Help save the bees: Pollinator gardens focus of Ag Progress Days’ Yard and Garden area

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The benefits of creating pollinator-friendly landscapes will be the focus of the Yard and Garden area at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, Aug. 13-15.

The demonstration plots there are now four years old, according to Molly Sturniolo, coordinator of Penn State Extension’s Master Gardeners program in Centre County,

As the nation’s populations of pollinators continued to plummet, Penn State Master Gardeners from across the state teamed with horticulture faculty members to create and nurture the gardens at the end of 11th Street at the show site to demonstrate that supplying pollinators with food and habitat can be beautiful.

“The demonstration plots are established well enough to serve as living proof that the average gardener can do something to attract and help pollinators,” Sturniolo said. “Planting these flowers and other host plants is well within their ability.”

We need them

Experts say that pollinators promote the survival of 90 percent of the world’s flowering species and are responsible for one out of every three bites of food consumers eat.

However, wild honeybee populations have declined 25 percent since 1990, and more than 50 pollinator species are either threatened or endangered.

Pollinator certification

To help support and propagate these beneficial insects, Penn State Master Gardeners offer the Pollinator Friendly Garden Certification program, which teaches homeowners and gardeners to certify their landscapes as pollinator-friendly.

The certification includes such skills as planting a year-round native garden of diverse and abundant plants, maintaining a parcel of wild and undisturbed vegetation, installing bee nests and minimizing pesticide use.

Visitors who sign up to complete the four-step certification process (which carries a $10 fee) will be eligible to purchase a pollinator-friendly sign for their property.

At Ag Progress Days

Honeybee demonstrations also will be conducted. Located adjacent to the new raised garden beds will be an observation beehive.

Experts from the Pennsylvania State Beekeeper’s Association and Penn State Extension will be on hand to provide guidance and answer questions.

Information will be available on Extension’s new online course, Beekeeping 101.

Potatoes featured

Master Gardeners also will be on hand in the Yard and Garden Tent to answer any questions about horticulture and gardening in general.

The Yard and Garden Tent also will feature potato crops, offering multiple potato varieties growing in the soil and freshly dug tubers. Visitors can see some of the potato varieties grown in Pennsylvania as well as some new varieties. Freshly harvested potato samples will be on display.