnership.” (beeinformed.org)
May 9, 2014: A study conducted through the Harvard School of Public Health publishes research findings in
Bulletin of Insectology links neonictinoids to CCD. (www.hsph.harvard.edu/)
May 23, 2014: Bee Informed Partnership releases results of the survey of honeybee colony losses for
2013/14 winter season. Loss rate was 23.2 percent, 7.3 percent better than 2012/13. Acceptable rate is 18.9
percent. Yearly survey funded by USDA. ( beeinformed.org/2014/05/colony-loss-2013-2014)
Photo from buzzaboutbees.net
2
3
June 20, 2014: President Obama announces the first-ever comprehensive federal pollinator initiative to cre-
ate a federal strategy to save dying pollinators and ramp up federal efforts to address the decline in the bee
population.
(www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/presidential-memorandum)
June 20, 2014: USDA announces an incentive program totaling $8 million to encourage landowners in the
Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to create pollinator-friendly habitats on their property.
(www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?/contid=2014/06/0130.xm:)
June 30, 2014: Home Depot and BJ’s Wholesale Clubs announce that plants sold at their chain stores which
contain neonicotinoid pesticides will be so labeled by the end of 2014.
(www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/2
July 31, 2014: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System announces it will ban
the use of neonicotinoids and genetically modified seeds on its US lands by January 2016.
(www.refugeassociation.org/2014/08)
Let us continue to raise awareness and provide solutions to a very serious threat to our food security.
Honey Bees—Where is the Buzz?
By Susan Lammert, Vice Chair NAL for Agriculture
Garden Club of St. Louis, Zone XI
The decline of bees was featured in major publications such as: Time
Magazine's cover story, “A World Without Bees” (August 19, 2013);
National Geographic’s “The Plight of the Honey Bee” (May 10,
2013); and Smithsonian’s The secret Life of Bees” (March 20, 2012).
Given the broad media coverage of the precarious state of bees and
their essential role in agriculture, one would think that the Farm Bill of 2014 would have adopted a provision
requiring the government to address the problem. Despite the support of nearly 80 conservation organiza-
tions, there was nothing in the final bill except language directing USDA to encourage farmers to protect
pollinator habitat as part of voluntary conservation plans. Reference to Conservation Watch, Vol. XXII,
Issue 1, Summer 2013, “Bring back the Bees” by Jane Henley provides a helpful perspective on how little
progress has been made in preventing colony collapse disorder or reversing the negative trends in the popu-
lations of all pollinators. Her up date is in the preceding article.
4
To fill in the gap, President Obama issued a memorandum on June 20, 2014, the “Federal Strategy to Pro-
mote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators”. Obama established the Pollinator Health Task Force
to be co-chaired by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Along with
the co-chairs, the Task Force includes representatives from fourteen other government agencies, including
the State and Interior Departments. Within 180 days of the date of the president’s memorandum, the Task
Force is charged with developing a National Pollinator Health Strategy which will include explicit goals,
milestones, and metrics to measure progress as well as a Pollinator Research Action Plan to focus federal ef-
forts on understanding, preventing, and recovering from pollinator losses. The Plan shall be informed by re-
search on relevant topics and include: assessments of the status of native pollinators, restoration of pollinator
friendly habitat, identification of best practices to reduce pollinator exposure to pesticides, and new cost-
effective ways to control bee pests and diseases.
On the same day that the president issued this memo, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) an-
nounced an $8 million grant to offer incentives to the Conservation Reserve Program for Michigan, Minne-
sota, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin farmers and ranchers to replace common cover crops with
“nutritious pollinator forage.” More than half of managed honey bees are in these five states. Earlier this
year the USDA targeted $3 million to support bee populations in midwestern states through the Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service on Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
The 2014 Farm bill authorized $80 million for Specialty Crop Research Initiatives in the fiscal year 2014.In
spite of its failure to focus on the issue; the 2014 Farm Bill did offer economic incentives to study the polli-
nator problem. On August 6, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced a $6.9
million grant made to Michigan State to develop sustainable pollination strategies for specialty crop farmers
who grow, fruits, vegetables and nuts. The goal stated on the NIFA website is “to develop and deliver con-
text-specific Integrated Crop Pollination (ICP) recommendations on how to most effectively harness native
bees’ potential for crop pollination”. ICP, a program led by Michigan State, is defined on icpbees.org,
“Members of the Project Team are investigating the performance, economics, and farmer perceptions of dif-
ferent pollination strategies in various fruit and vegetable crops. These include complete reliance on honey
bees, farm habitat manipulation to enhance suitability for bees, and use of managed native bees alone or in
combination with honey bees.”
