Fall Native Plant Sale for the Pollinators!
Sunday, October 3, 10am to 3pm
Fall is the best time to plant native plants!
We are looking forward to our second native plant sale of the year! We will be welcoming the Jackson County Master Gardeners as a new vendor, and are very pleased to have Klamath Siskiyou Native Seeds and Klamath Native Plant Nursery as returning vendors, along with Pollinator Project Rogue Valley.
To manage social distancing, registration is required, with a maximum of 25 people per hour. A preliminary list of the plants that will be available will be sent to those who register.
For more details and to register, visit the Facebook event here, or Eventbrite here. Registration ends Friday, October 1st.
Photo below is from our successful Spring Native Plant Sale for the Pollinators! We look forward to seeing you on October 3!
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Yes, There Are Monarchs
Although they are few and far between this summer, there is hope. We are grateful to our friends at Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates for keeping up to date on these beautiful butterflies. A number of the monarchs were tagged before they flew, so we will be learning more about their migration patterns even from the low numbers this year. Enjoy the photos from one success story, thanks to the Navickas family of Medford, below!
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Filson to the Rescue!
What do dogs and bumble bees have in common, you might ask? Well, a lot, as you will see! With skillsets that people do not have, dogs are now being engaged to help scientists find bumble bee nests in the hopes that we will learn how to help increase their populations.
With our good friend Wanda Borland, we captured on video a recent visit from 'Detective' Filson, accompanied by his person, Jennifer Hartman of Rogue Detection Teams, and Steve Godwin, a BLM Wildlife Biologist in Medford. We talked about their conservation work, how efforts to find other endangered species are improving with trained dogs, the value of bumble bees and their nests, and how you can help. And then we watched Filson and Jennifer in action!
Do you know of the location of a bumble bee nest? Let Jennifer or Steve know. And join us in wishing Filson much success in his good work!
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Weeds Be Gone!
Last month, at the encouragement of Melodie Picard of the Oregon Cheese Cave, PPRV, along with Bee City USA Phoenix and Phoenix Parks, tackled a weedy corner on Main Street, just across from the Civic Center. We were glad to help support Phoenix Public Works, whose staff is a bit overworked right now. Although we allocated 2 hours, our mighty crew of 5 got it done in just over an hour! Kudos to the team!
Thanks, Annie Drager, Bee City USA Phoenix; Sandy Wine, Phoenix Parks; and us stalwart PPRV Pollinteers -- Deb Vroman, David Sours, and Kristina Lefever. See the photo of the happy crew below and enjoy this video - don't you love the bit with Mayor Darby?
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Got Pollinators?
by Kristina Lefever
We do! We are super happy that we are seeing more butterflies and moths around our garden this summer and fall - right here in the heart of Phoenix! Seeing a variety of these winged jewels means that our landscape is starting to become an ecosystem, albeit a tiny one, with host plants that serve the caterpillars. Yes, "host" means the plant will get eaten! Some Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are specialists, like the monarch with its single host plant, ie, milkweed ..... we sure wish our milkweed had been eaten this summer. Others, like the gorgeous West Coast Lady and Buckeye butterflies who recently graced our side garden, are amenable to a varied diet in the larval stage.
OK, granted, not all caterpillars are 'good' guys (even I get irritated by holes in my kale leaves!), and some moths are not even pollinators .... keep reading here.
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Free Seeds!
In recognition of the first-year anniversary of the Almeda Fire, we are giving away free seeds of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata). Coyote tobacco is one the first native plants that returns naturally to burned areas. Although very drought tolerant, it responds well to extra water.
We hope you will stop by our office to pick up a seed packet and help us restore the land with this beautiful (albeit weedy!) native plant. See photo below.
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The Pollinator Times - What Do You Think? (#2)
If you haven't taken this survey yet, here's your chance.
We have enjoyed providing you with this 'monthly' newsletter over the last several years, and are always pleased to see the 'open rate' for each issue. (Just doing a little bragging here - we regularly hit a 30% open rate, the 'high' in the range that industry tracks!) And we always appreciate feedback from our readers, especially when someone says - did I miss your last newsletter? (Like, they know it's late, and are wondering where it is!) But, we don't really know what our readers think! So, we invite you to take our short survey!
Thanks for reading, and thanks for taking the time to tell us what you think of The Pollinator Times!
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Pollinators' Pick
Did you know that 70% of all bee (not wasp) species (~ 700 in Oregon) nest in the ground? So consider the ramifications of this statement from this article from Scientific American, Pesticides Are Killing the Organisms That Keep Our Soils Healthy: "The EPA, which is responsible for pesticide oversight in the U.S., openly acknowledges that somewhere between 50 and 100 percent of all agriculturally applied pesticides end up on the soil. Yet to assess pesticides’ harms to soil species, the agency still uses a single test species—one that spends its entire life aboveground in artificial boxes—to estimate risk to all soil organisms: the European honeybee."
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Please Support Our Work!
We continue to inspire, educate, and advocate for the pollinators and beneficial insects who pollinate the nutritious food crops we grow and enjoy, and the trees, shrubs, and flowers that beautify our Valley in so many ways.
We are grateful for your encouragement and support, and invite you to
make a financial contribution -- whether $3 or $3,000, it helps us get the work done! Thank you!
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PPRV Seeks Volunteers!
Volunteer with us!
How can you help us make our Valley a better place for pollinators and people?
We invite you to bee involved!
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Questions or Comments? Please contact us at
pollinator@pollinatorprojectroguevalley.org
Keep up to date with all things Pollinator on our Facebook page:
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley
Office Hours: noon - 4 pm, Tuesday - Friday, some Saturdays
and by appointment
312 N. Main St., Suite B, Phoenix
Mail: PO Box 242, Phoenix, OR 97535
458-214-0508
Visit our website.
Click here for archived editions of The Pollinator Times.
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9/19/21
