Note: this is a Thursday meeting!

Meeting Topic:

• Attracting Bees and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants

In place of this month’s meeting, (note the date change), Wild Ones of the Door Peninsula, in collaboration with The Beekeepers of Door County, Sustain Door, and Door Property Owners, will bring Heather Holms, the author of the award-winning Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide to Crossroads at Big Creek to present the lecture “Attracting Bees and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants on Thursday, August 24 at 7:00pm.

Holms will explain that most insects have a positive impact in our landscapes. Native plants can be selected to attract specific bees and beneficial insects including predatory and parasitic wasps, beetles, flies, true bugs, and lacewings. Learn about the predator-prey relationships of these flower-visiting beneficial insects and how they help keep problem insect populations in balance. The life cycles, diversity, and nesting habitat of native bees will also be covered along with examples of native plants for different site conditions.

This program is free and open to the public. Following the lecture, refreshments made from insect pollinated foods will be served.

Special Event – Limited Availability
Before the lecture, at 4:00pm Holms will offer a Pollinator Walk at Crossroads. She will teach participants how to look for, and gently capture (and release) insects. Participants get an up-close look at each insect captured and learn about their biology, their contribution to the pollination of flowers, or their role as a beneficial insect.

This hike has a limit of 20 participants, and though it is free, pre-registrations (first come/first enrolled) is required, no exceptions. To register for the Pollinator Walk, call 746-5895 and leave your name and phone number on the answering machine. We will get back to you.

Heather Holm is a horticulturist and biologist, as well as a writer, designer, and publisher. In addition to taking part in native bee research projects, she informs and educates audiences nationwide, through her writing and many presentations, about the fascinating work of native bees and the native plants that support them.

Find out more about Heather at www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com or from her very comprehensive and superbly illustrated book “Pollinators of Native Plants”.

Volunteer Opportunities:
1) Refreshments for August 24th’s lecture are needed. Bars, cookies, or your specialty?
2) Is your apiary near Sturgeon Bay? Sign up to be a hive dive site before Aug 24th speaker presentation at Crossroads at Big Creek.