Pollinate! Pollinate! Pollinate!

Next Saturday August 12, Texas Discovery Gardens will be celebrating pollinators at our annual Pollinator Party! At Texas Discovery Gardens we like to focus on butterflies when it comes to pollinators, but there are lots of animals out there that can be pollinators, and not all of them are insects.

Here’s two examples. One an insect, one not.

Bees!

Bees are excellent pollinators. They pollinate about one third of our food crops in addition to beautiful flowers and other plants. Bees are covered in tiny hairs. When a bee lands on a flower pollen sticks to those hairs. That’s how bees get pollen from one flower to another. 

Bats!

Some species of bats are pollinators! If you enjoy a margarita every now and then or a bit of agave nectar in your morning smoothie, you have the Mexican long nose bat to thank. These cave dwelling mammals are attracted to plants like night blooming cacti and agave. When the bat sticks his long snout into the flower to get the nectar, pollen is loosened from the plant. This pollen gets on the bat’s fur and is then transferred to another flower as the bat moves from flower to flower. 

Join us next Saturday from 10-2 to learn about other pollinators and how you can help sustain their populations!