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Native Pollinators Make a Big Difference

Making It Grow Minute

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It that   Long before European honeybees came to North America, native pollinators were doing a perfectly fine job moving pollen from male to female flower structures. Today,  scientists have found that in urban and suburban areas, there are many more native pollinators than   honeybees present. Native pollinator insects include honeybees, carpenter bees, sweet bees, wasps, flower flies, and certain beetles. You can add plants to your landscape that will feed these animals and help them increase their populations. With the problems of colony collapse in our European honeybees, it is critically important that we choose to plant flowers, shrubs and trees that provide nectar and pollen for these native insects so they can tack up the slack.  You can make a difference – even if you only have containers on a patio. The Xerces Society and pollinators.org can help you get started.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.