The most controversial issue in the determination
of policy is the role that pesticides containing ne-
onicotinoids play in making bees more susceptible
to disease. Research on this issue seems to be in-
conclusive, although a major USDA study last
year found evidence that such pesticides are one
factor in bee die-off’s. In May of 2014 Dr. Chens-
heng Lu, a professor at Harvard’s School of Pub-
lic Health linked neonicotinoids to winter losses to
bee colonies. Jeffery Pettis’, who stepped down
as head of the USDA’s Bee Research Laboratory
in July, strongly believed that pesticides were a
key stressor on bee health. On August 1, 2014,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service became the
first federal agency to announce that it will phase
out the use of neonicotinoids (as well as genetical-
ly engineered crops) to feed wildlife in all of its
refuges. In Europe three neonicotinoid pesticides
have been banned for two years and Canada is
considering a ban.
5
An article by Jon Entine in the February 8, 2014, edition of Forbes reports that new data presented at the
Beltway Cotton Conference in New Orleans by Dr. Gus Lorenz, extension entomologist with the University
of Arkansas, shows that neonicotinoids may not be as harmful as previously thought because levels of actual
exposure are lower than claimed.
The picture is far from clear. Scientists believe that bee losses are likely caused by a combination of stressors
that include poor bee nutrition, loss of forage lands, parasites, pathogens, lack of genetic diversity, and expo-
sure to pesticides. There is a divide between green organizations and agribusiness, each side giving different
weight to the various causes of bee mortality. It is to be hoped that a consensus will emerge before it is too
late.
Sources: E&E News, “Bees get short shrift in farm bill,” Amanda Peterka, February 5, 2014
Presidential Memorandum - The Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators,
whitehouse.gov, June 20, 2014.
E&E News, “Obama announces sweeping new effort to save honeybee colonies”,
Tiffany Stecker, June 20, 2014
USDA Office of Communications, Washington, June 20, 2014, USDA Provides $8 Million to Help Boost De-
clining Honey Bee Population.
USDA Office of Communications, Washington, Aug.6, 2014. USDA Awards Grant to Michigan State University to
Study Pollinator Solutions for Specialty Crops.
ICP.bees.org
www.nifa.usda.gov/newsroom
E&E News, Agriculture: “Outspoken head of USDA’s bee lab steps down”, Tiffany Stecker,July 7, 2014.
E&E News, Pesticides: “FWS bans GMO feed, bee-killing chemicals nationwide”,
Tiffany Stecker, August 1, 2014.
E&E News, Pesticides: “New study links insecticides to bee deaths”, May 9, 2014.
Amanda Peterka.
Forbes, “Bee Deaths Reversal: As Evidence Points Away from Neonics as Driver, Pressure Builds to Rethink Ban,”
Jon Entine, February 8, 2014.
Just in - A letter to the EPA from 17 environmental organizations quotes new evidence that links neonico-
tinoids to bee deaths and declining health. The International Union for Conservation cited 800 peer-
reviewed journals which concluded “that neonicotinoids persist in the environment and are toxic to aquatic
species, invertebrates and vertebrates.” This report is being published serially in Environmental Science and
Pollution Research. The letter lists these additional key conclusions: As they accumulate in the environment
the active ingredients increase “their toxicity by increasing the duration of exposure of non-target spe-
cies...the most affected group of species include soil invertebrates and insect pollinators with high exposure
through air and plants and medium exposure through water.”
President Obama’s executive order in June establishing the Pollinator Health Task Force should expedite
measures to accomplish this mission. The letter urges that the schedule for reviewing Systemic Pesticides,
including neonicotinoids, be accelerated. The current timetable calls for a review 2018-9.
On October 2, 2014 NAL speaker Rep. Earl Blumenaur(D-Oregon) and Rep. John Conyers(D-MI) joined 58
other legislators in cosigning a letter to EPA to restrict neonicontinoids.
Sources:
“Enviros pressure EPA on Bee Deaths.” E&E News, Tiffany Stecker, September 25, 2014. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Weekly Roundup. www.sustainableagriculture.net October 2, 2014
5
Addendum to “Honey-Bees, Where is the Buzz”
5
U.S. House and Senate Fail to Provide Funding for Bills for the Innovation Institute on
Pollinators and Pollinator Health By Martha Phillips, NAL Vice Chairwoman for Legislative Updates
Litchfield Garden Club, Zone II
As of November 14, the House and Senate appropriators have not provided funding in their bills for the inno-
vation institute on pollinators and pollinator health as requested by the Agriculture Department. The White
House has issued a veto threat over this, as well as a dozen other issues. The requested institute would be a
public-private partnership to leverage knowledge and funding resources from both private and public sources
to support research into pollination and pollinator health. The Agriculture Department asked for $25 million
a year for five years. Of these funds, $5 million a year would go to a multi-agency effort to address the de-
cline of honey bee health and Colony Collapse Disorder.
NAL Chairwoman, Lindsay Marshall and Conservation Chair, Jenny Fain sent letters to the House and Sen-
ate appropriators asking that they reconsider and include the funds for the innovation institute in the Continu-
ing Resolution.
6
Let the Buyer Bee-ware: How Lethal Neonicotinoids are Sneaking into Our Gardens
By Carol Carter, Albemarle Garden Club, Zone VII Conservation Representative
Our home gardens can support significant communities of bees, butterflies and other pollinators even though
home and city gardens comprise a small fraction of the larger landscape. That is good news. There is grow-
ing awareness about the dwindling populations of pollinators and many concerned gardeners are conscien-
tiously planting pollinator friendly plants. That is also good news.
