Creating Your Pollinator Paradise
My May 16 talk in Catskill
I’ll be giving a talk and slide show at the Beattie-Powers Place in Catskill at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 16. It’s free (although a small donation to Beattie-Powers is always welcome and helps them offer more talks like this).
Beattie-Powers planted a pollinator garden in 2024, which started attracting pollinators that same year, and is filling in beautifully.
My talk will cover some of the major pollinators—bees, butterflies and moths—that you can entice to your garden, and how to attract them with specific plants: host plants for butterfly and moth caterpillars, and nectar and pollinator plants for their gourmet appreciation. And in one case, a wildflower that secretes oil instead of nectar, which one of our declining native bee species uses to line its nest.
What plants fit in the “superstar” category, serving as hosts and/or nectar plants for especially large numbers of pollinator species? And what plants may not serve very many species but are critical to the survival of species that cannot use any other plant? Milkweed and monarch butterflies spring to mind, but there are others, like the wildflower and bee species mentioned above.
What pollinator gardens already exist, or soon will, in Catskill that support bees, butterflies and moths that will visit your garden, if you plant the specific plants they will visit?
What resources are available to help you design and plan your pollinator garden?
After my talk, we’ll tour the Beattie-Powers pollinator garden, and I’ll answer questions about your pollinator garden plans.
If you’re in Catskill or the vicinity, I’d be delighted for you to attend the talk. Beattie-Powers Place is at 10 Powers Place in Catskill, just off Prospect Avenue near the corner with Bridge Street. The talk begins at 3:00 p.m.