So you want to build a Pollinator Hotel...

Well you can!  And you should.  Pollinator Hotels provide essential habitat for cavity-nesting insects like mason bees and leafcutters, as well as other beneficial critters like spiders, ladybugs, and butterflies.  You'll get to watch this mini-ecosystem unfold in your backyard, observing first hand its life cycles, food chains and day to day goings-on.  Your hotel can be tidy and symmetrical, or thrown together with wild abandon.  You can build them to suit your fancy, changing features and adding on over the years.  And with a little ingenuity and a bit of time spent gathering materials, they're inexpensive and easy to put together.

I build these wild bee houses using salvaged fenceboards and shingles, blue-stain lumber milled from trees killed by bark beetles, and whatever else scraps I can find.  (If you want to buy one, here's my Etsy Shop!)
You can also expand on this idea and install a Pollinator Hotel on-site.  We did this recently as part of the Homestead Hey Day spring celebration at the historic Moon-Randolph Homestead in Missoula.  Volunteers pooled their craftsmanship and creativity, using scrap wood from around the ranch, locally gathered natural materials and hand tools to build a beautiful and functional house for helpful bugs.  We've still got some finishing touches to do, drilling holes in the logs and stuffing crevices with bee tubes, but for one happy afternoon's work, it turned out pretty incredible.  
If you want to build your own you'll want to follow just a few basic guidelines.  Here are some tips to help you get started.

1.  Build a frame
Anything goes, pretty much!  You might want to sketch out a plan before you begin.  How big?  Do you want formal rows of tubes and drilled holes, or rustic compartments of natural materials?  Will it be built on posts, or hanging?  Do you want to stack materials so the hotel can be dismantled and rebuilt easily, or do you want a frame that's held in place by screws...or cement, or...?  Do you want to include spaces to put soil and grow live plants on the structure?  If so, you might want to put them down low so you can water without drenching your insect nesting materials.

Whatever you decide, remember that native bees need one end of their nesting cavity closed.  If you're using completely hollow tubes, you'll want to put a backboard of some sort up.  If you're drilling holes through logs, you can opt to not drill all the way through (for example, drill a 6" deep hole in a 7" deep log).  I personally recommend drilling all the way through and putting up a backboard, however.  That way if you ever decide to clean out your bee holes, it's much easier.


2. Put it in the right place
You'll want to locate your Pollinator Hotel in a place that's at least somewhat shielded from heavy wind and rain.  Face the opening to the south or east so it gets plenty of warm morning sun.  If you live in a really hot sunny location, some afternoon shade in midsummer is helpful too.  Raising the frame off the ground a few feet deters ants, who have been known to sneak in and steal the pollen reserves left for developing larvae.  Just don't put it so high that it's out of insects' normal flight paths.  Somewhere between 4-8' off the ground is ideal.  And make sure the insects have access to a source of food (pollen from trees, shrubs, flowers or vegetables within a couple hundred yards), water and mud, which mason bees use to line their brood cells.  We located ours at the edge of the vegetable garden, facing out towards an ancient orchard.  The early spring flowers of fruit trees are perfect for mason bees (also known as blue orchard bees).  Remember that, once you start to fill in your frame, it will get heavy, so you might want to get it in place beforehand.

3.  Provide nooks and crannies
The idea is to mimic the natural nesting sites of insects in the wild.  This helps mitigate the effects of habitat destruction as native ecosystems give way to concrete, asphalt and (gasp!) turf grass.  So build one for environmental stewardship and conservation!  But also do it for yourself.  Attracting a diverse array of native insects to your yard and garden leads to a healthier ecological balance (thus reducing insect pests), better pollination of your fruits, flowers and veggies, and an awesome opportunity to observe these fascinating creatures up close.
Try to provide a diversity of cracks and crevices to accommodate different nesting habits.  Ladybugs, beetles, lacewings, beneficial spiders, moths and butterflies all seek shelter to raise their young and overwinter, and many native bee species nest in hollow tubes and cavities.  Use different sized sticks, dead flower stalks (sunflowers work great), straw, pine cones, dry grasses and pieces of bark to fill compartments.  Avoid wood that's been treated or recently varnished.

Things are starting to take shape!  Peter cuts plant stalks into tubes, Tyson saws logs, and Natasha slices bark rings to build compartments.

4.  Make the bee holes the right size and depth

Mason bee cells in a milkweed stem

Tubes and drilled holes should be about 6" deep.  This is important.  Nesting mason bees will fill the first ~4" with female eggs, and cap each tube with a couple males.  The eggs hatch into larvae, which pupate into adult bees at the end or the summer.  The males emerge first (presumably to be offered up to any predators lurking outside the nest) followed by the females a couple weeks later.  If your tubes are too short, you risk having all female eggs.  Cavity nesting bees also avoid holes that are too deep, so try not to go over 8" or so.