The bad news is that neonicotinoids—a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine— can persist in
plants that we purchase from garden centers for as long as 18 months or more. This class of pesticide acts
systemically, which means that it is absorbed by the plant and then is expressed in all parts of the plant from
tissue to nectar and pollen. A study by the Pesticide Research Institute that sampled plants purchased from
garden centers (particularly big box garden centers) showed that over half of the plants contained levels of
neonicotinoids at levels of 2 through 748 parts per billion. Scientists estimate that a dose of 192 parts per
billion will kill a honeybee and lower doses can impair their ability to fly, navigate, forage and reproduce.
This means that some of the plants that we purchase and plant in an effort to help save pollinators could in-
advertently be harming them.
Much attention has been paid to agricultural use of neonicotinoids which were first introduced in the 1990s
and now are the most commonly used class of pesticides. Far less attention has been paid to the prolific use
of these “neonics” in home garden products where they can be found in concentrations far greater than al-
lowed in agriculture---as much as 120 times greater. The lethal levels allowed in home garden products and
the long lived nature of the toxicity is of great concern to pollinator advocates.
“Nursery” courtesy of cbenjasuwan for freedigitalphotos.net
7
“Neonics” are water-soluble and are easy to administer by soil drenching, spraying, trunk injection and even
through coated seeds. This makes them highly attractive in agriculture, as does the fact that they are less tox-
ic to humans than some other pesticides. Commercial nurseries apply pesticides to protect their investment
and the levels can persist in the plants and soil well after the home gardener has planted the plant. There is
concern that neonicotinoids also harm earthworms and soil beetles along with pollinators. It is increasingly
complex to create safe havens for insects and other wildlife.
What can we do?
According to the Xerces Society:
Avoid use of garden products containing neonicotinoids (imidaclopid, dinotefuran, clothianidin, and thia-
methoxam)
Ask your garden center if they carry plants that have been treated with neonicotinoids
Encourage your city or park district to use alternatives
Create patches of pesticide-free pollinator friendly plants
Share this information in your local community
Resources:
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/garden-center-neonicotinoids/
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/NeonicsInYourGarden.pdf
http://www.xerces.org/beyond-the-birds-and-the-bees/
8
Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles Freedigitalphotos.net
9
POLLINATORS IN PERIL: THE CHALLENGE
Jennifer Fain, GCA Chair of the Conservation Committee
Bees and butterflies are making headlines these days and the news is not good. Bees are dying from a mys-
terious ailment called “colony-collapse disorder” (CCD). Honeybees and native bees are all disappearing.
The monarch butterfly population has declined by as much as 8o percent in the last decade. Why is this
happening? Is there anything we can do about it?
The GCA Conservation Committee is exploring these problems and offering ideas for garden club members
to make a difference--beginning in their own backyards.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Bees
If a grocery removed all food dependent on pollinators from its produce department, a lot would disappear.
Of 453 items in the picture above, on the left, 237 were removed—including lemons, apples, zucchini, on-
ions, cucumbers, broccoli and many more—resulting in the picture one sees on the right.
We know our bees are in trouble. Beginning in 2006, beekeepers noticed that their honeybees were dying
en masse and scientists began to study and identify CCD. Eight years later bees are still dying and the rea-
sons are mysterious and probably a combination of factors.
As gardeners we know that bees are the most beneficial insects in our gardens. They pollinate our fruits, veg-
etables and flowers. In fact over one-third of the world’s crop production is dependent on bee pollinators.
10
Although CCD has received a lot of recent news coverage, the bee population has actually been in decline
over the past fifty years. We now have half the managed hives in the United States that we had in 1945. The
reason is that our farming practices changed after World War II. We stopped planting cover crops like alfal-
fa and clover which return nitrogen to the soil. Instead, synthetic fertilizers were used. We also began the
widespread use of herbicides to kill weeds – many of which had provided flowers for the bees. Farmers also
began to grow monocultures - a single crop or plant species cultivated over a wide area for many consecutive
years. Ironically, our country’s vast farmlands have become an agricultural food desert for bees.
In their effort to discover the cause of CCD, researchers have focused on a new class of chemical pesticides
called neonicitonoids. These pesticides seem to have an adverse affect on the nervous system of bees and
other insects. (The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has placed a two-year
restriction on the use of three pesticides due to concerns about their deleterious effects.) The evidence re-
mains unclear, however, that neonics, as they are called, are the sole culprit. Bees are also susceptible to
mites and viruses. Most likely all of these factors: disease, pesticide use, and loss of habitat are putting not
only our honeybees, but also our native bee population, at risk.
Although we’ve depended on non
-native honeybees to pollinate our
crops for decades, we may need to
turn to native pollinators to aug-
ment the transportable honeybee
industry. Native bees pollinate
squash, watermelon, apples, cher-
ries, and blueberries more effec-
tively than honeybees.
