Bee Lawns and Pollinator Gardens

Bee Lawns and Pollinator Gardens Creation, Design, Plant Choice and Sustainability Mary Hockenberry Meyer University of Minnesota Professor And Extension Horticulturist

[email protected]

© 2011 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. IAN LANE, GRAD STUDENT • Establishment, seedi ng rates, and bee numbers • Arboretum demonstration plots in 2015 • Long term demonstration plots at new Arboretum Bee Center

Sam Bauer photo

© 2011 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. BEE LAWNS • Fine fescues, especially hard fescue • Kentucky bluegrass • Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens) • Selfheal, healall Native (Prunella vulgaris) • Creeping Thyme (Thymus serphyllum) • Bird‟s foot trefoil

. Native plants . Non-native plants . Weeds . Native bunch grasses . No pesticides . Open sunny location . Open soil nesting sites . Minimum of 8 species overall . Minimum of 3 species in bloom at any one time . Early March through late October blooms

Author No. Species City Matteson 50 New York suburbs Ascher/ Matteson 100+ New York City Frankie 70 Berkeley, CA Fenter/LeBuhn 70 San Francisco, CA Cane/Minckley 62 Tucson, AZ Tonietto (green roofs) 21 Chicago, IL

. Matteson, K. and G. Langellotto.2010. Determinates of inner city butterfly and bee species richness. Urban Ecosyst (2010)13:333–347 DOI10.1007/s11252-010-0122-y.

. “Bees are central place foragers that may nest within or near gardens, bee species richness also included total garden area, canopy cover, and the presence of wild/unmanaged area in the garden. . Generally, our findings indicate that sunlight and floral abundance are the major factors limiting local pollinator diversity in this setting. . This suggests that rooftop and other “open” urban habitats might be managed to increase local pollinator diversity, even if seemingly “isolated” within heavily developed neighborhoods.”

• Native or Exotic? Double or Single? Evaluating Plants for Pollinator-friendly Gardens Sarah A. Corbet et al., 2001. Annals of Botany.

• Examined British native plant species Salvia pratensis, Stachys palustris, S. officinalis, Lythrum salicaria, Linaria vulgaris, the non-native Calendula officinalis, Petunia × hybrida, Salvia splendens, and the possibly introduced Saponaria officinalis. • All the British species studied were nectar-rich and recommended for pollinator- friendly gardens. . The exotic Salvia splendens, presumably coevolved with hummingbirds in the Neotropics, has such deep flowers that British bees cannot reach the nectar except by crawling down the corolla. . With a secretion rate approaching 300 μg sugar per flower h−1and little depletion by insects, Salvia splendens accumulated high standing crops of nectar.

. Salvia splendens, and single and double flowers of the two probably moth-pollinated species Petunia × hybrida and Saponaria officinalis, received few daytime visits despite abundant nectar.

• Compared single with double variants of Lotus corniculatus, Saponaria officinalis, Petunia × hybrida and Calendula officinalis.

• “Except in Calendula, exotic or double flowers were little exploited by insect visitors. probably due to the absence or scarcity of coevolved pollinators, coupled, in double flowers, with the absence of nectar. In calendula where doubling involved a change in the proportion of disc and ray florets rather than modification of individual flower structure, double and single capitula had similar standing crops of nectar.”

© 2011 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. SPINDLETOP RESEARCH FARM NEAR LEXINGTON, KY. . Yeargan, K. and S. Colvin. 2009. Butterfly Feeding Preferences for Four Zinnia Cultivars.

. “We compared numbers and species of butterflies that visited four widely available zinnia cultivars: Zinnia violacea Cav. (Zinnia elegans) „Lilliput‟, „Oklahoma‟, „State Fair‟, and Zinnia marylandica „Pinwheel‟. . Mixed colors were used for all cultivars. Based on a total count of 2355 butterflies, representing 30 species, more than twice as many total butterflies visited „Lilliput‟ than visited any of the other cultivars. . Also, a greater number of butterfly species visited „Lilliput‟ than visited any of the other cultivars.“

1870‟s introduction

. Shapiro, A. 2002. The California urban butterfly fauna is dependent on alien plants. Biodiversity and Distributions. 8:31-40.

. “the mainly native (butterfly) species commonly observed in gardens breed mostly or entirely on alien plants, especially naturalized weeds.

. Over 40% of the fauna has no known native hosts in the urban–suburban environment. Were certain alien weeds to be eradicated or their abundance greatly reduced, the urban-suburban butterfly fauna would disappear. This might be regarded as an unfortunate, and perhaps intolerable, side-effect of such programs.”

. “32 breeding butterfly species in the city appears rich; Twenty-nine of the 32 butterflies known to breed in Davis do so at least in part on alien plants,”

© 2011 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. DAVIS, CA SHAPIRO, 2002 Non-native host: Anise swallowtail fennel . “Papilio zelicaon, anise swallowtail, vies with the Monarch, Danaus plexippus, as the butterfly most often reared for the education and edification of children in California. . If its weedy host Foeniculum, fennel, is eradicated from urban areas, as is contemplated for San Francisco, the butterfly will go away. Is this a price we are willing to pay?”

. Kearns, C.A. and D.M. Oliveras. 2009. Environmental factors affecting bee diversity in urban and remote grassland plots in Boulder, Colorado. Journal of Insect Conservation 13:655–665.

• Urbanization did not determine bee abundance or number of species over 5 years in grassland plots.

• Grazing regime and number of flowering plants were the most important factors affecting bee abundance, especially for ground nesting bees.

. Hernandez, J. ,G. Frankie, and R.Thorp. 2009. Ecology of Urban Bees: A Review of Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Study. Cities and the Environment. 2:1, article 3, 15 pp. http://escholarship.bc.edu/cate/vol2/iss1/.

