Pollinator Gardens | Episode 5601

Montana State University’s Honey Bee Research Site and Pollinator Garden serves as a field laboratory and community outreach center. The project, initiated in 2013, engages students across a variety of science and horticulture disciplines, along with community members, to collaborate and learn as they develop and maintain a hub for pollinator health. As part of this project, there’s a half-acre site at MSU’s Horticulture Farm, the Pollinator Garden, featuring bee-friendly forage and habitat.  Want to know more, or create your own pollinator garden?  Michelle Flenniken, MSU Virologist and Bee Expert will bring us up to speed on Pollinator Gardens, as well as the great variety of pollinator species that live in Montana. She’ll help us understand which species are considered pollinators, which plants are most beneficial in this type of garden and which should be avoided.  We’ll also explore the life cycle and current systemic threats to pollinators, and the economic impacts of pollinator species throughout Montana and across the globe.