 Okay, so let's get started with our presentations today. We've got some great presentations coming up for you here in just a moment. Beautiful landscapes, building a pollinator garden. Our presenters today are Jan Kanotl. Jan, Dr. Janet Jade Kanotl is a professor and extension entomologist at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. Over the past 20 years, she provides statewide program leadership for extension entomology and the North Dakota Integrated Pest Management Program. She delivers entomology outreach on field crops, gardens, trees, and shrubs, and yards. And our other presenter today is Esther McGinnis. Esther is the NDSU Extension Horticulturist for Eastern North Dakota and the director of the Extension Master Gardener Program. She also conducts a research program that evaluates native and ornamental plants for use in rain gardens, pollinator gardens, and the home landscape. In addition, she provides support for the commercial vegetable and fruit industry through the NDSU high-tunnel community of practice. Welcome, Jan. Welcome, Esther. And we'll begin with Jan Kanotl talking about pollinator gardens. Okay, well, thank you very much. Can you hear me okay? Be here, you're just fine. Okay, well, I'd like to give a little overview. Before I get started, I'll be covering mainly the bees as pollinators today. I will talk about some bee mimics. And then Esther's going to cover what the bees like to forage. And then a little bit on bee conservation and how you can help the bees out. Okay, first I'll tell you what makes a bee. And just like all insects, bees have two pairs of wings. The four wing is larger than the hind wing, as you can see in the lower left picture. And the interesting thing about bees is that they're connected with these small hooks. And I enlarge the hooks over on the right, lower right picture. And these hooks are called the hamuli. And they connect the two wings together when the insect is flying. Another characteristic of bees is that they're usually hairy, not all bees, but most of them are. And that's one of the things you can use to identify them. If you look closely in the picture, you can see that the hairs are branched. Now you'll need a microscope to see this. If you have like a bee that you're actually looking at under the microscope, you know, 10, 20X. But they're branched here whereas a wasp would have a simple hair with no branching. Another characteristic of bees is that they have a pollen collecting area. And they can either do this by stiff hairs like you see in the pictures over on the right side. These arrows point out some of the stiff hairs that the different bees have. And you see they're in different places on the bees. Some of them are on the legs. Others are on the underside of the abdomen. And then they can also have a smooth surface that has hairs around it like a depression. We call that a basket and they'll collect the pollen and nectar and form a little ball on that area of the hind leg and carry around that. And you'll often see bees. This is a honey bee carrying those pollen and nectar around in their baskets. So that's another characteristic you can use. We do have about 4,000 bee species in North America. How many are North Dakota? Well, we really don't know. North Dakota hasn't been surveyed very well for bees. I've heard some estimates of about 300 to 500 bees. But it's currently, you know, we don't know. And there is research going on right now to help identify how many need of bees we have. We can divide the bees into two groups, the short-tongued bees and the long-tongued bees. The short-tongued bees need flowers that have short nectaries and they're not very deep into the flowers. But the long-tongued bees are the ones that can reach the nectaries that are in like a tube-shaped flower like honeysuckle. We'll be covering mainly just the long-tongued bees today. I might mention that bee identification is really difficult. So, unless it's a real common bee, you probably won't be able to get it to species. But you should be able to get it to its general group and that's what I'll be talking about today. Of course, the European honey bee is not a native bee. It was introduced long time ago. And it was used by the settlers to provide them with wax for calendars of candles and then also honey. And you can see it's very medium-sized bee, but there's lots of hair on it. And if you could see real closely the eye, you would also see the hair on the eye. And there's that pollen basket I talked about earlier on the hind leg. And these are social bees. Not all bees are social, but these are nest in large groups and man-made colonies. And they also nest in like trees, hollow trees as well once they get out into the wild. But we're number one in honey production here in North Dakota, which a lot of people are surprised with that. But we do produce about 33 million pounds of honey and that's valued with about 65 billion. So, it's a significant industry here for North Dakota. Part of the reason why we're number one is because we grow a lot of crops that bring migratory beekeepers into North Dakota. And a couple of those crops are canola and sunflower. Both of these crops are fairly nutritious for the honey bee and they do love them. And another value of the honey bee and other bees that are used for pollination is their pollination services for crop production. And in the U.S. that's valued at 14 billion. Okay, bumblebees. This is another group that's fairly