There are over 4,000 different
species of native bees, but they,
too, are disappearing. Their
decline, like that of the honey-
bees, is likely due to pesticide
use, loss of habitat, and disease.
Last summer more than 50,000
bumblebees died in Oregon when
linden trees were sprayed with
dinotefuran (also know as Safari)
in a Target parking lot. This pes-
ticide belongs to the chemical
group neonicotinoids.
The Xerces Society for invertebrate Conservation (wsww.xerces.org) has launched an educational program
called, “Bring Back the Pollinators.” Its publication, Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting America’s
Bees and Butterflies, focuses on four groups of native pollinating insects: bees and wasps, butterflies and
moths, flies and beetles.
Bumble Bee
11
Monarch Butterflies
“But most of all I shall remember the monarchs, that unhurried westward drift of
one small winged form after another, each drawn by some invisible force.”
Rachel Carson, Letter to Dorothy Freeman, September 10, 1963
In the last fifteen years our once ubiquitous monarch butterfly population declined by eighty percent. Mon-
archs feed on only one plant: milkweed (Asclepias).
Milkweed is the only host plant for the Monarch's reproduction. Milkweed was once commonly found in
meadows, farmland, roadsides and pastures. Now, due to urban sprawl, commercial farming, spraying of
herbicides, and mowing, entire habitats of milkweed have disappeared.
Vast monoculture crops like corn and soybeans are being bred for herbicide tolerance. The widespread use of
Glyphosate, a weed killer, has resulted in the emergence of a dozen herbicide-tolerant super weeds. As a
result, farmers now spray five times more weed killer on their crops than they did ten years ago. Farmlands
have suffered a 58 percent decline in milkweeds – and an 81 percent decline in monarchs from 1999 to
2012.
“Saving monarchs is about more than monarchs,” says Chip Taylor, the executive director of Monarch
Watch, based at the University of Kansas. “It’s saving all the species with whom they share the same habi-
tats, especially the pollinators whose service provides the food for other species.”
12
What Can We Do?
Although our pollinator populations are clearly in peril, the good news is that you can make a difference be-
ginning in YOUR OWN BACKYARD.
Here are five things garden club members can do:
1. ELIMINATE OR REDUCE THE USE OF PESTICIDES IN YOUR GARDEN
1. The first principle should always be DO NO HARM
2. Use pesticides as needed instead of preventively
3. Avoid using neonicotinoids in your garden. Read labels to find out whether or not a product contains
neonicotinoids. Look for imidacloprid, acetamiprid, dinotefuran, clothinanidin, and thiamethoxam.
Avoid them! An excellent resource is Xerces Society’s “Protectiong Bees from Neonicotinoid Insecti
-cides in Your Garden” which lists examples of garden products by name (www.xerces.org/pesticides)
4. When purchasing plants at a nursery, ask whether or not the plants were treated with neonictonoids
Diane Lewis, M.D., member of the Bedford Garden Club, has recently published The Great Healthy Yard
Project. A review of this book follows in this Con Watch. It’s an excellent resource for learning how to
take practical actions on your own property.
2. PLANT FOR BEES AND BUTTERFLIES
“A garden is only as rich and beautiful as the integral health of the system; pollinators are essential to the
system. Make your home their home.” Derry MacBride, Pollinator partnership Ecoregional Guides
Bees on Ajuga in Spring, photo by R. Merrell
13
Use native plants whenever possible.
Resources for your garden:
1. Seed Share and Propagation (SS&P) is a new GCA Horticulture Committee initiative with a webpage
filled with helpful information. Reach it by clicking the link in the SS&P section of the Horticulture
Committee page. There you will find information on Plants for Pollinators, Propagation Information,
and Seed Collection and Storage.
2 www.pollinator.org provides a list of plants for your growing zone and area. Their website features
a pollinator-friendly planting guide tailored to specific regions of the country. There are other sources
that can help you find appropriate pollinator- attracting plants by zip code
3 The Xerces Society’s website features a “Pollinator Conservation Resource Center”. Click on your re-
gion of the country to find information about plant lists, habitat conservation guides and more.
www.xerces.org/pollinator-resource-center)
4. Gardens with Wings helps you identify butterflies you can attract to your garden. Enter your zip code
on their website (www.gardenswithwings.com) to find a list of butterflies in your area and a list of the
nectar and host plants you can plant to attract them.
5. Monarch Watch has a database of nurseries that supply milkweed plants and seeds. Their website is
www.monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/resources/plant-seed-suppliers
www.monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/resources/plant-seed-suppliers. Another source is
www.mailordernatives.com. For monarchs specifically plant milkweed! Also, check native plant nurse-
ries to find milkweed plants for your garden.
4. ENCOURAGE YOUR CLUB TO HAVE A POLLINATOR PROJECT
3. BECOME INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Find out what’s being planted in local parks, public gardens, and median strips.
Ask your city or park department to avoid the use of neonicotinoids on plants and trees that are bee-
visited (like maple trees) or bee-pollinated (such as roses and linden trees).
