Pollen or nectar? Or both of them?
Wording and phrasing in the world of wildlife and eco-friendly gardening can be confusing at times. The importance of ‘native’ or ‘non-native’ plants (both are beneficial), or does ‘organic’ mean ‘peat-free’? (No, incidentally). And then you get on to planting the right flowers – should they be pollinatorfriendly, nectar-rich or pollen-rich? Well, all of the above, really. But what’s the difference between pollen and nectar? Understanding a bit about both can open up a fascinating world of pollinator behaviour, and will improve your wildlife-gardening knowhow to help you plant up your plot.
Nectar is a very sweet, vitaminrich, high-energy carbohydrate liquid food for bees, butterflies, hoverflies and other insect pollinators – and they love it (a bit like us and sugary sweets). It’s an essential daily food source to help them fly, start nesting and find mates – and for honeybees, the workers store it dehydrated in honeycomb as honey. Essentially it’s the tasty reward a plant gives to its friendly insect visitors for coming and taking its pollen to other female flowers – ‘pollinating’ it, and thereby procreating for and safeguarding the future of the plant.
Pollen is a protein-rich, fatty, yellow, sticky powder on male parts of the flower and is also a staple food for bees and other pollinators. Bees specifically gather it to feed their young – and their queen bees, which use it to ripen eggs – and they take it with them in little sacs on their back legs. Good quality pollen fed in abundance to bee larvae will produce stronger, larger and healthier adult bees. Butterflies, moths, wasps and hoverflies are helpful, inadvertent pollinators, but they don’t feed their young with it like bees; they get protein from other sources, such as aphids and leaves. Pollen quality varies, with some flowers – such as those in the pea and bean families – being Michelin-star food to produce the healthiest of bees.
So, clovers and vetches, runner beans and peas are a given, but which are the other A-grade blooms? Here’s my top 10, in no particular order: borage, foxgloves, lavender, comfrey, catmint, valerian, buddleja, sedum (hylotelephium), ivy and Verbena bonariensis. Plant in threes or upwards so they make a beeline for your backyard!