Pollinators

Why Bees and Wasps Really Crash Your Late Summer Picnic!

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By Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Did you notice a few unwelcome guests trying to steal a sip from your soda can at your Labor Day picnics last weekend? In late August/Early September, bees and wasps are highly visible, more persistent, and at their peak populations in social hives. We get a lot of calls this time of year asking what can be done to remove them from shared spaces. 

A yellowjacket flying low to the ground
A Yellowjacket. Photo by Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Thousands of described species are spread across 7 taxonomic families, worldwide. Eusocial species, like honeybees and paper wasps, have complex social structures that contribute to the overall survival of the hive. Meanwhile, a large majority of species are solitary and may live close to similar species but don't work together when it comes to provisioning resources or defending a territory. Diets range from carnivorous to herbivorous. However, most of them have developed a relationship with flowering plants in some capacity. Some are specialists, needing specific flowers for various resources, while others are generalists. Flowers have co-evolved with these insects so that they may benefit from the relationship via pollen distribution. Only those that help to move pollen are considered pollinators, though many may feed on floral resources. Entomologists dedicate their entire careers to understanding these insects and their complex relationships with the larger world. 

So why do they bother us around Labor Day but not so much during other summer picnics? A lot of it has to do with life cycles. By August, a hive has had a significant amount of time to establish. In spring, a queen will start a nest the size of a quarter. They aren’t on our mind so we’re not on the lookout. By now, some of those social nests can be the size of a basketball, or larger, with thousands of insects working for the good of the hive. At the same time, we're in the season when bees and wasps are on the lookout for sweet, sugary energy sources as their natural floral resources start to become scarce with the change of the seasons. Some become more protective of territory, trying to protect local resources and inadvertently mistake your sodas, fruit, and sweet picnic goodies as their next opportunity. Keeping drinks and food covered at picnics at this time of year is highly recommended to avoid attracting bees and wasps. If you grow fruit trees or berries, clean up any dropped fruit that could also attract these sugar fiends.  

In general terms, the easiest management strategy is to avoid the area, if possible. Hives built in low traffic areas can plausibly be left for the season, since workers will die out with colder weather. The only one to overwinter is the queen, and she will usually overwinter in leaf litter or plant material at ground level. In addition, wasps are not going to re-use their hives. The new queen will start fresh with her own nest, and her own colony come springtime. Next spring would be the time to scout for any unwanted guests and physically remove the beginnings of a nest early. This not only helps keep them out of your space but gives the queen time to reestablish a nest somewhere else that is safer for both parties and allows them to coexist with us more favorably. 

We always encourage having a bee or wasp identified before managing a nest, for a multitude of reasons. Your local beekeeper may be skilled and willing to help you remove a hive or swarm of honeybees from your property, but they won’t want to go near wasps any more than you might. Some species, like carpenter bees, may cause property damage and management may include removal of the bees as well as some minor carpentry repairs.  Others, like the Cicada Killer, may appear big and scary, but want nothing to do with humans and can be left alone to complete their season.  

If you or a family member has an allergy, damage is being done to property, or the nest is in a high traffic area, removal of the nest may be appropriate. Chemical management products, like bee and wasp sprays, are highly effective when used according to the label. These products will kill the insects. Not all products may fit all situations, so check labels carefully. As an example, sprays for ground bees and wasps should be labeled for ground use. Remember to read the label in its entirety before use and follow all instructions as written. Consider hiring a pest removal professional who can take the proper safety precautions. These professionals also know strategies that may help reduce the impact on nearby pollinators, treating only the problem at hand. 

If you have questions about bees or wasps or need help identifying them to navigate which action to take, the UConn Home & Garden Education Center is here to help!  

The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at cahnr.uconn.edu/extension/locations. 