14
5. PLAN A PROGRAM ABOUT POLLINATORS FOR YOUR CLUB:
Here are some ideas to educate your members on the issue:
Show Marla Spivak’s TED talk on bees. (www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing)
Ask a local expert to lecture on POLLINATORS, focusing on pollinator-friendly plants for bees, butter-
flies, moths, beetles, flies, birds and bats. Challenge members to plant at least 3 pollinator-friendly plants
(both native and nonnative) in their gardens
Show a POLLINATOR movie and discuss the local implications. Suggested movies include Nature:
Hummingbirds: NOVA’s The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies: More than Honey: Nature: The Si-
lence of the Bees: Vanishing Bees: Wings of Life: Queen of the Sun. Refer members to
www.pollinators.org for the Pollinator Partnership ecoregional planting guide, Selecting Plants for Polli-
nators.
Create a Monarch Way station through Monarch Watch, www.monarchwatch.org where you can purchase
seed kits, one for east of the Rocky Mountains and one for west of the Rocky Mountains. These kits con-
tain seeds for milkweed and general nectar plants. You can also register and certify your site to become
part of the International Monarch Way station registry.
This issue of Conservation Watch is devoted to the Pollinator Challenge. Please refer to it for
more information, as well as the Conservation Committee’s webpage, on www.gcamerica.org
We challenge you to make a difference—beginning in your own backyard.
We are an organization of 18,000 gardeners.
Collectively we can help our pollinators make a comeback
15
How GCA is Meeting the Pollinator Challenge
GCA Scholars on the Forefront of Pollinator Research
By Teed M. Poe, Vice Chairman, Scholarship Committee
Cherokee Garden Club, Zone VIII
Fear not. Our GCA scholars are working diligently to discover what is impacting our pollinators (bees in
particular) and also milkweed growth which sustains butterflies.
Last year, the GCA Board of Associates created the Centennial Pollinator Fellowship which, in its inaugural
year with the support of additional contributions, was able to fund four outstanding Ph.D. candidates in their
study of different aspects of pollination. The Scholarship Committee has just received their interim reports
and expects more results to follow as the year proceeds.
Lauren Ponisio is working in Yosemite National Park studying the effect of fire and drought and how they
inhibit the pollinator communities. Drought appears to have a significant impact as she only gathered half
the number of pollinator samples compared to last year. Bumblebees were particularly impacted. Her overall
goal is to determine how the pollinator networks function in relation to dramatic changes in the ecosystem.
Evan Palmer-Young is studying how bumblebee diets affect disease resistance. Bumblebees forage on the
nectar and pollen of plants with antimicrobial properties. He is examining the impacts of these phytochemi-
cals on the growth of a parasite, C. bombi, and the resistance of bees to parasites. Evan’s findings so far sug-
gest that there are different strains of this parasite that have different impacts on the bees’ resistance. He has
narrowed his research to identify which particular chemicals have inhibitory effects against a variety of par-
asitic strains. Stay tuned.
Samantha Alger is studying bees in the Vermont region. Her focus is on flowers that may be “bridges” in
viral transmission from infected to uninfected bees. She has more tests to do and will interpret the findings
in the months ahead.
Elliot Gardner is doing his field work in Sabah, Malaysia researching the relationship between certain floral
and pollen morphology. He is studying Artocarpus plant species that are flowering at his research site. It
appears that the most common insect visitors to the A.odoratissimus, one of the species he is observing,
were nocturnal moths and cockroaches, as well as small beetles and flies. Another group of pollinators we
often overlook. More information will follow from his extensive collections of samples and observations.
Virginia Henson, one of our GCA Elizabeth Gardner Norweb Summer Environmental Studies
Scholars, has spent her summer examining how milkweed population density correlates with pollina-
tor diversity. She has counted how many pollen structures have been removed and inserted into
flowers closely following the activity of the monarch butterflies, another of our important pollina-
tors.
All of this is exciting research that GCA and your Scholarship Committee support and hope will
bring useful information to all who are concerned about our pollinator species.
16
Fellowship Interim Report
by Elliot Gardner, Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic
Garden,
Garden Club of America Centennial Pollinator Fellowship, August 31.
2014
I conducted fieldwork in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo) in May, 2014 with
collaborators from the Sabah Forestry and Agriculture Departments.
Many Artocarpus species were flowering. I collected and preserved spec-
imens of 17 species for studies on floral and pollen morphology, includ-
ing observational data (for example, on phenology, or the presence of
floral scent) for most of these species. I trapped insects visiting A. odo-
ratissimus (terap), A. integer (cempedak), and A. anisophyllus. I set up
pollinator-exclusion experiments for A. odoratissimus and A. integer, and pilot studies for two additional
species: A. rigidus and A. limpato.