easy to recognize due to the large, robust body. And they're typically yellow and black, what you expect in a bee for color. And the pollen basket in the lower right picture there is on the hind tibia. And this one doesn't have any of the nectar and pollen on the legs. You can see the depression. They have an interesting way of pollinating some of the flowers like tomatoes. It's called buzz pollination. And how it works is the honey bee detaches its wing muscles and then it will grab the anthers of the flower. And due to the robust size, it's a very strong bee. It can shake the flower and then it uses those wing muscles that are detached to shake the flower real vigorously. And as a result, it'll cause the pollen to fall out of the flower. And the bee honey, the bumblebee's body is very hairy, so it can collect a lot of different pollen on the whole body. This is a fairly common one, bombas in patients, the common eastern bumblebee. And this one's here in North Dakota. And this is another one that's in decline. Many of the bumblebees are in decline due to habitat destruction, diseases, and pesticide use. One of the advantages with bumblebees is that they can forage in cooler weather than honey bees. They can be out foraging at 50 degrees Fahrenheit compared to 61 for a honey bee. So this gives them an advantage in pollination because they can work longer in a day. And also the behavior of a bumblebee is to pollinate the same group of flower or the same species of flowers. And that results in an increase in pollination for that particular group. They usually work one area rather than four gene widely. Just to give you a life example of life cycle of a bee, I thought I'd use the honey or bumblebee. They overwinter as queens. Usually in under the ground, a lot of times they use mouse nests that are abandoned. So they'll be in the ground overwintering. Then they emerge earlier in the year, April and May, you'll see the queens coming out. Now when they've overwintered, they're fertilized by the male bees in that fall. So they are mated and then they're ready to begin their nesting and lay their eggs. So the early flowering plants are very critical for the queen. She needs nutrition in order to be able to do that. So plants, some early flowering plants to provide nutrition and Esther will talk about that. And then you'll see some workers that have hatched from some of the eggs that she lays. They go through the egg and then larval stage and then the female workers will emerge. And then the males are produced in the fall for mating. And again, you know, having something that they like to feed on in the fall is really critical for their reproduction. Many of the bumblebees are in trouble. For one reason, they don't fly as far as honeybees do and they're foraging. They'll stay in a smaller area. So the important of food sources really critical from, you know, spring all the way through the fall. And urbanization is another problem. There's fewer areas that have wildflowers available for them to feed on. In the country, there's been some research that's shown, you know, the wildflowers often have higher on nectar sources than some of the cultivated varieties. And the large areas of lawn are, you know, like a desert to the bumblebee and other bees as well. And I think I already mentioned some of the disease and pesticide issues. Bumblebees are available. You can, you know, purchase them for pollination services. And they do are used mainly for apples, cherries, plums, currants, tomatoes, eggplant, blueberries. Most of our bees are solitary, 90% of them. And if you look at closely there in the picture, you see these heels of small little mounds of dirt that kind of look like earthworm castings, but they're not. They're from a ground nesting bee. Most of the ground nesting bees are solitary nesters, so they're not social nesting bees, but they do often nest in large groups or aggregations. So you'll see a lot of them in one spot. They tend to like sandy soils and dry areas. Okay, some of the solitary bees are the longhorn bee, digger bees, still in the family apodae. And you can see a couple of these different species here in the pictures, Melisodes. Again, you'll probably get this to the group, you know, digger bees or longhorn bees. But again, identification is something that you really need to study the taxonomy keys and use a microscope. You need to count segments on the antenna and look at sutures and that sort of thing, so it's really detailed. These bees can have black bodies with lots of hairs, as you can see, or some of them, the smaller ones, they'll have the little mounds of dirt and nest in the sandy areas of the lawn where the grass is not taking, and they're not aggressive, so you don't have to really worry about being stung. I usually recommend that people just use water, turn the lawn sprinkler on, and that will discourage them from nesting because they do like dry areas. Eventually, they'll move out of there. You might have to water for a while, but that's better than spraying with insecticides. Then you have our leaf cutter bees in the family Megacylidae, and you can see the hairs on the underside of the abdomen. These bees have a unique behavior, and they cut these round circular leaves off of leaves, and they like different trees. They'll use a lot of different plants to do this, but they use that to provision their nests, and they line them with the leaves that they have cut. They have very strong