Getting ready for the eXtension Gardening for Pollinators Webinar (that link goes to the recording) has been fun.
Pollinator feeding on echinacea
The intent of the Webinar is for gardeners to learn why pollinators are important, who they are, and some basic ways you can support them in your garden– all in time to be prepared for the upcoming National Pollinator Week, June 17-23.
To quote the pollinator partnership website:
Pollinator Week is a week to get the importance of pollinators’ message out to as many people as possible. It’s not too early to start thinking about an event at your school, garden, church, store, etc. Pollinators positively effect all our lives- let’s SAVE them and CELEBRATE them!
Since we opened Webinar registration, we’ve heard from gardeners from 28 states, and along the way they’ve shared some of their favorite pollinator plants and asked about various ‘gardening for pollinator’ resources.
Thus as the Webinar itself is 60 minutes, but the questions and resource list keeps growing, we’d thought we’d share this growing list of resources with you here:
Gardening for Pollinators Webinar Resources
These are resources developed specifically for the eXtension Gardening for Pollinators Webinar, held June 6, 2013.
- Gardening for Pollinators Webinar Handout (PDF)- Requested by several, here is a copy of the Webinar slides you can save and use to follow along if you’d like.
- Power of Pollinators Educational Modules at Campus.extension.org. Learn about these modules so you can tell others about the ‘power of pollinators’. Here we provide instructions for accessing the modules directly.
- Gardening for Pollinators Pinboard - If you are a visual kind of person, we’ve gathered many of these resources and pollinator plant ideas from this webinar. Click on the individual “pin” or picture and it will take you to the original source or web page.
Finding Pollinator Events, Plants and People Near You?
Butterfly Garden at Milwaukee County Zoo, Wisconsin
So what about during National Pollinator Week? What if you have more questions about gardening for pollinators after the Webinar? The following resources may help.
- National Pollinator Events – Find or list a pollinator week event that you know of through this link.
- Pollinator friendly planting guides via the Pollinator Partnership are divided into 32 eco-regions, so there should be one for you. You can also download the Pollinator Partnership app to get plant recommendations via smartphone.
- Pollinator and Bug Blogs –
- Catch up continually with insect and pollinator news from our Webinar presenter , Denise Ellsworth’s OSU pollination blog. Here you’ll find snippets of the latest research and pollinator facts.
- Stop back at the Extension Master Gardener blog to view ‘Pollinators’ blog posts for how gardeners are incorporating pollinators into their gardens.
- The BugSquad bug from University of California – another great blog to learn the latest on bees, insects, and pollinators.
- Looking to contact a person? If you have a question about growing pollinator plants that you can’t find on the open web, you might like to consult a local extension horticulture professional or Extension Master Gardener via one of these methods.
- Contact your local Cooperative Extension office or website to find resources and people to answer your gardening questions. Many offices support phone hotlines or have host plant clinic workshops certain days of the week or month.
- Reach your local extension professionals or Extension Master Gardeners through eXtension’s Ask an Expert email based service to get a response.
Additional Resources?
We know this is just the tip of the iceberg, so if you have other pollinator webinar resources you’d like to share, be sure to leave us a comment on this blog posts.
-Karen Jeannette
on behalf of the Extension Master Gardener Social Media Team
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