Preliminary results for A. odoratissimus indicate
that this species is likely insect pollinated. Four
bagging treatments were applied to flower heads,
and seeds were counted when fruits matured. Re-
sults suggest that while both large and small in-
sects play a role in pollination, wind likely does
not (Fig. 1). The most common insect visitors
were nocturnal moths and cockroaches, as well as
small beetles and flies. Moths were frequently ob-
served probing between flowers with their probos-
cises, indicating that the flower heads may pro-
duce a nectar-like reward. The tripartite mutualism
found in A. integer—where pollinators feed and
lay eggs in a parasitic fungus on male flower
heads—may play a role in A. odoratissimus as
well, because fungus-covered male flower heads
were often observed with gall midges. Identifica-
tion of insects and fungi, and data collection for
the other species, is underway. Results will con-
tinue to illuminate the pollination biology of these
underutilized tropical tree crops.
Figure 1. Box plot of seed set by bag treatment for A. odoratissimus showing me-
dian, 25%-75% range, and extremes (n=75, R2=0.61, F=39.85 on 3 and 71 d.f., p <
0.00001) (Gardner unpublished) In a pairwise t-test, all comparisons were signifi-
cant at p < 0.05 except fine (small insect exclusion) and closed (pollen exclusion
Elliott Gardner , GCA Pollinator Fellowship recipient, out on a limb for pollinators
open coarse fine closed
020
40
60
17
The Horticulture Committee Helps Members Meet
the Challenge
Seed Share and Propagation
How to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden!
Barbara Tuffli
Horticulture Committee Vice Chairman Seed Share and Propagation
Seed Share and Propagation (SS&P) is the new, rapidly growing, Horticulture Committee initiative that edu-
cates members about propagation, supports club propagation efforts, enables seed sharing across the coun-
try, and the sharing of propagation stories. Everyone can participate; we hope that everyone will. In the last
few months the Committee has significantly expanded the SS&P webpages, adding numerous resources,
including suggestions for club programs, ideas for flower show and PX seed classes, ways to introduce chil-
dren to gardening, a template for starting a seed library in your community, information on invasives, on
heat zones, and importantly, resources that will make it easy for you to add plants that support pollinators
and attract them to your own garden and gardens in your community.
Pollinators appear to be in trouble, especially bees and Monarch butterflies whose populations are declining
at an alarming rate. Some species may have disappeared altogether. We can help by adding pollinator-
friendly plants to our gardens. 18,000 gardeners can make a difference. Please join the Horticulture and
Conservation Committees in working on this exciting project!
Here is an easy way to add plants for pollinators to your garden: find out what to plant, where to find
the seed, and how to plant it!
1. Find plants that will attract pollinators to your garden and gardens in your area:
Include different types of plants with overlapping bloom periods to support pollinators for as
much of the season as possible
Include plants that attract as many different types of pollinators as possible
Pollinator Friendly Planting Guides, searchable by Zip Code: http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm
Gardens with Wings (butterfly gardening): http://gardenswithwings.com/
Regional Plant Lists for Pollinators: http://xerces.org/providing-wildflowers-for-pollinators/
18
2. Save and Store Seeds, preferably seeds of native plants that attract pollinators.
Grow from seed if possible
Plant organic seeds that have been open pollinated when possible
Seed Size: https://www.flickr.com/photos/seedmoney/sets/72157623238048232/detail/
Seed Savers Exchange: http://www.seedsavers.org/
How to Save and Store Seeds: http://www.seedsavers.org/Education/Seed-Saving-Resources/
2014 Schedule of Free Webinars: http://www.seedsavers.org/Education/Webinars/
Community Seed Resources Program Downloads: http://www.seedsavers.org/site/pdf/crop_chart.pdf
Short, crop-specific seed saving guide: https://www.seedsavers.org/site/pdf/crop_chart.pdf
Seed Savers Exchange YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SSEHeritageFarm
Seed Savers Exchange's webinar playlist: http://www.youtube.com/play list?
playlistlist=PLzNxg5un8z6EVfkbRDiswLYsLBFTSEwmB
Organic Seed Alliance's Seed Saving Guide: http://www.seedalliance.org/uploads/publications/
Seed_Saving_Guide.pdf
The Real Dirt articles on seed collecting, saving, and propagation:
No. 2, Fall 2004, “Seed Collecting Basics”
No. 6, Fall 2006, “Woodland Wildflowers: Easy Propagation of Fall-Fruiting Natives from Seed”
No. 27, Summer 2013: “Don’t Wait...Summer is a Great Time to Start Collecting Seeds! Collecting
Seeds”
No. 1 –15 with Index (Members/Resources/Publications/The Real Dirt Archives)
3. Seed Sources:
Horticulture Committee Seed Sharing: https://www.gcamerica.org/index.cfm/members:news/get?