mandibles, so they can cut these holes. There's about 30% of our bees nest in some sort of cavities, and they'll either use the ground or they can use pithy stems that are hollow, and they can put their nest in there. We recommend that you leave some of last year's perennial flower stems for these bees. Then we have our mason bees, Megacylidae family. Again, osmia. This one is also used commercially. It's used for apple, cherry, plum, and other tree fruits. You can manage them. They will nest in these commercial blocks of woods, and you drill holes into the wood and they'll nest using mud to line their nest. You can use them. They're very efficient pollinators and crops. Some of you are probably familiar with the alfalfa leaf cutter bee. That is also in this group, and that is not a native species, but it was introduced into the U.S. for alfalfa and carrot seed production for use as pollinators. This is one of my favorite families, the sweat bees, the helictonies. They're very, very small, as you can see, and very colorful. They're metallic green. Some of them are black, but they're just a beautiful iridescent color in the sun, and you might notice them when you're out working in your garden and you're sweating because they are attracted to your salt and your sweat. They're, they do not, I've had a lot of them on me. They've never stung me. They're very docile. So, but this is one of the most difficult groups to identify. The agapostamen and the lasioglasm are very difficult to get down to sweetsies. They also do the buzz pollination. Okay, there's a lot of mimics that look like bees, but they're not bees. Flies are one group that have some families that look like bees, and that's the surfidy, or the hover flies. So the difference is flies only have one pair of wings, and then the hind pair of wings has been reduced to an organ that's called halters, and that organ, the halter, is used for balance. So that's how the fly knows if it's upside down or on its side is the halters. And also the antenna. If you look at the antenna of a bee, it's generally long and segmented, but the flies are short. And I don't know if you can see my arrow, but they're in front of the eyes of the fly here. The eyes on the fly are huge. As you can see, it takes up the whole head, whereas the eyes of a bee are more narrow and they're on the sides of the head. And there are some species like the honey bee, they're hairy. And the hover fly hovers a lot, but the bees don't. Then also the wasps, those are the other ones that are the main bee mimics. And vespity is the main family that has the mimics in it. Bees, again, are very hairy, as we discussed. But if you look at a wasp, you won't find very many hairs. And the wasp between the thorax and the abdomen, it's very narrow and a wasp. And the orange arrow there in the lower right hand middle picture shows you the wasp wasp. And the bee also has a waist, but the body is more robust, so it's more difficult to see. And then the bee always has those pollen collecting baskets or hairs, but there is no pollen or hairs or baskets on the wasp. And then the body is generally more robust on the bees and the color can range from the black and yellow, metallic, green, and other colors to the black. And the wasp bodies are generally very long and thin. And the colors can be a lot brighter. You can see in the lower right hand picture, that's the hornet. And I think we're all familiar with hornets. They can also nest in the ground or in your siding, between your siding. And they're very aggressive compared to bees. Many of the wasps, not so much the paper wasps that you see in the middle, but the hornets and the ball-faced hornets are very aggressive. And they can repeatedly sting you. And you have some NDSU Extension publications that you can use to help you plan your garden and help you identify bees and butterflies. And within these Extension publications, there's other resources that are listed, books and websites that can be useful. Here's some of the newer publications. We have Esther did one on pollination in vegetable gardens and backyard fruits last year. And we got a new one that should be out next week. We're just working on the final draft today. And this covers the flies and the wasps that I talked about. And we also talk about the hummingbird moth in this fact sheet that a lot of people think it's either a big bee or a hummingbird. And there is a North Dakota Pollinator Protection Plan for those of you involved with field crops. We're encouraging growers and honey beekeepers to communicate with each other. So when they do have to spray insecticides for insect pests on the crop, that they either move the hives or cover them up to protect them from insecticides and residuals of insecticides. So and with that, I'll turn it over to Esther. And I assume we'll be answering questions at the end. Well, Jan has instilled in our audience an appreciation for all kinds of bees and just the sheer diversity of them. And I'm sure there are a lot of you that are wondering, what can you do to create or preserve bee habitat? And we would really love to create this oasis in our neighborhoods. And it's fairly easy to do as long as you follow these four steps. The first thing is choosing plant material to provide nectar and pollen sources. So nectar would be essentially like a carbohydrate that powers the bees. And then pollen sources would be analogous to proteins. And they're especially important for the development of