We love to hear from people who manage their gardens for pollinators. Sylvia Voss spent years carefully observing the bumblebees that visited her garden in the Knockmealdown Mountains. She put together a slideshow of the species she saw across the seasons, and the plants they visited. In this guest blog, Sylvia tells us about the joy of slowing down and watching nature in her garden.
“A garden that you create yourself is a work of art. And it makes your soul happy when it succeeds. You can often find all about what not to plant and so I thought I’d show you what’s possible: to have so much garden beauty and at the same time provide so much benefit for insects (not only for bumblebees, but also for other pollinators such as solitary bees, honey bees, hoverflies…)
Really everyone (no matter how small your garden is or if you only have a city balcony) can create a small or large paradise for yourself and pollinators with the common wild plants that occur everywhere. I am grateful to my parents who gave me so much love and knowledge about animals and plants and all of nature. Not with pointing fingers and prohibitions, but with great enthusiasm and helpful explanations.
“To get to know pollinators, the National Biodiversity Data Centre has wonderful tools online. Based on many, many years of observations and experience, I have put together this collection of wild and garden flowers used by and important for bumblebees as a beautiful and helpful addition.
The silent but intensive observation of nature, especially close to you in your garden, always gives relaxation and happiness to everyone. Look into your surroundings with the view of pollinators and what they need, and you’ll see lots of beautiful flowers to delight you and help them.”
– Sylvia Voss
Download Sylvia’s slides here: Sylvia Voss – Bumblebees and Garden Plants