id=49
Seed Saving Groups and a Few Organizations with Resource Lists: https://www.gcamerica.org/
members/seed-share?ResourceID=2024
4. Propagation Information:
Start with the Horticulture Committee’s Basic Plant Propagation Handbook and downloadable
guides
Check The Real Dirt for helpful articles
When in doubt, search the Internet: “Germinate…” followed by the name of the seed, or
“Growing information…” followed by the name of the plant
Basic Plant Propagation Handbooks are available for $3 through GCA Headquarters
19
Online versions, with additional detail, can be accessed:
Basic Plant Propagation: Vegetative Propagation: https://www.gcamerica.org/index.cfm/
members:publications/publicationdetails/pid/135
Basic Plant Propagation: Sowing Seeds: https://www.gcamerica.org/index.cfm/ members
bers:publications/publicationdetails/pid/136
Germination guide: www.onrockgarden.com/germination-guide/plants
Seed Planting Calculator: http://awaytogarden.com/when-to-start-seeds-calculator/
How to Sow Seeds Outdoors in Winter: https://www.gcamerica.org/_uploads/filemanager/
contentpageresource/winter_sow_brochure.pdf
5. Join the Horticulture Committee in writing Seed Share and Propagation Stories to document
where our pollinator-friendly gardens are making a difference.
If you propagate your plant by seed or some other method please share your story of how you did
it! https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=8AybDukeG-AnjpxyyP4gCw#
SS&P Stories include the names of the pollinators the plants attract. To read stories: https://
www.gcamerica.org/index.cfm/members:publications/details/id/20
20
GCA Club Projects Meeting the Pollinator Challenge
Tess Brown with children at the Ogden House Herb and Bee Tea.
The Milkweed Project
Town and Country G.C. (Zone XI)
New garden club member Nancy Selby was thrown into chairing her club's conservation exhibit for a flower
show. Panic set in, but only briefly. She created an actual butterfly garden, using native plants, at the flow-
er show. Her idea was to educate the public about the Monarch's life cycle, the migration process, and its
fragile habitat. Garden club members loved the project, pitched in, and supplied plants and hard work. A
handout was created showing the butterfly's life cycle and the plants that could be included in a butterfly
garden. A small plastic bag of common milkweed seed was included with each handout. This has led to fur-
ther research about seed stratification and, ultimately, the planting of seedlings by the club. The result is
mature plants that will be given out at the upcoming Zone XI meeting. Others will be planted in parks, pub-
lic gardens, and members' gardens. The club's goal is to establish a Monarch Waystation. Who knows
where this project will end? A wonderful habitat for the embattled Monarch Butterfly is the result. For
more information, contact Nancy Selby at nselby0489@charter.net.
21
Nancy Selby, Grace Mueller, Kaye Reinertsen, Helga Guequierre, and lab assistant Todd Donlinger hard at work planting
milkweed seeds.
The Pollinator's Garden
Litchfield Garden Club, Zone II
When your beautifully designed "Butterfly Garden" morphs into a salad bar for ruminants and rodents, and
a preferred nest for a snapping turtle, do what the Litchfield Garden Club Zone II did. Reimagine your pro-
ject, broaden the focus to include all native pollinators, remove invasive plants and "deer candy" plants, and
redesign with native plants. Interpretive signs now inform the children at the nearby school about what a
pollinator is and what native plants are.
Clearing the area a bit further each year, the garden is providing shelter for birds and tasty delights for polli-
nators. The club funds the purchase of seeds and plants and maintains the garden while educating the public
about pollination.
To learn more about this garden which started in 1998, contact Marana Brooks at
MLBrooks@optonline.net.
22
An example of one of the
Interpretative signs in the
Litchfield Pollinator Garden
Garden Club members hard at working their Pollinator Garden
23
The Great Healthy Yard Project: Our Yards, Our Children, Our Responsibility
by Diane Lewis, MD.
Dr. Diane Lewis, a member of the Bedford Garden Club, Zone III and practicing nephrologist, has written a
very compelling but useful book The Great Healthy Yard Project: Our Yards, Our Children, Our Responsibil-
ity. Dr. Lewis spoke at the NAL meeting in 2014 about a strategy to protect our drinking water by creating
restorative yards. She shares her understanding of the correlation between even small doses of carcinogens
and abnormal human cell activity in layman's language. There is a review of recent scientific studies that
suggest associations between the increased usages of synthetic pesticides, weed killers, and fertilizers and in-
creases in the incidence of neurologic problems, diabetes, autism, ADHD, and breast cancer. She provides
some frightening data about the especially deleterious effects these substances have on children.
The book provides helpful suggestions for ways to reduce our family's (and community's) exposure to these
toxic substances while maintaining pleasing yards and gardens. The strategies outlined in the book are very
helpful to gardeners who are developing pollinator friendly environments and participating in the GCA Polli-
nator Project. There are also specific strategies for eliminating toxic chemicals from homes. This is a book
that every gardener, Mom, and environmentalist should read.
Reviewed by Fayetta Weaver, past Chairwoman of the GCA Conservation Committee
Mill Valley Garden Club, Zone VII
Now is the Time to Plan How You will Meet the Pollinator Challenge
Visions of bees, butterflies and other pollinators are dancing in my head. My list is prepared for seeds to
come and new plants are all nestled snug in their flower beds. As I look forward to some down time this win-
ter in the garden, I dream about what is to come. I hope this issue of Conservation Watch has you also look-
ing at your current plantings and making some additions to insure pollinator attraction. On the next pages are
resources that should help you. Please write me to tell your story of how you are meeting the challenge.
