The nice weather last weekend prompted me to start gardening. As I started to rake leaves and clear a path for the emerging perennials, I thought about the potential damage
A bill introduced in the Colorado State Legislature seeks to limit the use of some pesticides in the state in order to protect people and pollinating insects.
Judy Wright
Special to The Citizen
Now that summer seems to have arrived, both calendar- and temperature-wise, I have been seeing more pollinator activity in the flower garden. Pollination is a valuable and necessary service provided by both managed bees, primarily honeybees, and wild native bees.
Between 75% and 95% of flowering plants worldwide need to be pollinated. Bees accomplish this by moving pollen from one flower to another in order to produce fruit. I cannot imagine what a summer picnic would be like without a ripe tomato, or a Thanksgiving dinner without cranberry sauce.
The Pollinator Network at Cornell University estimates there are a total of 416 bee species in New York. During a survey conducted in 2015, over 110 wild bee species were documented visiting flower blossoms in orchards across New York state.