Help Bees, Bats, and Ladybugs Protect Your Garden
Among retailers and consumers, our range of garden décor products is known for both their beauty and their function. Each year, we develop new wholesale garden accents for independent retailers to offer in their stores which will not only look great in a shopper’s yard or garden, but will also serve a practical purpose.
As a company, we also focus on conservation gardening and providing responsible, natural solutions to common outdoor concerns. There’s been a growing interest in promoting the well-being of friendly garden animals and insects—from bats to butterflies to bees—that are known for being helpful to a healthy outdoor environment. The pollinator population in an area is a strong indicator of the overall health of an ecosystem. Natural pollinators like butterflies, bees and birds help keep local flowers and plants growing. Our habitats can attract pollinators, helping retailers offer these solutions to their customers.
Bats
As the only mammals capable of sustained flight, bats bring many benefits to their ecosystems. Their ability to echo-locate makes them highly effective insect hunters, and they can help keep mosquito populations in check. They pollinate plants and their droppings are an extremely effective fertilizer—this makes them hot commodity when it comes to protecting gardens from unwanted pests! Fruit-eating bats, though not found in North America, are very important for the dispersal of seeds as well.
During the winter months, many bat species will migrate so that they can hibernate and will seek shelter. They look for dark, safe structures that will allow them to rest for up to six months without large open areas where their bodies would get too cold. They will venture out at night but usually return to the same home when they are ready to rest.
With over 40 species of bats in North America, it’s important to provide a safe place for them to roost. An easy way to do that is with one of our bat houses, which can be fixed to trees or other places in a yard. It’s important to note that you’ll have an easier time attracting bats to your yard if there is a steady supply of insects and if you don’t live in a noisy neighborhood (the noise can interfere with echolocation).
Ladybugs
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| Our "ladybug hotel" |
Originally brought into North America in the early 20th century to control aphid populations, ladybugs were named to mean “the beetle of Our Lady,” because of their usefulness as predators of plant pests. They provide natural pest control by eating many insect pests that feed on gardens and crops, including white flies, mites, and scale insects. In its lifetime, one ladybug may consume as many as 5,000 aphids. There are over 480 species in North America alone, and most people can find a number of different ladybug species in their backyard.
Many people do not realize ladybugs are hibernators that sleep for long stretches in the winter and sometimes into the hot, dry parts of the summer. They can be found in both cold and warm climates. As days get shorter and temperatures fall, ladybugs seek shelter in bark, under leaves and in protected locations. Thousands of ladybugs may gather in the same location, taking advantage of the collective warmth.
Our ladybug habitats are specially designed to provide safe havens during the winter months–helping attract ladybugs to your yard, where they can eliminate pests and prevent you from having to use harsh chemicals.
Bees
Bees are vital to the natural pollination process of outdoor plants and trees, so helping to preserve or even increase their numbers is a worthwhile effort. This becomes much more important in urban and even suburban areas, where bees have trouble finding homes.
Did you know there are over 4,000 species of bees in North America?
While we typically think of bees living in hives or nests, most of them
are solitary and prefer to nest in natural cavities that already exist
in wood or stone. And many bees will share a habitat with more than one
species at a time. With their holes drilled in wood, our habitats
provide the ideal house for these types of bees. As one example, the Red Mason Bee, which will often use mud to cap the tubes they live in, can do as much pollination work as 120 worker honeybees. Because they don’t have a queen, they don’t live in colonies, and they’re non-aggressive, so there’s no danger of a swarm.
Retailers can shop all our home décor options, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using our Online Resource Center at: www.MyEvergreenOnline.com
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