This article was published in the Hartford Courant September 6, 2025

Favorite Summer Plants For Hummingbirds

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By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home and Garden Education Center  

Every spring I make a list of the plants that hummingbirds visited the   most the year before, and then my search at garden centers and nurseries begins in earnest. The plants I look for are the ones that not only hummingbirds seem to benefit from the most, but also the ones that bloom the longest. I also select the plants whose flowers I enjoy as well.  

Although annuals generally have the longest bloom time, there are some perennial ornamentals that are very attractive to hummingbirds and are worth considering for a garden or a landscape. Including a small group of these plants would be a great benefit to hummingbirds as they visit your property.  

Obedient plants, Physostegia virginiana, can bloom from early June through September. These drought tolerant perennials may get 3 feet tall and some will slowly spread. If that trait is a problem, The ‘Manners’ series such as the white ‘Miss Manners’ obedient plants are not spreaders. The flowers are also attractive to butterflies, especially tiger swallowtails, and pollinators.  

Native swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, is also visited by hummingbirds. This plant likes moister soils than most milkweed, and mine is planted near a birdbath that gets emptied frequently to add fresh water. This milkweed, along with butterfly weed A. tuberosa, can be deadheaded to promote rebloom.  

Hyssops, Agastache spp., are also a favorite of hummingbirds, and most have a long bloom period, some starting in late spring. The ‘Kudos’ series with small flowers that are yellow, pink or orange are the ones visited the most by hummingbirds on my property. Another favorite is ‘Boa’, which has larger flower spikes lasting a good three months. Deadheading all will prolong bloom time.  

Annual flowering plants that are a favorite of hummingbirds include Salvias, cardinal climber, Fuschias, Lantanas and Cupheas. All are easy to grow, and all but the cardinal vine can be used in containers, hangers and window boxes.  

The cardinal climber, Ipomena x multifida, is an attractive, fast-growing annual vine that has small, brilliant red trumpet- like flowers. You can save seeds from this plant and use them next year. One plant can grow to fill a large trellis, and you may need to corral it in if it starts reaching out for nearby plants.  

Of the Cupheas, the ones most visited, in my experience, are the large firecracker plant, C. vermillionaire, and the smaller one, C. schumannii, also called the orange cigar plant. The former is superior, with a compact, mounding habit and continuous bloom of orange tubular flowers until frost. If the smaller cigar plant is planted directly in the garden, give it some room as it sprawls somewhat.  

Purple flowers on a dark purple upright stem.
Black and Blue Salvia. Photo by Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Annual Salvias like the “Rockin’ series, the ‘Black and Blue’,  ‘Roman Red’ and the ‘Hot Lips’ salvias are the ones I always have in my containers or plant directly in the ground in spaces I leave for them. I would not venture to guess which ones hummingbird prefer, as they visit all of these throughout the day.  

There are a couple of shrubs that I learned by chance observance are favorites of hummingbirds. These are Weigelas, and butterfly bushes, Buddleia davidii. There are Weigelas that bloom only in the spring, some that bloom in spring and then again later in the summer through fall, like the ‘Sonic Blooms’, and some that bloom throughout the year, like ‘Crimson Kisses’ and ‘ Peach Kisses’. The last two are smaller shrubs which have a rounded habit.  

The plants I have included in this brief article are only a small example of plants that the average gardener can include on their property in gardens or containers of some type. I will mention that while I do have a hummingbird feeder, the hummers I see are favoring actual flowers over that source of food. Downy woodpeckers and orioles do visit the feeder instead, so it is useful to them, I guess. I may start calling it my downy feeder, at least during the summer. 

The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at cahnr.uconn.edu/extension/locations. 

This article was published in the Hartford Courant July 26, 2025

Set Your Lawn Free

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By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Dandelions growing uncontrolled in a lawn.
Photo by Dawn Pettinelli

For many, the sight of a lush green lawn brings about the desire to cast off one’s shoes and stroll through the sun-warmed grass feeling the soft verdant carpet below. Lawns, or at least grassy areas, are a ubiquitous part of almost every home outside city limits. While admittedly that perfect lawn is a source of curb appeal and homeowner pride, in recent years considerable attention has been given to the ecological and environmental costs of maintaining turf that is the envy of the neighborhood.

