Life in the Campbell Park Pollinator Patch: Part I

 There is a community garden in the park next to our place, where approximately a dozen gardeners have various sized plots to grow garden produce. Marie and I are the local coordinators of this garden, and it has been a useful, and learning, experience.

One of the things that we, along with a couple of co-coordinators involved with this at the beginning of the project back in 2017, thought would be useful was to set aside part of the garden for (mostly) native wildflowers. With our interest in tallgrass prairie, it may be no surprise that many of those wildflowers were typical tallgrass prairie types.

The pollinator patch has looked quite impressive.

 

The Wild Bergamot has overdone itself this year, as the previous image shows. I will likely have to trim it back a bit aggressively before next year, to give some other plants a better chance.

A close relative is Bee-Balm, or Oswego Tea.

Butterfly Milkweed

Wild Columbine

Foxglove Beardtongue

Gray-headed Coneflower

Wild Senna

Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower is a tallgrass prairie species, but not native to Ontario. It is widespread in mid-western US prairies, and a crowd-pleaser, hence it is often planted in gardens.

There are more than twenty plant species established at this prairie patch. In addition to the ones shown above, there are others such as Big Bluestem, Indian Grass, Missouri Ironweed, Canada Anemone, Swamp Milkweed, Oxeye, Blue Vervain, Mountain-mint, Culver's-root, New England Aster, Gray-headed Coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, Boneset, Canada Goldenrod, Riddell's Goldenrod and Common Milkweed. There is something flowering from May until September, or even longer, so something for insects for much of the season.

 Pollinators, as most readers will know, are incredibly important in the productivity of many of the garden produce we rely on and enjoy. 

 With so much of the general landscape being affected by outright loss of native habitat as well as the overuse of many pesticides, pollinators have a tough time surviving. With virtually all pollinators also having natural predators to contend with, it makes it extra challenging for them to carry on with their normal activities for survival. Therefore wildflower patches such as there is here and not impacted by pesticides, are very helpful for them, and also for gardeners. We are pleased to not only add some colour to our local garden, but also be amazed at the diversity of insects that show up! It is also encouraging to see various people walking by and pausing to enjoy the plants, butterflies and other insects they see.

In addition to these information signs, we've also put up posters highlighting some of the butterflies that have been seen here, as well as another poster illustrating many of the wildflowers in bloom. We have another poster in preparation, featuring more than 20 different non-butterfly insects commonly found here. 

One of the major problem insects that gardeners have to deal with is the Japanese Beetle. They aren't native, of course, and can be incredibly abundant and damaging especially to some plants, such as raspberries, beans and grapes as well as horticultural plants. In fact they are considered pests on more than 300 species of plants.

If one looks around at garden centres, hardware stores and the like, one will find them providing a great sales pitch for Japanese Beetle traps. In a 20 minute walk around our neighbourhood, we noted 5 traps, all in the front yards. Who knows how many others were in the area that we didn't see.

While these traps are very effective at attracting and collecting these beetles, what said garden centres, etc. don't tell you is that if you place one of these traps in your yard, you will likely end up with more beetles than ever! The attractant in the trap is a scent of flowers that initially attract the beetles, and when a large number of beetles arrive, the pheromone that they give off attracts hundreds of others in short order. Many will come to the trap, but many others will spend time on various garden or horticultural plants, causing the damage that the homeowners were trying to eliminate. Research has shown that vegetation damage is greater in the immediate area of a beetle trap than in areas where homeowners have not put up a trap. Here is a link describing this. 

The bottom line is that Japanese Beetles are here to stay, and putting up traps will only increase their number, and therefore the damage, in your yard or garden. 

There are other problem species in gardens besides Japanese Beetles. For example growers of cabbages and greens, have an ongoing battle with the larvae of the Cabbage White butterfly.

The little caterpillars love feasting on garden greens.

Less problematic, but still non-native, are other beetles. In fact most of the lady bugs, or Lady Bird Beetles we are familiar with, are not native. Here are two of the more common ones in our area.

Seven-spotted Lady Bird Beetle

Asian Multi-colored Lady Bird Beetle

On occasion you may find something like this next creature, roaming about. One wouldn't automatically make the connection, but it is the larval stage of the Asian Multi-colored Lady Bird Beetle.

There is another non-native insect species common in gardens, and this one at least has a very positive influence on our gardens and other things. It is the Western Honey Bee, commonly known as the honey bee that gives us such a sweet, tasty and generally healthy product.

Stay tuned for Part II, which will feature some of the impressive invertebrate creatures I've found and photographed in this pollinator patch!

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