by Sherry Lyons
Childhood Friends
Where are the kings that were my childhood friends?
In vain I seek them on their emerald thrones
Or in their airy ballrooms
Sipping nectar from dusky rose-colored goblets.
They can no longer be found sleeping
In their chambers of jade and gold.
The fiery capes that robed their bodies
Clad in onyx armor,
No longer grace the flowery fields of summer.
Fragile Monarchs, where have you flown?
I want to dance with you once more.
-Sherry Lyons
That is a poem I wrote twenty-five years ago. Even then I noticed that the monarch butterflies, so plentiful in my childhood, seemed few and far between, a jewel-colored novelty to point out to my growing children. You may all have noticed, read or heard about the marked decline of butterflies and indeed all kinds of pollinators in the past few decades. As a child on road trips I remember whenever my father stopped to get gas he also had to clean the windshield of all the insects that had smashed on it. When we washed the car, the grill was covered with insect parts. Nowadays, I seldom have to clean squished bugs from my windshield. That might seem like a good thing in some ways, but it is truly alarming. We all depend on pollinators to help us produce the food that we eat. Fewer pollinators means less food for everyone.
There are a couple of important reasons why this is happening. Farmers big and small are using pesticides to kill insects that feed on their crops, but those pesticides are not selective. They kill all the insects, both helpful and destructive. Also, humans are encroaching on the wilderness, cutting more and more trees, building on meadows, turning them into lawns, and filling in marshes to create more land for more developments. This leaves less and less wild space for plants that pollinators depend on to live and thrive.
All is not lost however. Many people and organizations have been aware of these issues for years, and there are ways that we all can help. Things like:
Not mowing your fields ‘til after July, to give all the insects time to complete their life cycle. This also gives birds that nest in meadows time to fledge their young.
Participating in “No Mow May” on at least part of your property for the same reason.
Refusing to use chemical pesticides; instead using soap and water, natural insect enemies or manually removing the offending pests.
Leaving the fall leaves around trees and bushes. They protect your flower beds and bulbs and give the insects a place to overwinter.
Delay your spring clean-up until the new plants have pushed through the leaves by 3-4 inches. This gives the insects a chance to come out of their winter rest and move on with their lives.
Plant a variety of native plants in groups so pollinators don’t have to go too far for a meal.
Make sure there are shallow water sources for insects to get a drink and butterflies to do some puddling. (Puddling is when butterflies gather in damp areas to drink mineral-rich fluids.)
Leave areas of bare dirt for ground-nesting bees, and snags for cavity-nesting bees. A variety of living spaces like brush piles, downed and rotting logs, Patches of rough grass or a bee nesting box are all great places for many types of bees.
You can visit the NRDC or USDA or many other sites for more ideas and suggestions on what plants to grow, and how to create living spaces for pollinators.
This is not a comprehensive list, but if each one of us starts to use some of these practices, it will go a long way toward bringing back the pollinators that we rely on for our food. We will all end up with beautiful native gardens that attract many pollinators. The fact that many of them are beautiful is just icing on the cake!
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