Managed turf grass areas, including golf courses and park areas cover about 8 percent (400 square miles) of the land area in Connecticut. That perfect lawn typically requires supplemental irrigation, fertilizer, regular mowing and often pesticide applications. Water could be better used for drinking, other domestic uses and just left in natural systems. Excess nutrients as well as pesticides can be found in ground and surface waters causing both human health as well as ecosystem problems. While some are turning to electric mowers and blowers, gas-powered equipment dependent more on fossil fuels, are most prevalent (at least in my neighborhood) contributing to climate change.

So what is a residential lawn owner to do? The authors of Redesigning the American Lawn were among the first to coin the term “freedom lawn.” So, what is a freedom lawn? Basically, anything that is green is allowed to grow. That would include dandelions, self-heal, violets, bluets, buttercups, clover and wild strawberries to list a few of those so-called “low growing broad-leaved plants”. By my definition, weeds are plants growing in the wrong place, so the plants are weeds no longer when accepted as part of the lawn.

One of the greatest reasons for encouraging a variety of plants to inhabit turf areas is that the world is facing a critical loss of biodiversity. There are significant declines in beneficial insect, native plant and bird populations, along with other living organisms. While that lush green lawn offers aesthetic pleasure to some, it does little to provide habitat or food for creatures other than problematic ones like grubs or chinch bugs.

A mixed grass- herbaceous plant lawn will contain flowering plants for pollinators and other beneficials. Various plant species have varying root systems. Some have deep taproots that break up compacted soil and bring up minerals. Others have more fibrous root systems that are continuously turning over added organic matter to the soil. A variety of plants along with their root exudates and associated microbes can help aggregate the soil, improving air and water passage. Porosity plus water holding capacity can be increased as well as lessening the potential for topsoil erosion. A healthy plant community usually portends a healthy soil.

Leaning into a freedom or pollinator lawn does not mean digging up one’s entire lawn and reseeding it although that is one option. Two seed mixes that I have seen advertised are Flawn and Fleur de Lawn. Both contain a mixture of fescues, microclover and the latter, some other flowering species. Probably greatest success with these seed mixes would be achieved starting with bare soil.

One can start encouraging biodiversity and pollinator plants by discontinuing the use of herbicides and allowing some flowering plants to move in. Often, they can be mowed before they set seed. When reseeding bare spots, use more drought tolerant fescues or native grasses like little bluestem to reduce the need for irrigation, once established. Higher mowing heights up to 3 or 4 inches will encourage deeper rooting of all plants making them more resilient during periods of drought.

Learn about the benefits of some of the low-growing broad-leaved plants that want to call your lawn home. Clovers add nitrogen to the soil reducing the amount of fertilizer necessary. Violets are host plants for the endangered regal fritillary. Dandelion greens are a great source of vitamins A and C. It is true that many of these plants are not native, but neither are the cool season turf grasses normally found in lawns.

In many yards, keeping part of it in lawn is essential for children’s play and sports activities, pet areas and entertaining. Take a tour of your yard and determine where a lawn makes sense and where it might be more appropriate for woody plants, ornamental beds or even a vegetable garden. Steep slopes or perpetually shaded areas may be best for groundcovers. Areas where water frequently collects after heavy rains might be more suitable for a rain garden.

However small, every effort to encourage biodiversity, provide for our beneficials and improve soil health is a step in the right direction. Rethinking your lawn areas might be a good place to start.

For information on lawns or any other gardening topic, call the UConn Home & Garden Education Center (toll-free) at (877) 486-6271 or email us at ladybug@uconn.edu or visit our website, www.homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu.

This article was published in the Hartford Courant May 18, 2025