I have always taken the philosophy that gardens are living classrooms, full of lessons we can learn if we can just spare a few moments to stop and observe what it is trying to tell us. You can see how plants grow, what insects visit and when, how the weather affected the timing of things, and you can be humbled by how each day is different. Even though no day is the same, there is still a wealth of knowledge and data that we can get from our gardens and the Pollinator Haven Garden behind the McSwain Center off Tramway Road is no different. We’d like to share what we’ve found with you!

Garden Management Philosophy

The Garden is maintained by the Extension Master Gardeners of Lee County and myself, the horticulture agent. We use a set of management principles to maintain the Garden that emulates a typical backyard garden. We want it to be mostly reflective of the standard home garden, so people can understand how their management practices can impact plants and insects. We work to keep it mostly weeded and tidied up, cutback and accessible. We use pesticides to control fire ants, yellow nutsedge and bermudagrass only. Other weeds are controlled with a flame weeder! Otherwise, it is up to nature and the plants to take care of themselves. We use very little fertilizer, mulch annually, and water only after new plants are planted or during an extreme drought.

The Living Laboratory

At N.C. Cooperative Extension, we believe in engaging the community in science-based learning and spreading research-based information. What better way to do this than in our very own Extension Demonstration Garden? Since 2022, the Pollinator Haven Garden has been the location for gathering data for two research projects and two citizen science projects. We have some data to share with you!

What to Cut Back Your Perennial Stems Study

Specialists at NC State University were looking to get to the bottom of the great debate about how and when to cut back perennials so they could still be beneficial to stem-nesting insects but also gardeners could tidy up their gardens over the winter. Drs. Hannah Levenson and Elsa Youngsteadt developed a protocol where gardens across North Carolina collected stems from the same plants four to five times over a 14 month period. Student workers opened all the stems and observed when the stems were utilized and what species were present. The findings determined that you could cut back your perennials in the fall and winter, but it is recommended to leave about 18 inches of stem for insects that emerge in the late winter and spring to colonize! Pollinator Haven Garden was noted as the top garden for plant diversity, insect diversity and most unusual species found!

Squash Bee Study

The Lopez-Uribe Lab at Penn State is working to “understand how evolutionary history and life-history traits influence bee health and populations”. They reached out to Extension Master Gardener coordinators across the country looking for Extension Master Gardener volunteers to collect bees visiting pumpkins and squash throughout the summer. We volunteered, along with folks from all across the US! Tracie Bowers was instrumental in collecting more than a dozen bees from white pumpkins and zucchini squash over the summer. It was tough because the bees were killed, but these bees will go towards helping scientists understand what species are present across the country and when they are present. There is still so much we don’t know. We will be participating again in 2025!

Great Southeast Pollinator Census

The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is a simple citizen science project designed to take data over the course of two days in August to capture a snapshot of pollinator activity, pollinator presence, pollinator preference, and plant flowering phenology. It was designed to be doable by the general public, whether or not they knew the different insects they were observing. North Carolina has been in the Census for two years, and the Pollinator Haven Garden and Lee County have been major sites for data collection. In 2024, North Carolina had 2287 counters for the Census representing 77 counties (up from 67 counties in 2023, the first year!). We already can’t wait for August 22 and 23, 2025! We’ll see you in the Garden!

iNaturalist Project

Have you ever visited the Pollinator Haven Garden and taken a cool picture of a flower or insect? Did you know you could upload it to iNaturalist and have it contribute to science?! We have a site-specific project that anyone visiting the Garden can contribute to. Fifty one observations have been made and 36 species have been identified, mostly of insects. We’d love to expand this to the flowers and to have more contributions year-round! Come join us!

Amanda Bratcher is the Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Lee County.

Resources:

Other Extension Demonstration Gardens across the state you can visit

Great Southeast Pollinator Census in North Carolina

Pollinator Haven Garden iNaturalist Project 

Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt’s Lab website

Lopez-Uribe Squash Bee Lab

Pollinator-related Citizen Science Tools:

• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/pollinator-garden/ncsupollinatoroutreachtool/
• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/pollinator-garden/bee-scavenger-hunt/
• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/lee-county-4-h-program/lee-county-4-h-school-enrichment-curriculum/lee-county-4-h-agriculture-programs/

News Stories From Past Citizen Science Events:

• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/2024/08/greatsepollinatorcensus2024/
• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/2024/08/gardeners-are-scientist-count-lee-county-insects-in-the-census/
• https://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/2023/06/gardeners-are-scientist-how-you-can-help-the-science-community-from-your-backyard/