bee larvae. So we'll talk about plant selection, but there are other steps that we'll talk about including providing water and shelter for the bees and being rational in how we use pesticides. Now as far as plant selection, it's very important that we choose a variety of plants because we want to make sure that we have something that's blooming from the earliest spring through the end of fall. So we want to make sure that we're providing food for the bees through the entire growing season. Now when you go to select your plants, not all plants are equal. We like to incorporate some native species into our gardens and that's because our native flowers have co-evolved with our native pollinators and are specially adapted to provide ecosystem services that are beneficial. However, there are also some ornamental plants that are quite beneficial. Now for the purposes of this presentation, I'm just going to be focusing on perennials. We don't have time to really go into annuals, shrubs and tree species. Now as you're planting your perennials, it is good to plant in mass. So if you can plant three or more per species, you want to make sure that you are providing enough flowers to make it worthwhile for the bees to visit your yard and to spot those flowers. So we're going to start with spring and spring blooming perennials and we're really starting to get excited about that at this time of year. So we'll start with the earliest and that would be our spring bulbs. So we've got crocus and grape hyacinth on this particular side and you'll notice something in common. You'll notice the coloration is purple to blue and we find that a lot of our bees are very much attracted to those colors. But you'll also notice that I didn't bother putting a slide of a tulip and that's because tulips have been heavily hybridized and bred throughout the years and they have lost some of the ecosystem services that would be beneficial to bees. So that's why we recommend crocus and grape hyacinth. They haven't been bred as much, so they are pretty much in their unchanged condition. Now as far as some of our wonderful spring flowering natives here in North Dakota, we have the Eastern Pask flower. Some people call this a prairie crocus and I think it's even the state flower for South Dakota. But you'll see once again we have that beautiful lavender coloration and it's one of the earliest of spring natives to bloom here in North Dakota. So this is a great one to add. On the right, we have Canada Columbine which is in the Aquilegia genus and you'll notice we've got that bright red coloration. Now Canada Columbine will definitely attract bees and in particular it will attract long-tongued bees and that's because of the nectar spur. Hopefully you can see my cursor here, but the nectar spur here has a droplet of nectar. So we need a long-tongued bee to crawl into that flower and use its long tongue to access the nectar and in doing so it will pollinate the flower. But in addition, the red coloration will attract hummingbirds and also butterflies. So this is really one of those plants that will attract all kinds of pollinators. Now with our Columbines, you'll find that they will do best in partial shade. Now as we're moving through the seasons, we're getting into June blooming perennials and here's a photo of false indigo. This happens to be a baptisia australis species. Now we have one species of baptisia which is native to Minnesota and no species that are native to North Dakota. However, we firmly believe that baptisia is an important plant for pollinators. So Jan and I are doing research on different baptisia species. We've planted trials in Fargo and in Ampsaraca. So we're looking at species and we're also looking at some of the newer cultivars. You'll notice that with the newer cultivars we've departed from the natural range of colors that we see in the species. So we want to compare which does better for attracting pollinators, the native species or the cultivars. So you can expect to hear more information about that in the coming years. Another June blooming perennial to include is geranium maculodum and this will start blooming in late May here in North Dakota and go into June. Now if you look at this photo, you'll notice that it has kind of got interesting petals. It's almost like it has these little lines or nerves in it. And these are what we call nectar guides and nectar guides are what the plant uses to tell the bees where they need to go for the nectar. So it's drawing the bee towards the center of the plant to the nectaries. The next is Golden Alexander and this is a native to our prairies. It has these beautiful yellow blooming flowers and probably about three feet tall or so. Now this plant supports more than just the bees. It's an important plant for our black swallowtails. So it's good to be thinking about plants that help our butterflies complete their life cycles too. You may notice with Golden Alexander that it has a familiar appearance and that's because it looks like dill. And in fact it's in the same family as dill and carrots. So it's in the APACA family. Now other perennials to include for June bloom, you know, don't forget some of our herbs. Now chives happens to be a perennial and I know a lot of people view it as a nuisance but the flowers can be quite beneficial. Now I like how it's used in this photo. We all know that chives can spread quite vigorously. Here it's confined, it's confined by the sidewalk and stays put. But