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A daffodil’s visitor
This bee is not likely to find any
nourishment
© Beatriz Moisset
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Are native plants important to the
plant-pollinator communities? Sometimes I hear somebody say: “When
it comes to pollinators, all flowers are the same; after all, nectars
are all alike” or “my English ivy must be good for pollinators
because it is teeming with insect visitors”. Such comments show a
lack of information and understanding, as I mentioned in “Wildlife Food and Non-native Plants”.
I have been photographing and studying
pollinators for years, and I learned long ago not to waste time
looking for them in the typical suburban gardens that are the pride
of many of my neighbors. Nature centers and wildflower preserves are
the source of most of my photos. Flying insects rarely visit a
daffodil, forsythia or a tulip. Those that do so look rather puzzled,
and leave promptly without visiting similar blossoms. Roses, the
fancier ones, get no visitors either. The same applies to many of the
“naturalized” plants, such as lesser celandine and garlic
mustard. Recently, I spent time looking for pollinators on a few
non-native flowers (lesser celandines, daffodils and forsythia),
knowing what the results would be. I reported some of my observations
in “Of Spring Beauties and Lesser Celandines”.
