Pollinator Pathway Bend

National Plant a Flower Day? Don't mind if we do! While pretty much everyday is Plant a Flower Day with Pollinator Pathway Bend, we hope today is especially inspiring for everyone from die-hard native pollinator and plant community advocates to total beginners to get out there and build habitat, one (or more, why not) flower at a time 🌼
Our Resources page, linked in our bio, is full of native plant gardening tips as well as our homegrown Native Pollinator Friendly Plants guide-- check it out and let us know what you're planting!

We have open volunteer positions! If you're a native pollinator lover and are looking to get more meaningfully involved with our mission, we'd love to hear from you about joining our team.

Reach out to [email protected] to receive more information about these roles!

Some native seeds, like these Royal Penstemons, require cold stratification to break down their coats as they lie buried beneath the snow, keeping them dormant until the warmth of spring arrives to bring them to life. This process keeps seeds from germinating too early and dying. While you can mimic this process at home in a refrigerator, we recommend following nature’s lead by sowing your seeds outside to allow natural seasonal fluctuations to get the job done. If you’re sowing seeds indoors this winter due to unseasonably warm temperatures, you’ll want to place them in a damp medium, seal them, and keep them within 33 to 41°F. While the length of chilling necessary varies among species, it’s recommended to do so for at least a couple months— that means you’ll want to start as soon as you can!

Visit the link in our bio to navigate to our Native Pollinator Plants for Central Oregon Landscapes tool and choose your seeds according to bloom time ❄️☀️🌱

Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to our Penstemon Party, helping us pack up these cold-hardy native seeds! A little help goes such a long way, and every set of hands is appreciated in our efforts to plant native on behalf of our resident pollinators. If you're interested in volunteering opportunities, sign up for our newsletter with the link in our bio to stay up to date!

For National Primrose Day, we want to show off these gorgeous spring Pale Evening Primrose blooms from the Worthy Garden Club! These Onagraceae family members, though native to northern parts of Oregon, also thrive here in our high desert gardens as drought-tolerant species. Silky white to soft pink flowers open as the heat of the day tapers off and evening sets in, attracting pollinators on the night shift with their fragrant aroma. The leaves are narrow, oval-shaped, and inconsistently toothy. Beware, though, gardeners-- they will spread if not tended to properly due to self-seeding and rhizomatic spread!

It's National Daisy Day! We have many native flowers in the daisy family (Asteracae) east of the Cascades, including the Daisy Fleabane. This annual bloom has fuzzy stems and alternate, simple leaves with slight teething. Its basal leaves are, however, quite toothy, making it distinguishable at a glance from other fleabane species. Find this wildlfower in bloom from late spring to fall especially in disturbed areas-- it loves to be the first to pop up and compete with those pesky invasive plant species. Daisy fleabane is nectar-rich, making it beloved by Central Oregon’s native bees, butterflies, beetles and flies! 🐝

For those of you who are new followers, we'd like to introduce ourselves! As Bend's local Pollinator Pathway, we strive to create and connect pesticide-free, native plant-focused gardens for increasingly endangered native pollinators to carry out their life cycles and thrive in the process.

We build and maintain a "pathway" of gardens, done on an entirely volunteer-led basis. It's people like you who have the power to implement the change the world needs-- without plants and pollinators, there is no home for us. Pollinators impact every life on earth, and they need us on their side more than ever. Visit our website www.pollinatorpathwaybend.org to learn more and find out how you can get involved! 🦋🪲🐝

Pollinator Pathway Bend wishes you all a Happy New Year! ❄️ every year we feel lucky to live in the beautiful high desert of Oregon. May we suggest joining us in our resolution to improve its pollinator habitat and enjoy watching the bees, the butterflies, and the birds thrive?

Our Pollinator Pathway garden medallions are for sale over at Wild Birds Unlimited! These medallions are part of a national certification effort for people pledging not to use pesticides in their gardens and prioritizing native plants for our pollinators to thrive on year-round. You can officially register your garden on the Pollinator Pathway by visiting the Get Involved tab on our website in the Join the Pathway section. It makes a huge impact towards our mission to connect native habitat across Bend 🦋

Native seeds at Locavore are BACK!

While some seeds rely on fire 🔥 to break their casing in order to germinate, others need frost ❄️ to soften their coats to allow for germination, known as cold stratification. Pollinator Pathway native seeds available at Locavore require just that! Now is the time to head over, grab those seeds for $3 a packet, and get them in the ground so that when the days are long and warm again, you’ll enjoy these colorful blooms and the native pollinators they support:

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant
Blue Flax
Rocky Mountain Penstemon
Penstemon Mix
Western Columbine
Goldenrod
Blanketflower
Showy Milkweed
Sunflower

Thank you for supporting our mission and encouraging others to create thriving gardens for our native pollinators to subsist on! 🌻

You’re probably hearing “Leave the Leaves” a lot these days— but what about “Save the Stems”? Both are so important to do this time of year. While some pollinators require fallen leaves to continue their life cycle, others, like our native Mason bees and Leafcutter bees, require hollow and pithy stems for safe refuge throughout the cold, snowy season. Let’s let those summer and spring blooms stay as they rest now to best support our pollinators! ❄️

This beauty is a Western Tiger Swallowtail, shown here basking in the warmth of summer— a far cry from the frosty, fall days we’re enjoying now! Right now, this pollinator is overwintering in its chrysalis, having tucked away until spring on the leaves of trees like Willows and Cottonwoods. Those leaves have fallen and now rest on the ground, which is why we say ✨Leave the leaves🍃 !!