Selecting Plants for Pollinators A Regional Guide for Farmers, Land Managers, and Gardeners In the Hawaiian Islands Province Including the Tropical Moist Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, and Tropical grassland and & Shrubland NAPPC Table of CONTENTS Why Support Pollinators? 4 Getting Started 5 Hawaiian Islands Province 6 Meet the Pollinators 8 Plant Traits 10 Developing Plantings 12 Farms 13 Public Lands 14 Home Landscapes 15 Bloom Periods 16 Plants That Attract Pollinators 18 Habitat Hints 20 This is one of several guides for Checklist 22 different regions in the United States. We welcome your feedback to assist us in making future guides Resources and Feedback 23 useful. Please contact us at [email protected] Cover photos: Butterfl y & Eleilei Bay courtesy Karl Magnacca, Kauai mountains and taro fi elds courtesy Lauren Rusert. 2 Selecting Plants for Pollinators Selecting Plants for Pollinators A Regional Guide for Farmers, Land Managers, and Gardeners In the Ecological Region of the Hawaiian Islands Province Including the Tropical Moist Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, and Tropical grassland & Shrubland a NAPPC and Pollinator Partnership Publication This guide was funded by Robert Batinovich, the Greene Family, Ruth and Chuck Adams, and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture with oversight by the Pollinator Partnership (www.pollinator.org), in support of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC–www.nappc.org). Hawaiian Islands Province 3 Why support pollinators? IN THEIR 1996 BOOK, THE FORGOTTEN POLLINATORS, Buchmann and Nabhan estimated that animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction “Flowering plants of 90% of fl owering plants and one third of human food crops. Each of us depends on these industrious pollinators in a practical way to provide us across wild, farmed with the wide range of foods we eat. In addition, pollinators are part of the intricate web that supports the biological diversity in natural ecosystems and even urban that helps sustain our quality of life. landscapes actually Abundant and healthy populations of pollinators can improve fruit set and quality, and increase fruit size. In farming situations this increases feed the terrestrial production per acre. In the wild, biodiversity increases and wildlife food sources increase. world, and Macadamia nuts, avocados, watermelon, guava, and coffee are some of the pollinators are the crops that rely on honey bees and native bees for pollination. Domestic honey bees pollinate approximately $10 billion worth of crops in the U.S. great connectors each year. who enable this giant Unfortunately, the numbers of both native pollinators and domesticated bee populations are declining. They are threatened by habitat loss, disease, and the excessive and inappropriate use of pesticides. The loss of food system to work commercial bees to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has highlighted how severe the issues of proper hive management are to reduce stresses caused for all who eat... by disease, pesticide use, insuffi cient nutrition, and transportation practices. Currently, the pollination services that the commercial beekeeping industry including us.” provides are receiving much needed research and conservation resources. -- Roger Lang, The efforts to understand the threats to commercial bees should help us understand other pollinators and their roles in the environment as well. Chairman, Pollinator partnership It is imperative that we take immediate steps to help pollinator populations thrive. The beauty of the situation is that by supporting pollinators’ need for habitat, we support our own needs for food and support diversity in the natural world. Thank you for taking time to consult this guide. By adding plants to your landscape that provide food and shelter for pollinators throughout their active seasons and by adopting pollinator friendly landscape practices, you can make a difference to both the pollinators and the people that rely on them. Laurie Davies Adams Executive Director Pollinator Partnership 4 Selecting Plants for Pollinators Getting Started THIS REGIONAL GUIDE IS just one and is used to predict responses Islands Province has a small but in a series of plant selection tools to land management practices distinctive population of fauna. designed to provide information throughout large areas. This guide There are many native bird on how individuals can infl uence addresses pollinator-friendly land species, along with a few species pollinator populations through management practices in what is of introduced mammals. The fl ora choices they make when they farm known as the Hawaiian Islands includes many endemic species, a plot of ground, manage large Province. and major habitat types include tracts of public land, or plant a The Hawaiian Island Province shrublands, forests, bogs, and moss garden. Each of us can have a comprises an area of 6,500 square and lichen covered mountainsides positive impact by providing the miles with its topography varying and outcrops that vary according to essential habitat