We hope everyone is warming up and getting ready to head into March like a lion. With the help of our donors and volunteers, we were able to donate $2410 in much needed dry goods and an incredible 595 meals delivered to our neighbors in need. If you are a long time reader of this newsletter, I am sure you’ve noticed these numbers go up and up over the last year and we are so thankful for everyone’s help and support in making that happen.
Did you know… our quote this month comes from Elizabeth Lawrence, the first woman to graduate with a degree in Landscape Architecture. She is known for her books on Southern Gardening and wrote over 700 columns for The Charlotte Observer from 1957-1971. Her books Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens and Beautiful at All Seasons: Southern Gardening and Beyond with Elizabeth Lawrence have been long-time classics to horticulturists and prose lovers alike.
Sunflowers, pronounced sunyashniki in Ukranian, are a beloved symbol of the country’s joyous spirit and welcoming disposition. Sunflowers are one of the few crops native to North America and the seeds made their way back to the old world through early explorers, where they thrived in the rich, black soil. The Orthodox Church that forbade the use of butter and lard during Lent had no such rules for sunflower oil, and by the 1800s the countryside was filled with fields of golden flowers.
Later, sunflowers were planted near Chernobyl to extract and disperse radionuclides of cesium and strontium from contaminated ponds and soil following the catastrophic nuclear reactor accident there in 1986. We now use the sunflower as the symbol of nuclear disarmament, thanks to Ukraine achieving the status of a nuclear free state on June 1, 1996. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry that day said, “Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil would ensure peace for future generations.”
In our home gardens, sunflowers have optimal blooms for our friendly pollinators. They are the perfect height and color to attract bees, they are large and full of nectar, and their broad, flat faces make an ideal landing pad for large winged insects like butterflies.
When you plan your home garden this year, I hope you will consider the sunflower. It is truly a hopeful and helpful symbol for us all.
March is a great time to start prepping your garden for Spring planting. This is the time to clear out old growth from your beds and spread a layer of compost. If starting from seed, cool weather crops such as peas, lettuce, spinach and kale can do well in early spring. This is also the time to sink in some summer bulbs, beautiful bright blossoms that will call all the bees to the yard!
Enjoy this short video on how to prep your March Garden.
When Plants Meet Pollinators, Everybody Wins!
75% of crops worldwide depend on pollination by animals, particularly bees. In fact, the production of pollinator-dependent crops in the U.S. is valued at over $50 billion per year. Bees are arguably the most important pollinators for both crops and wild plants. The vast majority of food production in the United States relies on the European honey bee, a non-native species, for pollination. But reliance on a single species will naturally produce problems when that species become threatened. By helping our friend the honey bee as well as native bee species, we can also help ourselves by borrowing an investment term, and diversifying.
This planting season, I say we treat ourselves. Treat ourselves to bold and bright colors and dedicate ourselves to the fleeting beauty of the flower. In addition to our produce gardens, treat yourselves and your pollinators to a tailor-made feast for their senses, and in return your harvest will be bigger and better than ever.
Consider adding an area with large flowers such as sunflowers or summer bulbs such as lillies and dahlias to your home garden. These are your attractors, and they will bring all sorts of pollinators to your vegetable beds as well. Like a big neon sign, the bees and birds will see your garden from a bee-mile away and keep your vegetables robust and producing all summer long. It’s a win-win. Bee sure to plant large groups of flowering blooms together and to keep your garden organic and pesticide free, we don’t want potential poisons jeopardizing the hive.
Bees are attracted to bright blue and violet colors. Hummingbirds prefer red, pink, fuchsia, or purple flowers. Butterflies enjoy bright colors such as yellow, orange, pink, and red. Night-blooming flowers take advantage of pollinators active at night, like moths and bats. Since they don’t see colors, these flowers are not usually as vivid, and instead the flowers’ fragrance attracts the pollinators. So go big and bold in your garden this year and bee sure to add a little something for everyone.
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