related plants would also include our alliums. Our alliums are very good for our pollinators. As for other June blooming perennials, you may want to consider butterflyweed. This happens to be a milkweed. It's native to Minnesota and South Dakota. Now everybody when they think milkweed, they think butterflies and monarchs. And it's certainly a wonderful plant for them. But keep in mind that milkweed is also important for bees. It does produce a large amount of nectar which is beneficial for the bees. Now as for butterflyweed, you do need to be careful where you plant it. It doesn't do well in the Red River Valley. We've got a lot of clay in our area and it just seems to struggle in those heavy soils. So this is a plant that would do better on a sandy soil or on a loamy soil. Now we're done other milkweeds. Now I was really surprised to find that common milkweed can be quite controversial. So I discovered that when I moved back to North Dakota. Well it happens to be a noxious weed in five counties. And that's because it can be quite aggressive in an agricultural setting. Now it's not on the state noxious weed list. But I still would advise people that this may not be the best choice for your garden. Particularly if you've got a smaller garden. And that's because common milkweed spreads by runners. So it has these rhizomes and you'll notice that the plants will spread. It also self seeds quite vigorously. So you'll find that a little patch of milkweed will become large in no time at all. So we like to recommend a better choice. And that would be swamp milkweed. And we've got swamp milkweed depicted here on this slide. Despite its name it does well in a garden. Now during a drought situation I would recommend irrigating it. But you don't have to keep it in a swamp like condition. It does very nicely in a garden setting. And we have other milkweeds for North Dakota. And you'll notice that we've got all different types. And you can choose the milkweed that works for you. Do you have a heavy soil? Or do you have more of a medium to sandy soil? Do you live in an area of the state that receives more precipitation? Or less. So you can definitely choose the milkweed that would do well in your situation. I want to say a word about world milkweed. We are growing world milkweed here in Fargo. And we are finding that it does spread quite vigorously. So I would be a little careful on that. And then here we have a photo of swamp milkweed. I put one plant out initially by my mailbox. And within a year the monarchs found it, had laid eggs, and were producing caterpillars. So it's truly one of those plants that if you plant it, they will come. And we're moving into July and August. And we have so many perennials we can choose from. Now I had to limit my choice here due to time constraints. But we're going to start off with monarda or bee balm or wild bergamot. Now this is native to the region. We do find that the native species spreads very vigorously. Now what I'm trying to do along with Jan and our postdoc is we are researching monarda to see if the cultivars are as effective in attracting bees and other insects. So we want to find that out because we'd like to be able to recommend a cultivar that doesn't spread as invasively as the monarda fistulosa. Purple prairie clover. So this is a native to our prairies. And I like to think of this as like a helicopter landing pad. So you'll notice it's got kind of that cone in the center. You'll see the flowers initiating from the bottom of the cone and then they work their way up the cone. But with that big cone in the center of the flower, it provides a nice spot for the bees and the butterflies to land. And it's just really hospitable for them. Now of all the June and August blooming plants, this has to be my favorite for attracting butterflies. This is the Northern Plains Blazing Star. And we've got two or three leatrous species that are native to Minnesota, Minnesota and North Dakota. And you'll find that they're just the all stars of your garden. They're beautiful and they're going to be covered in our beneficial insects. So what I'd love to see is to have every garden have a Northern Plains Blazing Star. And they bloom, you know, right through August. Not all Blazing Stars are the same. Now we do have some in the ornamental trade. This is the improved cultivar cobalt. Now I had cobalt in my front yard, and I swear I never once saw a butterfly. So this is an example of where the native species is better than the cultivar at providing ecosystem services for the pollinators. Now here's Culver's Root. I hear people say that they don't want to plant natives in the garden because natives may be messier or not as attractive as ornamentals. But that's not always the case. This is a beautiful prairie plant. And you'll see that it's equally at home on the prairie as it is in a formal botanical garden. With Culver's Root we have these beautiful candle like inflorescences. So this is really a nice architectural plant. It stands four to five feet tall and looks really good in the back of the border. Now no pollinator talk would be complete unless we mentioned Echinacea. Echinacea angustifolia is native to North Dakota. However, we've noticed that other species as well as our hybrids and cultivars also attract pollinators. They all seem to do well. However, there are exceptions. I would say avoid plants that are double flowered. And what do I mean by that? With our double flowered plants you'll notice