Plants for Pollen
2016-2018 Plants for Pollen
The Plants for Pollen project aimed to engage with people from urban, peri-urban, and farming communities to increase awareness on the importance of pollinators for both our environment and food security.
The project produced a beautiful A3 ‘calendar’ of the flowering times of nectar and pollen-producing plants of East Gippsland. Research included talking to local experienced beekeepers and people working on research in insectaries and various literature searches.
This calendar allows people to select locally native species that will, for example, retrofit into shelterbelts to increase insect activity at times of the year when they might have beneficial impacts on production and for urban gardeners to select for all seasons. Your Landcare office can provide advice about where these plants might be purchased.
A ‘Healthy Bees – Healthy People’ field day was held in October 2017 and attracted over 250 participants. It was run in partnership with the Gippsland Apiarists Association and FEVL member group the East Gippsland Bee Care Group. Demonstrations and stalls included open hive demonstrations (BYO protective equipment), hobbyist or beginner beekeeper corner, industry/trade stalls, Flow Hive– what does it do?, beekeeping biosecurity, bee hotel making for children and a huge native plant giveaway by Far East Victoria Landcare. These plants were matched to those described on the calendar.
Specialist presentations included:
- “Honey– could it be a sweet solution for superbugs” by Dr Shona Blair a micro-biologist who has been investigating the medicinal properties of honey for over 15 years.
- “Native bees of Gippsland, their evolution and their role in the environment.” by Mitchell Smith – naturalist, nurseryman and photographer.
- It was also at this event that Landcare launched the “Flowering times of East Gippsland Plants“ calendar.
This project was funded through the Australian Government’s National Landcare program
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