Did you know that of the top 150 prescription drugs used in the U.S., 74 percent of them originate from plants? Did you know that one in every three bites of food we consume came from a plant pollinated by wild pollinators?
Wild pollinators like bees, butterflies and other insects provide an invaluable service to our natural ecosystems. Pollination by wild pollinators is free, but scientists have determined that this “free” service has a value in the U.S. of four to six billion dollars a year. Maintaining the ecosystems needed for wild pollinators to continue to thrive is vital.
Several years ago, Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at the University of California – San Francisco and a gardener, began researching the effects of climate change on our bee communities. LeBuhn is studying wild bee pollinators through the “Great Sunflower Project” in which data on wild bees will be collected from urban, suburban and rural landscapes.
The Great Sunflower Project requires gardeners from across the U.S. to participate. Gardeners are asked to join the Great Sunflower Project online at www.greatsunflower.org by creating an account on the site. The only requirement for participation is a valid e-mail address. Participants can then choose a level of participation in the program.
If you just go to the site, you can receive a free download of identifying cards for bees. Participants in the Great Sunflower Project are asked to periodically track the time it takes fove bees to visit a sunflower plant and turn in this information to the Great Sunflower Project.
The project began by using sunflowers as a way to attract wild pollinators, but any blooming plant can be used. If you want to use sunflowers, they very simple to grow. They can be sown directly in the soil or in a large pot (at least 15 inch diameter) after last frost. They are annuals that grow quickly, reaching a height of 3 feet.
These sunflowers have multiple three to four inch flowers on one plant. They blood in mid to late summer.
Wild sunflowers are native to the plains region of the U.S., but they can be grown in zones three to 10. They need full sun and average amounts of moisture.
Participants in the program can simply report their bee findings back to the LeBuhn, or they can also participate in the Great Sunflower Project public forums available on the website. LeBuhn and her research team know very little about the activity of bees in home and community gardens, but they are convinced that these wild pollinators are a vital link in the survival of native habitats and local produce.
Joleen is an University of Missouri master gardener. For questions or comments related to gardening, contact her at missourigardener@hotmail.com