that we have extra sets of petals. Here the petals have replaced the cone. So in essence they have replaced the structures that produce pollen and nectar. So I would watch lots of butterflies land on these plants and they would never stay more than a second or two. They would find that there was nothing for them to eat and they would move on to another plant. So the closer the plant is to its original appearance the better and the more likely it is to be a pollen or nectar producer. Now moving into the fall. So Jan talked about our bumblebees and how the male bumblebees are produced in the fall for the purpose of mating with the queens. So it's important for us to have plants that are flowering in the fall to nourish those late bumblebees. So here we have aster. So aster is absolutely fantastic. We've got lots of species and cultivars that are on the market. And I even have one in my front yard that blooms into November when we have a mild fall. So it'll be like the last flower on the block that's blooming and on a warm day it'll just be covered in bees. Now I wish I knew the name of the cultivar. Unfortunately when I moved into the house it was already there so I really don't know the cultivar. And don't forget your autumn joy sedums and other tall sedums. Now a lot of people like to dismiss sedum because it's not native. However we're finding it is an all-star in the fall garden and absolutely covered with bees. So this is another genus that we're studying for its ability to attract all kinds of pollinators going into fall. And it's really one of those that you really have to have. So any of the tall sedums that are in the helotolefium genus seem to do really well is what we're discovering. But we will certainly continue researching that. We've got lots of sources for native plants. You know your first option is always going to be your local North Dakota nursery. So we find that a lot more of them are carrying pollinator plants because they really want your business. Now if you can't find the species that you're looking for there are lots of other options online like Prairie Moon and Prairie Restorations and others that are mail order in Minnesota. One thing we do discover is that the native plant nurseries run out of plants quite early in the spring and maybe out of stock when you need them. Now once you've selected your plants you want to also include a water source in your garden. You know so you could if you have a water garden or pond or fountain those are definite sources. But you want to make sure that when you have water available that there's some place for the bees and butterflies to land so they don't get wet. If you don't have something like a water garden you can consider a bird bath with some stones sticking out of the water or a butterfly puddling area can be as simple as a muddy area where the butterflies land to pick up water and salts. Just be sure though when you're providing water sources that you are replenishing the water and making sure that mosquito larvae don't perpetuate in it. And then provide habitat. Now you can do something as formal as providing a bee house. So the bee house, houses tend to do well for those solitary cavity nesting bees that you'll find that a bee will nest in a tube and lay its eggs. But we also have ground nesting bees as Jan mentioned. So if you're noticing that the bees are nesting in the ground, I noticed that I had ground nesting bees along my driveway because it was a sandier soil in that location. So if you're noticing that you're going to want to leave that ground undisturbed. Dead trees can also provide habitat. So if you have dead trees you may want to consider leaving them around as long as they're not a safety risk because dead trees can be a really good source of habitat for all kinds of wildlife. And then I'm going to give you permission to be lazy in the fall. Don't cut your perennials down in the fall, wait till spring. So you can just sit back and watch the bison football game or whatever and let those perennials be. And that's because the bees will lay their eggs in the pith or the center of those perennials and then we're hoping the bees will then hatch the next spring. So you can cut the perennials in the spring once you start to see pollinators flying around. If you do need to get into your gardens early in the spring then you can cut them down and maybe put them on the compost pile to give the eggs time to hatch. Then don't forget need of grasses. Bees seem to like to nest under native grasses but we also find that they can be a food source for certain butterflies. Now our fourth step is to be very wise in how you use your pesticide. So if all possible, reduce spraying. And if you have to use a pesticide of some sort, choose the least toxic pesticide that you can. And then make sure not to spray your blooming plants, particularly your apple trees. Don't be spraying your apple trees when they're in bloom, wait till petal fall. And then when it comes to the time of day to spray, you'll do the least harm if you wait till late evening once the bees have retired for the evening. Now I see we've got a lot of master gardeners on today. Now the Extension Master Gardener Program is doing a lot of work. We have 19 pollinator gardens that were built in 2016 and 17 and we added more in 2018. So we are in a total of 19 counties and we're hoping to build two or three more this year. So this is a map. Now there are some cities where we have two flowers