July 31 Webinar – David Tomashefski – A Time for Bumble Bees: Native Plants in the Garden and a Pollinator’s Life Cycle

This presentation uses the life cycle of bumble bees as a starting point for examining an assortment of native plants that are perfect for the home garden. We’ll look at the development of the bumble bee nest and see how the selected plants give the bees what they need – and vice versa – throughout the growing season. For each plant we’ll also examine other wildlife benefits that the plant provides, and see how features such as flower shape, nectar chemistry, and even stem diameter are ideally suited for supporting certain pollinators. And the sum-total of all of these specialized plant – animal interactions is a tremendous amount of biodiversity that we can all enjoy and care for in our yards.

 

Bio: I’m a lifelong nature enthusiast with a special interest in bird watching, Ohio plant communities, and gardening. I recently started working for Meadow City Native Plant Nursery, in Cleveland, as an Education Specialist. Prior to joining up with Meadow City I was a Research Associate in the Soil, Water, and Environmental Lab at OSU for 10 years. I have an MS in Natural Resources with a specialization in Ecological Restoration from OSU. I’m excited to be sharing information on native plants and pollinators with FLOW!