Today is my turn on the blog tour, so how appropriate to post an extract and feature on World Bee Day, 20th May 2023.

Maureen Little is an author, gardener and bee-keeper who has worked in horticulture for over 40 years. She has given lectures at RHS Wisley, the Garden Museum in London, the Herb Society and gardening groups and societies nationwide. Maureen has a monthly gardening feature on local community radio Ribble FM. Maureen is a full member of the Garden Media Guild, and the author of The Bee Garden  and The Little Book of Popular Perennials. The Little Book of Plants for Pollinators is her latest book.

Maureen Little knows how important pollinators are and has decided it’s time to share her knowledge of how to draw them in. The Little Book of Plants for Pollinators (out in May) includes a compilation of one hundred plants including annuals and biennials, perennials, shrubs and sub-shrubs, and trees.

So here is an extract to whet your appetite.

Introduction

‘It probably goes without saying – but I make no apology for saying it again – that pollinating insects are vital to our planet’s ecology and economy, and our well-being. Quite simply, without insects our ecosystem would fail. All wildlife depends on pollinating insects to provide food – both in terms of the insects being an integral part of the food chain themselves, but also the seeds, berries and nuts that are the result of pollination and provide food for adult birds and other animals.

‘From an economic point of view, insects are essential for the effective pollination of many commercial crops – apples, strawberries, and oilseed rape, for example.

‘It has been estimated that pollinators of all kinds are responsible for nearly £700 million worth of crops every year in the UK alone. Worldwide, 35% of global crop production is dependent on insect pollinators to some extent. Without them we would be scuppered.

‘Who does not delight in seeing a butterfly flitting from flower to flow￾er, or the steady thrum of bees visiting a lavender bush? And how many pollinators are sources of inspiration for music, literature, art, education, and religion? Such things cannot be given a price tag but without them the world would be a much poorer place.

‘Nearly everyone has heard of Rimsky-Korsakov’s music entitled ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’. Did you know that Grieg wrote a piano piece called ‘The Horsefly and the Fly’; and Nyman has written ‘Where the Bee Dances’ for soprano saxophone?

‘The bad news is that because of a variety of circumstances, including climate change, the use of pesticides, and the loss of natural habitat (to name a few examples), insect pollinators – be they bees, butterflies, moths, true flies, wasps, or beetles – have been in steady decline over many years.

‘A 2017 report from a study in Germany demonstrated that over a period of 27 years, across 63 locations in protected nature reserves, there was a 76% drop in the number of insects recorded. This figure is for all insects, not just pollinators, but the trend is disturbing, to say the least.

‘The good news is that we gardeners can all do something to help. Albeit in a modest way, we can assist in redressing the balance. We may not be able to have an immediate effect on climate change, but we can make a difference by the way we travel, the energy we use, how much we recycle, and the food we eat, for example.

‘We can banish all pesticides from our gardens, and to help compensate for the loss of insects’ natural habitat we can include plants in our gardens that are good for all kinds of pollinators – which is what this book is about.

‘Each of us growing just a handful of pollinator-friendly plants would provide an enormous resource for our insect friends – in fact the phrase ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ could have been invented for pollinator-friendly gardeners.

‘But how do you choose which plants will be of benefit to pollinators? There are numerous lists of pollinator-friendly plants. But as Garbuzov and Ratnieks point out: ‘A list is only as good as the data that went into it.’ They go on to suggest that: ‘Lists can raise public awareness. […] Therefore, lists of plants recommended to help pollinators via gardens are in a good position to raise awareness, educate, and enthuse a very large audience. As long as future lists state their limitations and encourage their readers to think for themselves and outside the confines of the list, they can be useful tools in communication from scientists to gardeners and conservationists.’

‘This is why I am setting out my ‘plant stall’ now by saying what this book is about and explaining the criteria I have used. I hope the information and suggestions that I give prove useful.’

What This Book Is About

‘As the title says, it is about plants for pollinators. These plants also have to be garden-worthy, and an added criterion is that they should also be suitable for an ‘average’ garden.

‘Let us look at the first criterion – that any plant that I have chosen should be of benefit to pollinators. Not all the plants included in this book are attractive to all pollinators, but I have tried to include a range of plants that will benefit a variety of insect pollinators, including bees (honey bees, bumblebees, and solitary bees), butterflies, moths, flies (including hoverflies), wasps, and beetles. My choices are based on as much scholarly research as possible, existing recommendations, and my observations from when I owned a pollinator-friendly plant nursery.’

If you found this extract interesting, you will love this book. It’s full of facts about bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and other pollinators, and beautiful pictures. It will guide you in your journey to make your garden more pollinator-friendly and help you to understand why this is so important for our future.

As Maureen says: ‘Each of us growing just a handful of pollinator-friendly plants would provide an enormous resource for our insect friends.’

Many thanks to READ Media for inviting me to share an extract from The Little Book of Plants for Pollinators.