indicating that we have more than one garden in those locations. But you can see that we have great representation on the eastern side. We're hoping to build a few more in western North Dakota, particularly the southwestern part of the state. We like to use these gardens as teaching gardens. We want to teach the general public about pollinator practices. And then that brings me to our NUSU Extension Home Pollinator Garden Program. So this is for everybody. You don't have to be a master gardener. You don't even have to live in North Dakota. So if you live in a state that touches North Dakota, you can apply for this program. So we have an application online and it asks you questions about whether you've planted a garden that has various plants that bloom in all the different seasons, whether you have specific plants that are pollinator friendly, and whether you're following wise pesticide practices. So we have a limited number of signs. If you build a garden or if you remodel a garden to include pollinator plants, feel free to apply. So our website is on our NUSU Extension Master Gardener webpage and we'll certainly provide this link to Field to Fork to put on their website. But here is the sign that we have and it's a really nice sign. It's 8 by 8 inches and this is really bragging rights with your neighbors. If you put this up, I'm sure you'll get a lot of questions and a lot of attention from your neighbors and you can tell them that you are pollinator friendly. And with that, you know, Jan and I will take questions. Well, thank you so much to Jan Kanodal and Esther McGinnis for a great presentation. And we will check the chat here for some questions. I see that there are a few of them in there. The first question here from Janie, it looks like we had a question earlier about how high we should put cavity nests. Esther, you said three to five feet above the ground. Any other advice on cavity nests from you, Esther or Jan, if you want to jump in? Well, I think we said three to five feet because we want to make sure that we don't get rodents that bother the nest. So it's important to put them above ground. We want them to be away from other animals that could in fact disturb them. But we also want the nest to be protected. We want them to have some sun exposure, particularly during the morning so the bees can warm up. But we also want them to be protected. So it's good that your nest should have some sort of back so that it'll keep some of the wind off of them. Janie? Yeah, they like them facing the sun in the morning. So you can have them either on the south, you know, face the south or the east is preferred. And sometimes I had trouble with woodpeckers going after my bees that were nesting in the tubes. So you may need to put a screen in front of them to keep the woodpeckers away. They actually got most of my bees. So in the morning, the bees don't need a certain temperature to reach their body temperature before they can fly. So they need to sometimes are protected area where they can just sit and sun themselves before they have enough heat in the body to take off. So you may need to put that screening in front. Thanks, Jan and Esther. Janie, just as I was about to ask Janie's question, I got the chat moved on me, but Janie asks, has anyone had success with growing baptism in a zone 3? With baptism, I really think it's more of a zone 4 plant. We haven't trialed it in zone 3. I'd like to do so. You know, maybe once we're done with our pollinator studies, we might have enough plants that we can move some around, but come to think of it, they don't transplant well. They do have a root system that hates to be disturbed, but you're right. I think we would like to do some testing in zone 3 to see how they do, but right now we don't have enough research to say that they would do well. But I would invite others to type in the chat box if you live in zone 3 and whether you've had success with baptism. Thanks Esther. Does swamp milkweed self seed Annette would like to know? Annette, I do grow swamp milk seed. There is some potential for self seeding, but I really haven't had a problem so far with it. It's not as bad as common milkweed. And if you do find that it's self seeding too much for you, you could always cut off the seed pods. But I have to admit it hasn't been a problem for me so far. Oh, go ahead Jan, I'm sorry. I haven't had any problems with it either, self seeding in my garden. So Jan, while we have you on, does Rhonda wants to know if the bee house needs to be cleaned periodically? Yes, you do need to clean them out and they recommend too that you bring them into the garage in the winter. That will, and then put them back out like now in the spring for them to emerge. So yeah, you would clean them out after they emerge, of course, and put new tubes in. You can buy the tubes or you could line them with just paper rolled up. Yeah, there is a disease concern and that's why you want to replace the tubes from year to year. There's the potential that if there was some disease from the previous season it could carry over to the new season. Now when it comes to the mason bee blocks, those wood blocks, I've seen people that have taken a drill and drilled them out a little bit. So that's one way to do the wood blocks. Yeah, there's different, you need different sizes for different bees and even different lengths of the tube for different bees. Some like short tubes and others like longer. So you can, once you start searching