Outdoor Elements
Pretty in Pink for Pollinators
Clip | 5m 3sVideo has Closed Captions
At Lydick Bog Nature Preserve, Evie spots a burst of pink in a wetland. She explores these
At Lydick Bog Nature Preserve, Evie spots a burst of pink in a wetland. She explores these pollinator-friendly plants in bloom and the busy visitors they attract.
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Outdoor Elements is a local public television program presented by PBS Michiana
Outdoor Elements
Pretty in Pink for Pollinators
Clip | 5m 3sVideo has Closed Captions
At Lydick Bog Nature Preserve, Evie spots a burst of pink in a wetland. She explores these pollinator-friendly plants in bloom and the busy visitors they attract.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipLate summer is a beautiful timeto explore wetlands because many wetlandflowers bloom, then many of them are pretty in pink,and we're going to see if we can find a couple hereon the boardwalk at Lydick Bog NaturePreserve in Saint Joseph County.
Many of them,as I mentioned, are pink, and they are perfectfor pollinators.
I guess this segment is allabout the letter P and one of the first onesthat we are going to find is Joe pye weed.
So hereactually, in some partly shady areas of the wetland is Joepye weed.
It's really tall.
And you'll notice it has kind offlat topped pink clusters.
Those high rising plantswith flat topped clusters are really convenientfor pollinators to land on.
It gives thema good surface area, and they have abundant pollenand nectar for insects, but as wellthey also produce seeds later in the season,which is great for birds.
That winter over in our area,there are a couple of different species of Joe pye weedthat are native in our area.
They all have those like world.
Many of them have world leaves.
In other words, from the centerstem, all the leaves come out in a circular pattern.
And, this specieshas a purple stem.
And that's how it gets its name,sometimes called purple.
Joe pye weed, or sometimesit's called Spotted Joe Pye.
With so many different common names,they often get all mixed up.
But a beautiful, beautifulpollinating plant.
And while we're right hereand we're on the letter P for an A purple plant, in this casethere's some verbena.
And that verbena isalso great for pollinators.
Here's another patch of Joe pye weed that'sgetting a little bit more sun.
And what I often notice forthese big, tall, showy plants is if they're in the sun,they tend to attract quite a few more insectsat the time.
Insects,of course, are ecto, thermic, meaning they have to generatetheir own body heat.
And so being in the sunis, time of day when they're most activeand feeding.
And, boy, this Joe pye weed haslots of little tiny pollinators I see, like little fliesand little tiny sweat bees and, hoverfliesand all kinds of things.
Even a bumble bee or two.
All of these, Joe pye weed speciestend to like moist soil.
Great addition to your gardenas well, if you're interested in attractingpollinating insects.
Let's go see what else we canfind.
Here's another native plantthat's pretty in pink, only found in wetlands.
This one is swamp loosestrife,and it may sound familiar to another plant.You've heard of called purple loosestrife,which is not native.
Considered invasivein the Great Lakes region because when it gets into wetlands,it crowds out our native plants.
But swamp loosestrifeand its beautiful pink flowers on archingstems is great for bumblebees and lots of smallerpollinators as well.
The bumblebees are ableto kind of land on these stems and then reach into the flowers.
Little tiny insectsliterally have to crawl inside these somewhat tubular flowersto reach the reward inside.
So why is it importantto have native plants in our landscape, in ourour natural areas as well?
Our native insects and ournative plants evolved together.
And so they are co-evolvedto support each other.
And of course, our native insects are also foodfor our native songbirds without native plants.
Sometimes insects will feed on our non-native ornamentals,perhaps in our garden.
But lots of research showsthat the quality of the nectar or the pollen isn't the same.
They may not be a host plantfor the larva, so in essence,those are snack bars.
Rather than supportingthe whole ecosystem.
So I love these pretty in pinkpollinators, both the joe pye weedand the swamp loosestrife.
Lovely, lovely welcomingsite in a wetland near you.
Remember, you can find your ownoutdoor elements when you visit area parks and natural areas.
We'll see you soon.
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Outdoor Elements is a local public television program presented by PBS Michiana