(Papilio glaucus).
Photo © Mary Free
June is all about pollinators and how everyone can help support them. Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35% of the world’s food plants depend on pollinators to reproduce, and 96% of North American land birds rely on butterfly and moth caterpillars to feed their young.
Extension Master Gardeners (EMGs) are offering opportunities this month for you to learn how to attract and support pollinators in your garden.
- Every Tuesday from 10:00 am to noon, EMGs in the Simpson Park Demonstration Garden in Alexandria will show you how to make your yard pollinator friendly.
- Sign up for our Friday, June 9 virtual class on Native Trees and Shrubs for Pollinators for information on an easy way to support pollinators.
- Test your knowledge of plants and insects – take our Pollinator Week Quiz, which will post on June 21.
Pollinator Resources | Glossary Words
Pollinator Resources
To celebrate all things pollinator, our website has a new section on Pollinators and Other Wildlife, where we have gathered all our resources on pollinators. In the drop down menu, you will find
- Pollinators and Other Wildlife – main page
- Best Bets: Native Plants to Attract Pollinators
- All blogposts categorized under Pollinators – includes articles, book reviews, and more!
- Lepidoptera: Butterflies and Moths
- Virtual Classes
- YouTube Pollinator Videos by Extension Master Gardener Mary Free
A special series of blogposts, All About Butterflies and Moths, posted daily during Pollinator Week 2022. Here are the posts that were added that week:
- The Life Cycle of Butterflies & Moths
- The Morphology of Butterflies & Moths
- Survival Tactics of Butterflies & Moths
- Gardening to Attract Butterflies and Moths
- Nectar and Host Plants for Selected Mid-Atlantic Butterflies and Moths
- Creating a Monarch Waystation
- Lepidopteran Crossword Puzzle
- Lepidopteran Crossword Puzzle Answers & Coloring Pages
In addition, Glencarlyn Library Community Garden shared the Glencarlyn Library Pollinator Garden Plan. There are were additional pollinator related resources in the month of June on our Facebook page, and Instagram feed.
Illustrated Glossary
- anther – [ AN-ther ] noun: part of the stamen that contains the pollen
- cultivar – [ KUHL-tuh-vahr ] noun: a plant originating and persisting under cultivation New in 2023!
- dichogamy – [ dahy-KOG–uh-mee ] noun: relating to a flower in which the time gap between the release of pollen by the stamens and the receptivity to pollen of the stigma is such as to prevent self-pollination; the maturation of male and female reproductive organs of a flower at different times New in 2023!
- nativar – [ NEY-tuh-vahr ] noun: cultivar of a native plant species New in 2023!
- signal – [ SIG-nl ] noun: an area of contrasting color, usually yellow, on the fall of an iris in the place of a beard
- stamen – [ STEY-muhn ] noun, plural stamens, stamina: male reproductive organ of a seed plant, typically consisting of a stalk (filament) bearing a pollen producing anther at its tip; the angiosperm microsporophyll