it, you'll find that information on the web. Awesome. Esther, Becky would like to know if you have a particular cultivar of Monarda to use or not use. Hi Becky, we don't have enough data to recommend cultivars yet. We do know that Monarda, at least here in Fargo, was starting to show some promise as far as attracting beneficial arthropods. So these were not necessarily pollinators, but other insects that may prey upon some of our more harmful insects and Jan may have a better definition of beneficial arthropods. But we're still doing the research and we had like half a year's worth of data on the Monarda. We'll definitely have more information as we collect data throughout the coming season. If you want to see our trials, come to NDSU campus and take a look at our horticultural research and demonstration garden. You'll see, I think we've got six or seven different Monardas. So Joe would like to know for overwintering bees that might be in dead vegetation that we're cleaning up in the spring, those perennials that we left standing, so long should we leave that vegetation undisturbed near our compost piles? Have most of them emerge by early June, end of June? Just curious when he can start mulching. Yeah, most of them, of course it depends on the species of bee, but most of them are all out by early June, I would say. It was a really, really cold spring. Awesome. Jen, what about wasp prevention? Do fake hives like ones that you can buy on Amazon ward them away? Okay, what type of, can you repeat that question? Yeah, so Bri is trying to prevent wasps and she, it sounds like she has found some fake hives on Amazon and she wonders if those work to ward wasps away. I don't know if those work, I've never tried them, but there is traps for like hornets you can put out and you put in a sugary solution, you can trap them. But I guess I didn't point out during the presentation that these wasps, although they're a nuisance to us, they're actually pollinators and also they're beneficial insects because they prey on caterpillars and other insect pests of the garden. So they're actually beneficial to have around. Thanks, Jen. So looks like we've got quite a few questions. So I'm going to try and run through some rapid fire Tom Kyle style here and see if we can get some answers. Bri wants to know if we have a pollinator flowers for helping attract bees to pollinate our flowering plants like pumpkins and zucchini, will they stay around and make hives? We would have them, prefer not to have them around because of kids. So will pumpkins and zucchini keep bees around your yard? Not just pumpkins and zucchini because the flowering time on them is relatively short. So I think the whole point is we want to have something flowering through the whole season to nourish a broad variety of bees. I do like to try and include flowering plants around the garden to attract more pollinators to the area. You can also use herbs. So we find that a lot of our herbs are really good. A lot of people already have them in the garden. Borage is one that seems to attract a huge number of bees. So you can certainly plant things that you wouldn't consume like herbs in your garden and still have all the benefits of them being pollinator plants too. But just having zucchini and squash blossoms, that's not going to be enough. Esther, swamp milkweed, is that available at some of the nurseries that you mentioned in your slide? Absolutely. And I see it at local North Dakota nurseries too. So that's a very popular one. Awesome. What temperature do bees need in the winter, Becky, would like to know? To over winter. Well, you don't need a heated garage. You know, they need the cooling period in order to, you know, further over wintering. So they, you know, just a regular garage. I didn't bring mine in, but the woodpeckers got them. So, but yeah, no, I don't know what the minimum temperature is. I'm sure there's a minimum, but it's going to vary with this different species. It looks like there's some good sharing going on in the chat. Lila wants to know about cat mint. Is that like walkers low? Is that a good pollinator plant? Lila, I have that in my garden and it's covered. I would love to do, I would love to expand the presentation and talk about more plants too, but definitely cat mint is fantastic. Once again, you've got that purple, those purpley blue flowers. It just seems to be a magnet. And then the nice thing is you could get, you can get it to re bloom. You know, so it'll bloom most likely in June, share it off and then you'll get another set of blooms before fall. Lucinda is using a liquid bear product to pour on the base of apple trees for maggots. Is that dangerous for pollinators? Does she know what active ingredient? Well, it probably is. I guess I would have to know what the active ingredient is. You're using it for maggots. I guess I just don't, not familiar with it. Are you Esther? I'm not. I'm not familiar with which product it is. I guess, yes, you're right. We'd have to see the active ingredient. Well, thank you guys so much. We're a little bit over time. I apologize if we didn't get to your question, but you can always go to the NDSU extension website at egg.ndsu.edu slash extension. Click on lawns, gardens and trees and the ask an expert link is right there to submit your, your question to an, to an expert. Thanks again, everybody. And thanks everyone for tuning in. Please join us next week for our next field before webinar. Have an awesome day.