There are thousands of species of wild bees...all different sizes and with varying preferences.  When drilling holes or cutting tubes, the standard recommended diameter is 3/8".  I've seen bees nest in holes down to 1/8" and as big as 5/8".  I try to provide a variety of sizes, to see what different species I can attract.

Gathering tubes

Finding hollow-stemmed plant materials can be tough.  If you live in an area with bamboo, that works perfect.  I try to use the previous year's dry stalks of Japanese knotweed (an abundant noxious weed), Fuller's teasel (a pain to process, with all the prickles), Queen Anne's lace, milkweed, elderberry, even corn stalks.  Remember that many species have nodes that go all the way through the stem, so these parts need to be cut out or placed towards the back of your hotel.

5.  Protect it
Besides choosing a sheltered location, it helps to put some sort of slanted roof on so rain rolls off.  And if you're worried about birds, squirrels or deer getting into your nesting materials, put some small-gauge chicken wire over the front entrance.

6.  Maintain it over time
If you're using straw, dry grass or other decomposables, clean out the compartment and replace with fresh materials each spring.  In the case of bee cavities, mites and other pests can build up if the tubes aren't cleaned out periodically.  Once every four years or so you'll want to scrape out debris with a poker or replace the tubes entirely.  Some people recommend spraying the holes with a 5-10% bleach solution to kill mites.
Keep an eye on your Pollinator Hotel.  Over time, you'll have an idea of who lives where, what the most popular rooms are, and how well each material and arrangement is working.  Experiment!  Change it up.  Have fun.

If you want to learn more about native pollinators, visit my Wild House of Bees page.  Also check out this excellent compilation of insect habitats from Inspiration Green to see what people around the world are building.  And please, post pictures of what you come up with!

Yellowbells

Yellowbells

Fritillaria pudica

Liliaceae (Lily Family)

Quick ID:  

Okay, so this one's easy.  Look for those little yellow bells, of course!  Watch where you step; they're low-growing (~3"), their faces turn down, and they're blooming now through May.  The flowers can be darker near the base, with six tepals (the name for petals and sepals that are structurally the same) and a few blunt-tipped, strap-like leaves.

If you dug them up (which you wouldn't, because it would destroy the whole plant and decimate our wildflower population, and you LOVE wildflowers...), you'd find a scaly little corm (swollen, bulb-like thing) with little corm-lettes the size of rice grains attached.  If you leave them be, these little baubles (technically called cormels) will grow into new yellowbells...and the more the merrier where these nodding sweeties are concerned.

Liliaceae family members are characterized by leaves with parallel veins (like a grass, as oposed to palmate veins, like a maple leaf), basal leaves (growing from the base of the stem) and flower parts in 3s (in this case, 3 petals and 3 sepals jointly called tepals).  

Range:

Grows from sea level up to 5000'; common throughout the northwest in short grass- and sagebrush prairie and conifer forests, with one of the widest distributions in the Fritillaria genus.

 What's in a Name?  

Fritillaria is from the Latin word for "dicebox", which makes sense when you look at the Snake's Head Lily, F. meleagris (right).  The species pudica means "bashful"--the classic, modest "Venus pudica" pose is well-known in the art world.

Tidbits:  The corms of yellowbells are edible raw (tastes like potato) or cooked (tastes like rice).  Many western North American tribes picked and ate them along with Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), but they were never regarded as a major source of sustenance.  The starchy corms also provide food for black and grizzly bears, pocket gophers and ground squirrels.

The flower is said to smell sweet as an Easter Lily, but this particular floraphile has never gotten her nose close enough to the ground to take a sniff.  Maybe this spring...  

                                                 
Wild gardening:

As with many yellow flowers, Fritillaria pudica is pollinated by bees, as well as beetles and flies.  It would do well in a naturalized prairie-lawn, as long as it wasn't dominated by larger plants, or would be particularly nice in a raised "miniatures" bed.  Keep it in full sun to part shade, reasonably moist in spring and bone dry during its summer dormancy. 
Yellowbells are among the first plants to bloom after the snow melts, but their flowers fade fast, the petals blushing deep red and curling backwards.  Their short-lived nature only adds to their charm, as tends to happen with quick bouts of lovliness.  As Ms. Dickinson pointed out,

To see the summer sky is poetry

           though never in a book it lie...

                              True poems flee

 This blog post was originally created for the Montana Natural History Center.  Check out the original post here

Redtwig Dogwood

Redtwig Dogwood

Cornus sericea

Cornaceae (Dogwood Family)
Quick ID:

Redtwig dogwood is full of character throughout the year.  In its leafless winter state, the conspicuous red branches set off a blaze of color against the snow.

Early spring brings dense, flat-topped clusters of creamy white flowers, which give way to pea-sized white berries in summer.

