Pollination

Sometimes understanding gardening terms is difficult. For example, what exactly is a hybrid vegetable? How do hybrids differ from heirlooms? What are open pollinated varieties? Let's take a look at the meaning of these terms and why it's important for gardeners to understand them.

Importance of Pollinators
Pollination is the process in which plants reproduce. It involves the moving of pollen grains from the male part of the plant to the female part of the plant of the same species, and is required for germination and fertilization.

A butterfly garden can quickly become the main attraction of your landscape. These colorful gardens are cherished for the beautiful butterflies they attract. Besides the well-known monarch butterfly, there are over 150 different butterfly species that may be found in the Midwestern United States. An added bonus is that butterfly gardens also attract other nectar-feeding animals, like hummingbirds, honeybees, bumblebees, and moths.

The growing season is in full swing and gardening questions abound! Including questions about pollination and its effects in the vegetable garden, so here is a quick look at pollination and how it will - or won’t - affect the plants in your garden.

Can pumpkins be planted near cucumbers, or will they cross-pollinate and cause problems with this summer’s fruits? Each summer, Extension offices receive calls from clientele wondering if their plants have crossed with something else to create a weird hybrid. In this particular instance, the answers are “yes” and “no.

Late summer and fall can be a dreary time in the landscape, with little else but coreopsis and Black-eyed Susan blooming. So it's a good idea to plan, and plant, now for color in your fall gardens.

Asters are an excellent plant to add for additional fall color. Two species of aster, which are both improvements on native wildflowers, are New England Aster and New York Aster. Both aster species are native to the United States, although much of the breeding work to develop improved varieties has been done in England and Germany.

Spring fever is upon us! These warm, sunny days are just so wonderful, it makes any gardener want to get out in their garden and landscape. But with concerns about bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects at the forefront of many gardener’s minds, it’s important to understand what you can do now – before you clean up the spring garden – to maintain and create good insect habitat. Insects over winter in a variety of ways, but these can be broadly grouped as 1) protected in the soil, 2) within leaf litter or other vegetation and 3) above ground on vegetation or other surfaces.

Honey bees and other bee species, such as bumblebees, orchard mason bees, and leafcutter bees are very important pollinators of flower and crops. In the home garden and orchard, gardeners are aware how important bees are for fruit and vegetable production. But in recent years many gardeners have noticed declining bee numbers in their gardens and nationwide bee deaths have been big news, making colony collapse disorder a familiar phrase.