Three Findings: . Negative correlation between bee species richness and urban development . Increase in abundance of cavity-nesters in urban habitats . Scarcity of floral specialists

. Hines, H. and S. Hendrix. 2005. Bumble Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Diversity and Abundance in Tallgrass Prairie Patches: Effects of Local and Landscape Floral Resources. Environmental Entomology, 34(6):1477-1484.

. Assessed the influence of local and landscape floral resource diversity and abundance on bumble bee (Bombus) diversity and abundance.

. “Our results indicate that the floral and, perhaps, nesting resources of grasslands within and surrounding tallgrass prairie habitat patches are important for maintaining local bumble bee diversity and abundance.”

. The more variety and abundance of flowering plants the more bumble bees and the more diverse were the bees. 20

. Hanley, M., M. Franco, S. Pichon, B. Darvill and D. Goulson. 2008. Breeding system, pollinator choice and variation in pollen quality in British herbaceous plants. Functional Ecology 2008, 22, 592–598 doi: 10.1111/j.1365- 2435.2008.01415.x

. We quantified the pollen protein and amino acid content for 23 NW European plant species. Pollen quality was compared with breeding system (facultative- vs. obligate insect-pollinated). A subset of 18 plants was sampled from a single habitat. For these we compared the proportion of pollen collection visits made by bumblebees with the quality of pollen offered.

. We found a significant association between pollen quality and reproductive system; pollen of obligate insect-pollinated species contained higher protein content. We also found a significant relationship with pollinator use; plants most frequently visited by pollen-collecting bumblebees produced the highest- quality pollen. . Bird‟s foot trefoil; bull thistle, red and white clover, viper‟s bugloss

. Hanley, M., A. Awbi and M. Franco. 2014. Going Native? Flower use by bumblebees in English urban gardens. Annals of Botany 113:799-806.

. “Bees simply visited plants in proportion to flower availability. . Indeed, of the 6 most commonly visited garden plants, only one, Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea – 6% of all bee visits) was a British native and only 3 in total of Palaearctic (Northern Europe and Northern Asia) origin (including the most frequently visited species, Campanula poscharskyana (20.6% of visits) which comes from the Balkans). . The remaining „most visited‟ garden plants were from North America (Ceanothus 11% of visits) and Asia (Deutzia spp 7% of visits), while the second most visited plant, Hebe × francisciana (18% of visits), is a hybrid variety with parents from New Zealand (H. speciosa) and South America (H. elliptica).”

. Floral specialists are rare in urban areas, likely due to a lack of necessary plants.

. Fetridge, E.D., J.S. Ascher, and G.A. Langellotto. 2008. The bee fauna of residential gardens in a suburb of New York City (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Annals of the Entomolgical Society of America. 101(6):1067-1077.

. 21 residential gardens in suburban area surveyed for bees . 110 species: 95% native, 50% solitary and 98% polylectic (generalists) . This bee community included 65% soil-nesting and 19% parasitic species . Resembled the bee fauna of a native preserve in the same region . Suburban landscapes in eastern North America have the potential to host relatively diverse and intact bee communities.

. Frankie, G.W., R.W. Thorp, J.L. Hernandez, M. Rizzardi, B. Ertter, J.C. Pawalek, S.L. Witt, M. Schindler, and V.A. Wojcik. 2009. Native bees are a rich natural resource in urban California gardens. California Agriculture. 63(3):113-120. . A 3-year survey of bee pollinators in seven cities from Northern California to Southern California. About 30 gardens visited per year. Found and Identified five bee families and about 60 to 80 species in each city. . Results indicate that many types of urban residential gardens provide floral and nesting resources for the reproduction and survival of bees, especially a diversity of native bees. . Habitat gardening for bees, using targeted ornamental plants, can predictably increase bee diversity and abundance, and provide clear pollination benefits. . Not all urban areas can be expected to support measurable populations of native bees. The right plants must be available. . The study found that while many urban gardens include a high percentage of nonnative ornamental plants, a great variety of native bees visit them.

1. Attract Few or Limited Bee 2. Attract Diverse Native Bees in Groups: Prominent Groups: . Yarrow . Gallardia x grandiflora cultivars . Erigeron . Annual sunflower . Pumpkins and squash . California goldenrod . Wisteria . Lavender . Salvia greggii cultivars & „Hot Lips‟ . Russian sage . California poppy . Salvia „Indigo Spires‟ . Salvia uliginosa, bog sage

3. Attract Diverse Native Bees, No . Asteraceae: pollen Prominent Groups . Aster x frikartii and nectar . Bidens ferulifolia cultivars . Lamiaceae: nectar . Coreopsis grandiflora . Cosmos bipinnatus and Cosmos sulphureus . Erigeron glaucus CA native . Black-eyed Susan . Nepeta spp. . Rosemary . Salvia mellifera CA native

Kickin‟ Blue Aster

. Memmott, J. and N. Waser. 2002. Integration of alien plants into a native flower– pollinator visitation web. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (269): 2395–2399. . Analysis of “how alien plant species integrate themselves into a native flower visitation web” . “Historical records for a community in central USA show that 456 plant species received visits from 1429 insect and 1 hummingbird species, yielding 15,265 unique interactions. . Aliens comprised 12.3% of all plant species, whereas only a few insects were alien (honey bee, cabbage butterfly). . On average, the flowers of alien plants were visited by significantly fewer insect or bird species than those of native plants. Most of these visitors were generalists, visiting many other plant species. . The web of interactions between flowers and visitors was less richly connected for alien plants than for natives; nonetheless, aliens were well integrated into the native web.” . Dandelions, clover, alfalfa were likely on alien plant list.

. Plant diversity is important . Plant flowers with pollen and nectar . Provide nesting habitats in your garden