Cooler temperatures bring out purple and red anthocyanins in the leaves--the mass fall display of a dogwood thicket can really take your breath away.  Look for this loosely spreading deciduous shrub, typically 6-12' high, growing in dense thickets in riparian areas and open forests.

The red twigs are tipped by a uniquely pointed terminal bud, and can be covered in lenticels on the old growth.  Leaves are opposite (arranged in pairs along the stem), simple (not lobed), with entire (not serrated) margins that tend to be wavy and occasionally rimmed in purple.

Notice the way the veins sweep up toward the tip of the leaf.  This is a great identifying feature that can be used to distinguish dogwood from the many other simple-leaved species out there (chokecherry, twinberry, huckleberry...).

Range:
Very common throughout Canada and the northern US, south to Virginia on the east side and northern Mexico in the west.  Look for it growing in the rich, moist soil of riparian areas and in forest openings, in conjunction with alder (Alnus spp.), willow (Salix spp.), cottonwood and aspen (Populus spp.), Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), currants (Ribes spp.), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum) and horsetails (Equisetum spp.).

What's in a Name?
Cornus is the Latin word for horn (like a unicorn).  The Romans called the dogwood "cornel", in reference to the mature wood, which is hard as the horn of a goat and useful for making a great many things.  This is also a convenient way to remember the distinct leaf buds of redtwig dogwood, which are narrow and pointed like horns.The species name sericea means silky, in reference to the fine hairs covering the leaves.  The origin of the word "dogwood" itself is not totally settled.  It may be a corruption of "dagwood", from the use of its hard wood in making dags (or daggers).
Alternatively, there is some evidence that a concoction of English Cornus leaves was used to treat dog mange in 17th century herbology.

C. sericea is also commonly known as redosier dogwood.  This may be confusing, since "osier" comes from the medieval term for willow (Salix sp.)  In fact, the flexible young branches of C. sericea have long been used for basket weaving, much like the willows that grow in similar streamside thickets. 

Tidbits:
Like most of our native plant species, dogwood has been, and continues to be, valued for its many benefits to humans.  An extract made from the leaves, stems and inner bark can be used as an emetic for treating fevers and coughs (and a great many other ailments), and the inner bark scrapings have long been added to tobacco smoking mixtures.  The red stems not only produce colorful weaving patterns, but can be used to make red, brown and black dyes.

The white berries, although tart and bitter, are not poisonous, and have been eaten by many people throughout history.  The fruits are low in natural sugars, making them less attractive to wildlife and less likely to rot than other berries.  Thus, dogwood fruit persists long into the winter, making it available when other food is not. These unlikely berries are a key food source of grizzly and black bears, and are also eaten by songbirds, waterfowl, cutthroat trout, mice and other animals.  Beavers use the hard wood to build dams and lodges.

Thickets of dogwood are especially good habitat for little birds like the dusky flycatcher, orange-crowned warbler, Lincoln sparrow and the house finch pictured here.  These thickets, often located along the river's edge, provide good places to rear young, with year-round security and food sources.  Because of its thick root system, redtwig dogwood is also important for stabilizing these streambanks, particularly in places where stream channels are scoured by seasonal flooding.

Wild Gardening

Being a water-loving species, Cornus sericea is tolerant of moist soils and varying water tables.  Once established, it also holds up well against drought.  Research has shown that water-stressed plants actually have a higher tolerance to freezing cold temperatures.  When dogwood senses the shortened days of oncoming winter, tissue changes occur that prevents the plant from taking up water and increases water lost through transpiration, so the tissue becomes dehydrated even when water is abundant.  This interesting adaptation, along with C. sericea's somewhat complex ability to avoid freezing injury by having water freeze outside of its cells, should make it an incredibly cold-hardy choice for northern gardeners.  BUT, remember the notorious cold snap of early October, 2009, when temperatures across Montana took a sudden dive into the single digits?  Our 11-year-old redtwig dogwood--10' tall and strong as an ox, we thought--was the only significant plant we lost at the Fort Missoula Native Plant Garden here in Missoula.  Granted, all the plants at this garden are dynamite no-fear natives that can take most anything the weather throws at them, so the garden's overwhelming hardiness came as no surprise.  The loss of our old friend was a sad one, though.  Luckily, dogwood is easy to propagate by seed, layering or stem cuttings, and easy to establish in a range of soils.  This is one shrub that will do fine in partial shade as well.  And while the tender stems are preferred browse for deer, elk and moose, they're less enticing than many of the delectable non-native shrubs commonly planted as ornamentals.  Aside from the wildlife you'll be providing backyard habitat for, you'll also be enticing pollinators and butterflies with the fragrant white blossoms in spring (C. sericea is an important larval host for the Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) butterfly.  Overall, this is one of the best all-purpose native shrubs to plant for ease of care and year-round enjoyment.

Thanks to Dave DeHetre,  Bryant Olsen and Paul Alaback for some of the images used here.

See original blog post here