These are resources recommended by Frederique Lavoipierre, Director of Education at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to accompany my two Habitat Gardening articles – Part 1 (Beneficial Insects) and Part 2 (Butterflies, Bees, Flies and Favorite Plants)
- ‘Bee Basics – An Introduction to our Native Bees’ – Free online publication by the US Forest Service and Pollinator Partnership
- Attracting Native Pollinators – this book by the Xerces organization has pages on each pollinator you’re likely to see
- GreatSunflower.org – citizen science website for promoting pollinators
- bumblebeewatch.org – a citizen project to upload bumblebee photos to help determine status and locate endangered species
- Farming and Gardening with Native Beneficial insects – Another excellent book by Xerces
- Lavoipierre recommended two books for landscaping with native plants: Designing California Native Gardens by Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrook and California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Borenstein, et al
- Recommended by Monika Moore – Wildflowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains by Robert L. Allen, Fred M. Roberts Jr.
Bringing Nature Home -How you can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy
Other Recommended Books
Three Ways Beneficial Insects Predate Pests – Our natural insects work in three ways: Predators eat the pests outright, some are Parasitses – where they live off the host, the host doesn’t usually die;,and lastly some are Parasitoids – usually flies or wasps, they lay their eggs in the host, and the free-living larva kills the pest. Click here for more info
Habitat gardening – creating environments that sustain wildlife – has become trendy. After all, it’s a rare person who doesn’t like attracting birds and butterflies to their yards.
Hi, Linda. Hope you and Tom are great! Just to let you know your comment about favorable insects causes me to advise that BCLT in partnership with Alpine Education Foundation (I’m an officer at AEF too) is in the 3rd year of a Living Classroom project with local schools. The concept is in-class environmental education supplemented by habitat management projects in Wright’s Field. Last year there were 750 students involved and one of the projects was to plant a “pollinator garden” for native plants. We’re grant writing now for funds for next year. Hope to provide for 1,000 kids, including those from Cajon Valley and Campo/Potrero. Best to you both. George
good to hear from you George! I do keep up on BCLT – Back Country Land Trust for anyone reading this – and you all continue to do great things.
My favorite book for Southern California natives is Wildflowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains. By Robert L. Allen and Fred M. Roberts, Jr. Excellent book. Fantastic information. It took 20 years to gather this wealth of information together. Living in Fullerton California this is my go-to book for native butterfly host plants and nectar plants. http://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaButterflyLady
thanks Monika, that is a good one, I will add….