Let's face it: bees are important. It's true that we wouldn't have honey or honey infused products (*cough cough* delicious TexaCola *cough cough*) without bees. But it's more dire than that. Bees are pollinators, meaning they help plants grow. When bees stop by a plant to drink nectar, they pick up some of the pollen from that plant and spread it when they fly. Without the growth of these plants, our food chain and carbon cycle are affected. Imagine living in a world where plants are not around to collect our carbon dioxide and make oxygen. Or a world where grass is not around for the cows to eat. Then there'd be no cows which means there'd be no burgers and no one wants that!!
Now that we know how important bees are, the question becomes "What can we do to help?" Luckily there is one easy thing any Texan can do to help our pollinator friends: plant a pollinator garden! By using native Texas plants in your garden, you can create an oasis for pollinators with little effort at all! Native plants are self sufficient in the Texas environment, meaning you can plant them straight into the ground and they'll survive with little maintenance like watering.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas launched the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, a nationwide call to action to preserve and create gardens and landscapes that help revive the health of bees, butterflies, bats, and other pollinators across America. They have all the resources you need to create and register your garden including a list of plants that bees and butterflies love. Join the many who have taken on the challenge today!
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