requirements for greatly from the western sea-level elevation and wind exposure. pollinators including food, water, plains to easterly mountainous Long before there were homes, shelter, and enough space to allow terrain reaching heights of more development, and invasive pollinators to raise their young. than 13,000 feet. species in this area, the original, Pollinators travel through the The temperature in this province native vegetation provided landscape without regard to varies greatly by altitude, but continuous cover and adjacent property ownership or state maintains an average of 70-75° F feeding opportunities for wildlife, boundaries. We’ve chosen to use year round. The climate also varies including pollinators. In choosing R.G. Bailey’s classifi cation system greatly by location–the windward plants, aim to create habitat for to identify the geographic focus sides of the islands experience pollinators that allow adequate food, of this guide and to underscore heavy precipitation year round, shelter, and water sources. Most the connections between climate while the leeward slopes are pollinators have very small home and vegetation types that affect semiarid. ranges. You can make a difference the diversity of pollinators in the by understanding the vegetation Hawaii is characterized by its environment. patterns of the farm, forest, or tropical climate and volcanic neighbor’s yard adjacent to you Bailey’s Ecoregions of the United history–all 9 islands are volcanoes and by making planting choices States, developed by the United at various stages of activity and that support the pollinators’ need States Forest Service, is a system decay. Due to its isolation and for food and shelter as they move created as a management tool unique soil profi le, the Hawaiian through the landscape. Hawaiian Islands Province 5 Understanding the Hawaiian Islands Province n This region is designated M423 in the Baileys’ Ecosystem Provinces. To see a map of the provinces go to: www.fs.fed.us/rm/ecoregions/products/map-ecoregions- united-states/. n Not sure about which bioregion you live or work in? Go to www.pollinator.org and click on Ecoregion Locator for help. n The Hawaiian Islands region covers 6,500 square miles. n Primarily a hilly and mountainous region, all the islands are volcanoes in various stages of activity and decay. n Elevations ranging from sea level to higher than 13,000 feet. n Average annual temperature ranges from 70° to 75°F. n Year-round precipitation can reach averages of 200 inches. Photo courtesy Colleen Kwong n USDA Hardiness Zones 9a-13a (2012 version). Characteristics n The ohia tree, its accompanying ferns, and the koa tree predominate ecosystems unique to Hawaii’s wet forests. n Shrublands exist primarily on leeward mountainsides where rainfall is minimal. n Bogs are common at higher elevations with heavy rainfall. n Mosses and lichens survive even above the tree line, where frost is a frequent occurrence. n The volcanic islands’ surfaces vary from deep Ultisols on the older islands to igneous rock on the youngest islands. 6 Selecting Plants for Pollinators The Hawaiian Islands Province “Creating pollinator habitat is one includes: practice we must employ to mitigate the The Tropical Moist Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, and impact of new viral and parasitic pressures Tropical Grassland and on Hawaii’s environmentally isolated feral Shrubland and domesticated honey bee populations.” -- Dave Schell, GM, Island Princess Macadamia Nut Company, Kea’au, Hawaii, Operations Hawaiian Islands Province 7 Meet the Pollinators Who are the (Megachile spp.), which prefer dead trees or branches for their nest sites; pollinators? and mason bees (Osmia spp.), which Bees utilize cavities that they fi nd in Bees are well documented stems and dead wood. pollinators in the agricultural and Butterfl ies natural systems of the Hawaiian Gardeners have been attracting Islands Province. A wide range of butterfl ies to their gardens for some crops including Macadamia nuts, time. These insects tend to be eye- watermelon, guava, and coffee all catching, as are the fl owers that benefi t from bee pollination. attract them. Position fl owering Most of us are familiar with the plants where they have full sun and colonies of honey bees that have are protected from the wind. Also, been the workhorses of agricultural you will need to provide open areas pollination for years in the United (e.g. bare earth, large stones) where I’iwii bird States. They were imported to butterfl ies may bask, and moist soil Hawaii from Europe about 150 from which they may get needed years ago. minerals. By providing a safe place to eat and nest, gardeners can also There are nearly 4000 species of support the pollination role that native ground and twig nesting bees butterfl ies play in the landscape. It Photo courtesy Karl Magnacca in the U.S. Some form colonies might mean accepting slight damage while others live and work a solitary to the plants, known as host plants, life. Native bees currently pollinate that provide food for the larval stage many crops and can be encouraged of the butterfl y.