Marsha Merrell, Editor
Don’t forget the night
visitors to your garden
24
The GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA POLLINATOR RESOURCE LIST
BOOKS
American Bees and Butterflies and Their Habitat, Dr. Marla Spivak (forward), Mace Vaughn and Scott
Hoffman Black
Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies by The Xerces Society
Bee Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees by Beatriz Moisset and Stephen Buchmann
Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy
Conserving Migratory Pollinators and Nectar Corridors in Western North America by Gary Paul
Nabhan (editor)
Farming with Native Beneficial Insects: Ecological Pest Control Solutions by The Xerces Society
The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchman and Gary Paul Nabhan
The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke and
Douglas W. Tallamy, July 1 2014
Managing Native Pollinators by Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans for The Xerces Society
The Status of Pollinators in North America/Edition 1 by Committee on the Statues of Pollinators in
North America, National Research Council
CHILDRENS’ BOOKS
A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston
A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston
Desert Giant by Barbara Bash
Monarch! Come Play with Me by Ba Rea (also in Spanish)
Isabel’s House of Butterflies by Tony Johnston
Look Up! Birdwatching in Your Backyard by Annette Cate
DVDs
Bees, Tales from the Hive (NOVA)
First Flight: A Mother Hummingbird’s Story directed by Noriko and Don Carroll
Flight of the Butterflies (IMAX)
Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air
The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies (NOVA)
The Life of Birds (BBC)
More Than Honey directed by Markus Imhoof
Silence of the Bees (PBS NATURE)
Vanishing Bees narrated by Ellen Page
Wings of Life directed by Louie Schwartzberg
25
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab www.helpabee.org
University of Minnesota Bee Lab www.beelab.umn.edu
University of Minnesota Monarch Lab www.monarchlab.org
ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Bumble Bee Watch www.bumblebeewatch.org
Center for Plant Conservation www.centerforplantconservation.org
Creating Habitat www.plantmilkweed.org
International Pollinators Initiative www.internationalpollinatorsinitiative.org
Journey North www.journeynorth.org
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center www.wildflower.org
Make Way for Monarchs www.makewayformonarchs.org
Monarch Butterfly Fund www.monarchbutterflyfund.org
Monarch Joint Venture www.monarchjointventure.org
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project www.mlmp.org
Monarch Watch www.monarchwatch.org
North American Butterfly Association www.naba.org
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign www.pollinator.org/nappc
Pollinator Partnership (comprehensive info for every section of the country) www.pollinator.org
Project Monarch Health www.monarchmonitoringproject.com
Wild Ones www.wildones.org
The Xerces Society www.xerces.org
GOVERNMENT SOURCES
Natural Resources Conservation Service www.nrcs.usda.gov/pollinators
U.S. Department of Agriculture Plants Database www.plants.usda.gov
U.S. Forest Service Pollinator Information www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators
U.S. National Arboretum www.usna.usda.gov
26
PLANTS AND SEEDS
Applewood Seed Company www.applewoodseed.com/pollinator
Find Native Plants www.findnativeplants.com
Native & Uncommon Plants www.nativeanduncommonplants.com
Grow Organic www.groworganic.com
Monarch Watch Shop www.shop.monarchwatch.org (milkweed plugs)
Prairie Restorations Inc. www.prairieresto.com
Seeds of Change www.seedsofchange.com
Seeds Now www.seedsnow.com (non-hybrid, non-GMO)
Seed Savers Exchange www.seedsavers.org
TED TALKS
“Pollinators In Peril” by Jonathan Drori
“Why Bees Are Disappearing” by Dr. Marla Spivak
This Pollinator Resource List was compiled by Kathy Jones, Conservation Vice Chair for Endangered Spe-
cies. The list is also on the GCA website and will be updated periodically.
27
CONSERVATION WATCH | Fall 2014
CONTACTS
Jennifer Fain, Chairwoman Marsha Merrell, Editor
GCA Conservation Committee GCA Conservation Committee
Hancock Park Garden Club (CA)—Zone XII James River Garden Club (VA)—Zone VII
425 S. Windsor Boulevard P.O. Box 165
Los Angeles, CA Mentone, AL 36984
(323) 857-0931 (256) 634-0206
Wfain4@aol.com mr65merrell@gmail.com
Lindsay Marshall, Chairwoman Anne O’Brien, Assistant Editor
GCA National Affairs and Legislation GCA Conservation Committee
Cherokee Garden Club (GA)—Zone VIII Columbine Garden Club (AZ)—Zone XII
3656 Cloudland Drive NW 6018 East Cholla Lane
Atlanta, GA 30327 Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
(404) 949-0020 (480) 874-3323
lindsaywmarshall@gmail.com annie39ob@gmail.com
Conservation Watch, a publication of The Garden Club of America,
is produced by the GCA Conservation Committee. Readers’ ideas,
contributions, and suggestions are welcome, as are requests for
additional information on any of the subjects presented, and may
be emailed to the Editor.
Marsha Merrell , Editor